The Berezin B-20 (Березин Б-20) was a
20 mm caliber
20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. It is typically used to distinguish smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon). All 20 mm cartridges h ...
autocannon used by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
Development
The B-20 was created by
Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin in
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...
by converting his 12.7 mm
Berezin UB machine gun to use the 20 mm rounds used by the
ShVAK cannon. No other changes were made to the weapon which was pneumatically or mechanically charged and was available in both synchronized and unsynchronized versions. In
1946, an electrically-fired version was created for the turrets of the
Tupolev Tu-4 bomber until the
Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23
The Nudelman-Richter NR-23 is a Soviet autocannon widely used in military aircraft of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. It was designed by A. E. Nudelman and A. A. Richter to replace the wartime Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 and Volkov-Yartsev VYa ...
cannon became available. The B-20 was a welcome replacement for the ShVAK because it was significantly lighter - 25 kg (55 lb) to the 40 kg (80 lb) ShVAK - without sacrificing rate of fire or muzzle velocity.
Specifications
* Ammunition:
20×99mm
* Empty weight: 25 kg (55 lb)
*
Muzzle velocity: 750–770 m/s (2,460-2,525 ft/s)
* Rate of fire: 800 rounds/min
* Mass of one-second burst: 0.95 kg (2.1 lb)
Production
The Soviet archives register the following production numbers by year:
[Shirokograd, p 119]
* 1944 — 2,275
* 1945 — 7,240
* 1946 — 440
* 1947 — 780
* 1948 — 1,686
* 1949 — 2,931
See also
*
List of Russian weaponry
Related developments:
*
Berezin UB machine gun
Similar weapons:
*
ShVAK cannon
*
MG FF cannon
*
MG 151 cannon
*
Ho-5 cannon
The Ho-5 (Army Type 2) was a Japanese aircraft autocannon used during World War II. Developed from the Ho-103 machine gun, it was a version of the American Model 1921 Browning aircraft machine gun. It replaced the Ho-1 and Ho-3 (Army Type 97 ...
*
Hispano HS.404
The HS.404 is an autocannon originally designed and produced by Spanish/French company Hispano-Suiza in the mid-1930s. It was widely used as an aircraft, naval and land-based weapon by French, British, American and other military services, par ...
cannon
Notes
References
* Широкоград А.Б. (2001) ''История авиационного вооружения'' Харвест (Shirokograd A.B. (2001) ''Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia'' Harvest. ) (''History of aircraft armament'')
*
{{Russian and Soviet Aircraft Ordnance
20 mm artillery
Autocannons of the Soviet Union
Aircraft guns of the Soviet Union
KBP Instrument Design Bureau products
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1944