Anti-aircraft warfare
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).[1] An anti-aircraft missile is another name for a surface-to-air missile, also said SAM for short.
Anti-aircraft Warfare Media
Short- and long-range AA systems used by the Dutch Joint Ground-based Air Defence Command
An Auxiliary Territorial Service spotter with binoculars at an anti-aircraft command post, in front of QF 3.7-inch AA gun (December 1942).
A French anti-aircraft motor battery (motorized AAA battery) that brought down a Zeppelin near Paris. From the journal Horseless Age, 1916.
The No. 1 Mark III Predictor that was used with the QF 3.7-inch AA gun was a mechanical computer.
German 88 mm flak gun in action against Allied bombers
German soldier manning an MG34 anti-aircraft gun in WWII
References
- ↑ "Merriam-Webster dictionary". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
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