Wide traverse was also useful on some shipmounted guns. This mode is best suited for battles at short and medium ranges. Naval artillery on board capital ships soon adopted gunlaying arrangements broadly similar to Major Watkins' coast artillery pattern. Lets say you placed your stick from mortars in direction 090 . First of all aiming posts are only used for indirect fire weapons such as artillery guns and howitzers or mortars. With direct fire, laying in the horizontal plane is merely the line of sight to the target, although the layer may make allowance for the wind, and with rifled guns the sights may compensate for projectile "drift". Jason Quinn, instructor with 1-78th FA. (The circle is divided in 0-6000 in Finnish army, 6400 in NATO). Meanwhile, a group led by Dreyer designed a similar system. Similar systems were adopted in other countries and for example the later Sperry device, designated M3A3 in the US was also used by Britain as the Predictor AA No 2. The principal reference point was a device called an "Infinity Reference Collimator". the FDC to send commands to fire them accurately. Robins experimented with musket balls of around one ounce in mass (30 g), while other contemporaries used his methods with cannon shot of one to three pounds (0.45 to 1.36kg). Field Artillery Soldiers aim weapons without GPS. W e plan to cover the major parts of the gun, the way the fire missions were conducted, the way the data was delivered to the guns, the types of munitions used, how the firebases were picked . The first day Sgt. This means that all their [10] These devices were subsequently replaced by ring laser gyros. Rare accessory in good used condition. Their projectiles cover distances of 10 to 50 kilometers to fight the Russian attackers. Working condition including the RED removable night use lens cover. AIMING STAKE LIGHT M14 IN RED FOR ARTILLERY. Now that the guns were layed they could be fired by commands from FDC. It may be laying for direct fire, where the gun is aimed similarly to a rifle, or indirect fire, where firing data is calculated and applied to the sights. the key task for the gunner was to get the aiming stakes and the gun sight lined up on the vertical crosshair in the scope. The unit is equipped with 7,7cm lFK 1896 before the recoil system modification was made. The collimator and aiming stakes were set out after the battery was laid. Working condition including the RED removable night use lens cover. April 2012 edited May 2012 in A Total War Saga: Fall of the Samurai. Call this the azimuth of fire. . a field artillery aiming stake comprising a tubular metallic post including a pair of detachable, threadedly connected sections, a disk removably mounted in the post between the sections, a. The problem was the lack of an azimuth instrument to enable it; clinometers for elevation already existed. [1], Gun carriages were introduced in the 15th century. Product ID: 154758 Category: SOLD ITEMS Tags: German camo helmet, German helmet, German militaria, Original German militaria, Waffen SS, Wehrmacht, ww2. [11] This meant the gun did not have to be repositioned after each time it was fired. Why does the artillery ALWAYS aim the end of line, and line infantry sometimes do it. Understand indirect vs. direct fire. They were typically little more than bare barrels moved in wagons and placed on the ground for firing, then wooden frames and beds were introduced. . The object of the exercise was to get the axis of the bore of each gun to be parallel with the direction ("Azimuth") of lay. Some sights had a means of estimating the range, for example using a stadiametric method. Buy, Sell, Trade, Consignments. The problem was of successfully aiming a shell to burst close to its target's future position, with various factors affecting the shells' predicted trajectory. They could also be made ready to fire more quickly. Definition of aiming stake : a stake used as an aiming point for laying mortars and artillery pieces for direction First Known Use of aiming stake 1899, in the meaning defined above Love words? [7][8], Robins used the ballistic pendulum to measure projectile velocity in two ways. Gunner and carries one ammunition bag M2 with twelve (12) rounds of ammunition. The rocking-bar (or 'bar and drum') sight had an elevation scale, could mount a telescope as well as the open sight, and provided a small amount of horizontal deflection. The other main difference in sighting arrangements was the use of an elevation angle or alternatively the range. 