Anti-aircraft warfare

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American soldiers with an anti-aircraft gun in Algeria in 1943

Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defence, is any way of fighting military aircraft in combat from the ground. Different guns and cannons have been used for this since the first military aircraft were used in World War I. They have become more powerful over the years. After World War II, Surface to Air Missiles began to be used too. Today, both are used to fight against aircraft.

Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation for anti-aircraft artillery, and flak or flack (from the German Flugabwehrkanone, aircraft defence cannon). An anti-aircraft missile is another name for a surface-to-air missile, also said SAM for short.

Anti-aircraft Warfare Media

• DGLC systemen.jpg

  Short- and long-range AA systems used by the Dutch Joint Ground-based Air Defence Command

• A member of the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) serving with a 3.7-inch anti-aircraft gun battery, December 1942. TR452.jpg

  An Auxiliary Territorial Service spotter with binoculars at an anti-aircraft command post, in front of QF 3.7-inch AA gun (December 1942).

• Krupps 9 pounder 1909.jpg

  1909 vintage Krupp 9-pounder anti-aircraft gun

• Canadian 1918 antiaircraft team.jpg

  A Canadian anti-aircraft unit of 1918 "taking post"

• Anti-aircraft motor battery against Zeppelin in Horseless Age v37 n7 p261.png

  A French anti-aircraft motor battery (motorized AAA battery) that brought down a Zeppelin near Paris. From the journal Horseless Age, 1916.

• Maxim anti-aircraft machine gun.JPG

  A Maxim anti-aircraft machine gun in the anti-aircraft museum in Finland, 2006

• AA-Predictor-Nr1MarkIII-001.jpg

  The No. 1 Mark III Predictor that was used with the QF 3.7-inch AA gun was a mechanical computer.

• Antiaircraft defence Sweden 1934.jpg

  Shooting with anti-aircraft gun in Sweden 1934

• Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-635-3999-24, Deutschland, Flak-Batterie in Feuerstellung.jpg

  German 88 mm flak gun in action against Allied bombers

• Wehrmacht Flugabwehr Airdefence.jpeg

  German soldier manning an MG34 anti-aircraft gun in WWII

Other websites

• Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air Defense by Kenneth P. Werrell (book available for download)
• Japanese Antiaircraft land/vessel doctrines in 1943-44