PV-1 (''Pulemet Vozdushny'', airborne
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle ri ...
) is a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
air-cooled version of the
Russian M1910 Maxim
The Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 (PM M1910) (Russian: Пулемёт Максима образца 1910 года, ''Pulemyot Maxima obraztsa 1910 goda'' – "Maxim's machine gun Model 1910") is a Heavy machine gun that was used by the Imperial Russian ...
for mounting on
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...
. It was designed between 1926 and 1927. The first prototypes were produced and accepted into service in 1928.
[Широкорад А.Б. (2001) ''История авиационного вооружения'' Харвест (Shirokorad A.B. (2001) ''Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia'' Harvest. ) (''History of aircraft armament''), pages 68-69]
The gun was created at the initiative of the Soviet military pilot
Alexander Vasilevich Nadashkevich (Александр Васильевич Надашкевич) after he was appointed to the Scientific and Technical Committee of the
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
in 1923.
His main objective was to obtain a gun with increased rate of fire and reduced weight relative to the M1910.
In this endeavor, Nadashkevich collaborated with several engineers from the
Tula Arms Factory, including Tretyakov and Pastuhov, who were the spiritual fathers of the M1910 gun, and also with
Yartsev and
Vladimirov, who later became notable designers of aircraft guns themselves.
The rate of fire was increased from the 600 rpm of the M1910 to 750 rpm by adding a spring that returned the
breechblock
A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by t ...
faster and also by decreasing the diameter (and thus mass) of the recoiling sleeve that housed the receiver-end of the barrel. The latter measure also contributed to a decrease of the gun's weight.
The barrel itself was air cooled by a perforated sleeve.
A prototype passed field tests on 19 May 1926. By 1 October 1929, the
Soviet Airforce had received 2,480 PV-1 machine guns. Subsequent known production figures were:
[
* 1932 — 3,019
* 1933 — 1,284
* 1934 — 3,645
* 1935 — 1,915
* 1937 — 1,603
* 1938 — 3,867
Mirrored receivers that were fed from left to right (necessary for wing mounts) were designed in 1929 and entered service in December of that year.]
Between 1925 and 1927 Nadashkevich also worked on producing an even lighter variant A-2 by introducing some duralumin
Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''.
Its use as a tra ...
parts. This gun was however considered unsatisfactory because its parts wore out too quickly, so it was not adopted for service.
The PV-1 armed the Polikarpov I-3 and Tupolev I-4 fighters and the Tupolev TB-1
The Tupolev TB-1 (development name ANT-4) was a Soviet bomber aircraft, an angular monoplane that served as the backbone of the Soviet bomber force for many years, and was the first large all-metal aircraft built in the Soviet Union.
Design and ...
bomber.[Олег Рязанов]
Советские конструкторы авиационного вооружения
// журнал «Братишка», июль 2007 The Polikarpov I-5 fighter was first armed with a pair of PV-1 machine guns with 1,200 rounds total. Subsequent modifications increased the armament to four PV-1 guns with 4,000 rounds total. The Polikarpov I-15
The Polikarpov I-15 (russian: И-15) was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed ''Chaika'' (''russian: Чайка'', "Seagull") because of its gulled upper wings,Gunston 1995, p. 299.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 10. it was o ...
was armed with four PV-1 guns with 3,000 rounds total. The reconnaissance Polikarpov R-5
The Polikarpov R-5 (russian: Р-5) was a Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian l ...
was armed with one propeller-synchronized PV-1 and one in a rear turret mount. The ground attack R-5Sh variant was armed with four PV-1 guns in the wings, in addition to the propeller-synchronized one.[
Although the gun was considered obsolete and was gradually being phased out of service, the German invasion of Soviet Union prompted a penury of automatic weapons, so the PV-1s were converted for various other purposes. In August 1941 the gun was adapted to be mounted on a " ZPU" anti-aircraft machine gun base created by ]Fedor Tokarev
Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev (russian: Фёдор Васи́льевич То́карев; 2 June 1871 4 June in old Russian calendarref name=rFedor Tokarev – Brief History Tokarev.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-16. – 6 March 1968) was a Russian we ...
. These conversions were made at a factory in Tambov
Tambov (, ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers, about south-southeast of Moscow. Population: 280,161 ( 2010 Census); 2 ...
. In 1942, some 3,009 PV-1 guns were converted to infantry weapons by mounting them on the Sokolov 1910 carriage (the one used in the PM M1910
The Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 (PM M1910) (Russian: Пулемёт Максима образца 1910 года, ''Pulemyot Maxima obraztsa 1910 goda'' – "Maxim's machine gun Model 1910") is a Heavy machine gun that was used by the Imperial Russian A ...
) at a factory in Zlatoust
Zlatoust ( rus, Златоуст, p=zlətɐˈust) is a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Ay River (in the Kama basin), west of Chelyabinsk. Population: 181,000 (1971); 161,000 (1959); 99,000 (1939); 48,000 (1926); 21,000 ( ...
.
See also
* Maxim–Tokarev
* Kulspruta m/42
* List of Russian weaponry
The following is a list of modern Russian small arms and light weapons which were in service in 2016:
Handguns
Revolvers
Pistols
Special purpose
Submachine guns
Special purpose
Shotguns
Rifles
Bolt-action
Semi-a ...
References
External links
7.62×54mmR machine guns
World War II machine guns
Machine guns of the Soviet Union
Aircraft guns of the Soviet Union
Military equipment introduced in the 1920s
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