1st Class Michael Guilin demonstrated how to set up the aiming circle, a device that helps artillery Soldiers point the howitzer in the correct direction. Horizontal aiming involved sighting along the barrel, this was enhanced by a notch made in the ring around the barrel at the breech end and an 'acorn' on the ring around the muzzle. The US was notable for using two-man laying, horizontal on one side of the gun, elevation on the other. This is a Vietnam era issue with all brass construction. Height finders were also increasing in size, in Britain, the World War I Barr & Stroud UB 2 (7 feet (2.1m) optical base) was replaced by the UB 7 (7 feet (2.1m) feet optical base) and the UB 10 (18 feet (5.5m) optical base, only used on static AA sites). The commands to accomplish this were very ritualized. Obviously, large horizontal traverses were more difficult, but such things were unnecessary when shooting broadside. Rare late war Aiming stake for use with the MG34, MG42 and mortars. Until recoil systems were invented in the late 19th century and integrated into the gun carriage or mount, guns moved substantially backwards when they fired, and had to be moved forward before they could be laid. After World War II predictors changed from being electro-mechanical analogue computers to digital computers, but by this time heavy anti-aircraft guns had been replaced by missiles, but electronics enabled smaller guns to adopt fully automated laying. (Photo - Cyber-Hobby) . 1st Class Booker Brown, senior school chief and master gunner. This is a Vietnam era issue with all brass construction. Below: Two views of a German Field ArtilleryAiming Stake/Bore Brush. Now establish a base line in the general direction of the enemy. At its simplest, this means nothing more than aiming the guns in the right direction. With the camera positioned behind your vehicle, you can observe yourself, other players, and the situation on the battlefield. I will . The process of pointing a piece of artillery involved a crew setting out aiming stakes which the gunner used as a point of reference. He carries the Mortar, bipod attached, and the aiming stakes. Usually on the third try, there would be no difference between the angle read to the sight and the angle read back to the Aiming Circle by the gunner. A 120 mm mortar team can consist of three men, fit in the back of a standard humvee, and set up and take down in a matter of minutes. another of the Gunnery Problem' s aspects: the cannoneers cannot see Once in place, a sliding scale on the pan-tel was set at a "referred deflection" in our case 2800 mils, so that despite irregularities in the areas around each howitzer, all sights would read the same numbers when looking at the stakes and collimators. Water and hot chow finally arrived. The M121 is a version of the Israeli Soltam K6 120 mm mortar, produced in the United States under license. I also saw this to be true of Iraqi Mortar/Artillery aiming stakes (see the 60mm & 82mm mortar pages). [5] The practical approach was conducted by William Eldred, Master Gunner at Dover Castle, in gunnery trials in 1613, 1617 and 1622. As consequence the sights and gun carriages were designed to swing left and right center about 400 mils. By With the adoption of recoil systems for field artillery, it became normal to pivot the saddle on the lower carriage, initially this "top traverse" was only a few degrees but soon offered a full circle, particularly for anti-aircraft guns. What about the same on German and British ones in WWII. The 1/92nd Field Given the target height its operators tracked the target and the predictor produced bearing, quadrant elevation and fuze setting. A feature of 20th-century laying was the use of one- or two-man laying. By the 1950s gun turrets were increasingly unmanned, with gun laying controlled remotely from the ship's control centre using inputs from radar and other sources. Gun laying is the process of aiming an artillery piece or turret, such as a gun, howitzer, or mortar, on land, in air, or at sea, against surface or aerial targets. The training worked on two aspects of howitzer operations: sighting and firing. Then you align the sight on the stake, normally in Mils (another way to measure the angular dimensions of a 22. The collimator and aiming stakes were set out after the battery was laid. The device, operated by one person, brought two images from a distance object into coincidence allowing the distance to be calculated from their relative motions. This is a photograph of a battery party. This led to compact carriages, mostly on four small wheels. While Ukraine has a few of these and uses them successfully, the vast majority of Ukrainian artillery is still firing 'dumb' unguided . An alternative to this was a 'gun rule' at each gun; in this case the range was set on the rule and an elevation angle read and given to the layer to set on the sight. They will start at one end of a formation and chew their way across, same with artillery. [12] In 1891 they were approached by the Admiralty to submit a design for a short-base rangefinder for trial, and in 1892 they were awarded with a contract for six of their rangefinders. The resulting directions, known as a firing solution, would then be fed back out to the turrets for laying. Pollen began working on the problem after noting the poor accuracy of naval artillery at a gunnery practice near Malta in 1900. Another technique involved measuring the depth of the barrel through the touchhole and at the muzzle, the difference being the wedge size needed to compensate for the tapered barrel. This led many armies to use an elevation angle calculated in a battery command post. "We do this so the guns will be accurate," said Sgt. I put battery in it, and it does work. Laying could also be accomplished in a pinch be using a distant aiming point on the horizon, such as a lone tree or hill. Screw elevation devices were also used as early as the 16th century.