Berezin B-20
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The Berezin B-20 (Березин Б-20) was a
20 mm caliber 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. The dividing line between smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon), is conventionally taken to be the 20 m ...
autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...
used by
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
aircraft An aircraft ( 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 the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


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 France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
by converting his 12.7 mm
Berezin UB The Berezin UB () (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II. Development In 1937, began designing a new large-caliber aircraft machine gun chambered to the 12.7 mm roun ...
machine gun to use the 20 mm rounds used by the
ShVAK cannon The ShVAK (, "Shpitalny-Vladimirov Aviation Large-calibre") was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK were installed in ma ...
. 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 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
, an electrically-fired version was created for the turrets of the
Tupolev Tu-4 The Tupolev Tu-4 (; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet Union, Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. The aircraft was a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, ha ...
bomber until the Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 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 lbs) *
Muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...
: 750–770 m/s (2,460-2,525 ft/s) * Rate of fire: 800 rounds/min (600 synchronized) * One-second burst-mass: Unsynchronized, 1.27 kg (2.8 lbs); Synchronized, 0.95 kg (2.1 lbs)


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 The following is a list of modern Russian small arms and light weapons which were in service in 2024: Handguns Revolvers Pistols Special purpose Submachine guns Special purpose Shotguns Rifles Bolt-action Semi-a ...
Related developments: *
Berezin UB The Berezin UB () (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II. Development In 1937, began designing a new large-caliber aircraft machine gun chambered to the 12.7 mm roun ...
machine gun Similar weapons: *
ShVAK cannon The ShVAK (, "Shpitalny-Vladimirov Aviation Large-calibre") was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK were installed in ma ...
*
MG FF cannon The MG FF was a drum-fed, blowback-operated, 20 mm aircraft autocannon, developed in 1936 by Ikaria Werke Berlin of Germany. It was a derivative of the Swiss Oerlikon FF F cannon (its ''FF'' suffix indicating ''Flügel Fest'', for a fix ...
*
MG 151 cannon The ''Maschinengewehr'' (MG) 151 is a belt-fed autocannon for aircraft use, developed in Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1940 and produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. It was originally produced in 15.1 mm caliber from 1940, with a ...
* Ho-5 cannon * Hispano HS.404 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