The MG 81 is a German belt fed 7.92×57mm Mauser machine gun which was used in flexible installations 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 ...

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

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 which capacity it replaced the older drum magazine-fed MG 15. The MG 81 was developed by Mauser as a derivative of their successful MG 34 general-purpose machine gun. Development focus was to reduce production cost and time and to optimize the machine gun for use in aircraft. Developed in 1938/1939, it was in production from 1940 to 1945.

Variants

A special twin-mount MG 81Z (the Z suffix stands for ''Zwilling'', meaning "twin") was introduced in 1942. It paired up two of the weapons on one mount to provide even more firepower with a maximum cyclic rate of fire of 3,200 rounds per minute without requiring much more space than a standard machine gun. Towards the end of the war many specimens were delivered to the army and equipped for use in ground battles with shoulder rest and bipod. After

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

's entry into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

in May 1955, Mauser offered the MG 81 chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO. The twin-barrel MG 81Z was marketed for helicopter fixed mount with theoretical firepower of 6,800–7,000 rounds per minute for a MG 81Z mounted on each side of the helicopter. The MG 81 was also marketed for infantry use with bipod, wood buttstock, and reduced fire rate of 1,200 rounds per minute.

Applications

The MG 81Z was found in many unique installations in Luftwaffe combat aircraft, such as a pair of MG 81Z (for a total of four guns) installed in the hollow tail cone of the Dornier Do 217 K-2. Designated R19 (R for Rüstsatz) as a factory designed field conversion/upgrade kit, it allowed the pilot of the Do 217 to shoot at pursuers. Another application was the ''Gießkanne'' (Watering can), an externally mounted pod with three gun pairs, making a total of six guns and their ammunition. Able to fire at a cyclic rate of 9,000 rounds per minute, this was attached to

Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the ...

or Ju 88 in an underwing mount and used to strafe ground targets.

Specifications

;MG 81 * Weight: * Length: ( with flash hider) * Muzzle velocity: (sS ball ammunition), , or , depending on ammo type * Rate of fire: 1,400–1,600 rpm (sS ball ammunition) * Rate of fire: 1,700–1,800 rpm * Rate of fire: 800 rpm (coaxial mount) ;MG 81Z * Weight: 12.9 kg (28.44 lb) * Length: 915 mm (965& mm with flash hider) * Muzzle velocity: (sS ball ammunition), , or , depending on ammo type * Rate of fire: 2,800–3,200 rpm (sS ball ammunition) * Rate of fire: 3,400–3,600 rpm

References

External links

Airwar.ru (Russian language)

Full size images for the MG81
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mg 81 Machine Gun 7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns 7.62×51mm NATO machine guns MG 017 machine gun Machine guns of Germany World War II infantry weapons of Germany Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1940

Variants

Applications

Specifications

See also

References

External links