[3]. Even without the live-fire portion, Quinn said the training is effective in its goal: to refresh Soldiers on the howitzer. And my aiming stakes have been known to double as a helmet rest, a pointer, a back scratcher, a 'whack the sleeping PFC in the head'-er, a replacement for a missing tent stake. By Monica K. Guthrie, Fort Sill CannoneerOctober 1, 2015. Coast artillery employed direct fire, and until the late 19th century laying had changed little, apart from gaining telescopic sights, over the centuries. With an artillery measure (calculation stick of sorts) you calculate the compass direction you are supposed to shoot, to SIMPLIFY, 000 north, 090 east, 180 south, 270 west. From circa 1900 field artillery carriages provided traverse without moving the wheels and trail. Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Leonardo is touting its artillery aiming system, which garnered more than $59 million in export sales for the company in fiscal year 2017. In field artillery, the accuracy of indirect fire depends on the use of aiming points. Hi, a few questions concerning the "aiming stakes" carried on the Sherman 105: 1. During the 1970s tanks started being fitted with digital computers. Answer (1 of 2): The key to firing mortars in a platoon or section is to ensure they are all firing in the same direction. Now that the barrel remained aligned with the target after firing, the more primitive tangent sight was replaced with the rocking-bar sight for direct-fire sighting. Laying in the vertical plane (elevation angle) uses data derived from trials or empirical experience. They stand behind allies, using HE shells (mostly) and support damage to allies. This led to many calculations relating elevation angle to range. And one of . Rudimentary naval fire control systems were first developed around the time of World War I. . $37.5,NOS M1A2 artillery aiming stake set. If at all possible, survey control would be brought into the battery area by the Battalion Survey Section. This was still used in the 19th century in some instances.[4]. As an aside this science for indirect artillery fire was shared by all allied and axis arty so these same basic techniques will be applicable to all arty dios. In air force terminology the aiming point (or A.P.) An early prototype incorporating this design feature was built in 1872 by Russian engineer, Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky. Thank you, Pythagoras and Plane Geometry! This meant that different guns needed a different elevation angle for the same range. Anti-aircraft was direct fire, the layer aiming at the aircraft. a field artillery aiming stake comprising a tubular metallic post including a pair of detachable, threadedly connected sections, a disk removably mounted in the post between the sections, a ring fixed in one of the sections in spaced relation above the disk, a contact mounted on said ring and insulated therefrom, dry cell batteries mounted in "They can learn from a subject matter expert the safe way to do things so when they come to the field, or if there is an incident, they can understand and know what went wrong," he said. This action absorbed the recoil progressively as the internal air pressure rose and, at the end of recoil, generated a strong, but decreasing, back pressure that returned the gun forward to its original position. He was encouraged in his efforts by the rapidly rising figure of Admiral Jackie Fisher, Admiral Arthur Knyvet Wilson and the Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes (DNO), John Jellicoe. The need to engage balloons and airships, from both the ground and ships, was recognised at the beginning of the 20th century. Horizontal alignment with the target was by eye, while vertical laying was done by raising the muzzle with timber or digging a hole for the closed end. In essence, this was the geometry of using angles to aiming points that could be in any direction relative to the target. Anti-aircraft gunnery was a difficult business. The modern collimator (Figure 12) provides an aiming reference point and is located to the left front of the piece. Similar designs, usually able to measure angles in a full circle, were widely adopted over the following decade. In American service, the aiming stakes are always white and red. [19] Lord Kelvin, widely regarded as Britain's leading scientist first proposed using an analogue computer to solve the equations which arise from the relative motion of the ships engaged in the battle and the time delay in the flight of the shell to calculate the required trajectory and therefore the direction and elevation of the guns. This led to the Height/Range Finder (HRF), the first model being the Barr & Stroud UB2, a 2-metre optical coincident rangefinder mounted on a tripod. Many dust-offs came and went. With indirect fire the horizontal angle is relative to something, typically the gun's aiming point, although with modern electronic sights it may be a north-seeking gyro. Being a former USMC Mortarman I recognize these. It was a mechanical analogue computer Predictor AA No 1. After occupying a position, each Gun Chief would make note of the deflection to a designated distant aiming point. The issue was finally resolved by the introduction of digital computers in the battery command post that calculated the correct elevation angle for the range and muzzle velocity accurately and quickly. The barrel recoil was absorbed by hydraulic cylinders and then the barrel was returned to its firing position by a spring that had stored some of the recoil energy. Surveying from known points, they would bring both directional control and location control in on the same survey. This issue became more complicated in World War I when the effects of barrel wear in changing muzzle velocity were fully recognised. Increasingly sophisticated mechanical calculators were employed for proper gun laying, typically with various spotters and distance measures being sent to a central plotting station deep within the ship. For location-finding in the pre-GPS era, we had to use a map, or if we were in luck, we had a "PADS" vehicle that would provide it to us. This computed a correction for the cross level of the gun and used feedback from electro-mechanical devices, such as gyroscopes and electronic clinometers, aligned to the axis of the bore. Currently the US Army is the only operator of this artillery system. This type of vehicle having high damage, but low reload, low mobility, thin armor, this make them can't fighting in first line like other tanks in game. (Photo - Cyber-Hobby) Fighting compartment of the 10.5 cm le.F.H 18 Hummel-Wespe SPG. By Monica K. Guthrie, Fort Sill Cannoneer October 1, 2015. Artillery 803 views. Below. Survey data was best, followed by map and compass methods. for any given gun and projectile types, it reflects the distance to the target and the size of the propellant charge. Rick Minichiello. New, perfect condition with no rust. 5. M767, and M782 series artillery fuzes as well as the XM982/M982 Excalibur precision guided GPS projectile, and the Precision . tion, the aiming post light mounts on the aiming post by means of a bracket fixed to the case and the light is turned on or off by means of a toggle switch. A direct electromechanical clockwork measure appeared in 1840, with a spring-driven clock started and stopped by electromagnets, whose current was interrupted by the bullet passing through two meshes of fine wires, again providing the time to traverse the given distance. Answer (1 of 15): Ok, I am an old school artillery expert for the US Army. Member since November 2005; Artillery. In American service, the aiming stakes are always white and red. The nearly two dozen volunteers of the . "No one will fail though, because we have excellent instructors," said Quinn. The British Wilson-Dalby gun director used a pair of trackers and mechanical tachymetry; the operator entered the fuse length, and deflection angles were read from the instruments.v, In 1925 the British adopted a new instrument developed by Vickers. In the early 17th century, 'dispart sights' compensated for this. The advantage of artillery is the greater distance and firepower, while mortars are able to deliver highly accurate rounds with impressive mobility, speed, and cover. It took almost 20 years to get it to full effectiveness, but its general principle became the norm for heavy artillery fire control and laying. Gun laying has sometimes been called "training the gun". GPS and the aiming stakes used by artillerymen have two completely different functions. The OL was a line from the Aiming Circle to a stake, and was usually pointed at grid north (AZ 6400). The process was then done over again. Some guns were relatively small calibre and dealt with relatively close targets, others were much larger for long-range targets. The addition of director control facilitated a full, practicable fire control system for World War I ships, and most RN capital ships were so fitted by mid 1916. The French Brocq system was electrical, the operator entered the target range and had displays at guns; it was used with their 75mm. Photos of aiming posts in action are hard to come by but here is one of an American "Redleg" running out the far aiming post. Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gun_laying&oldid=1114276884, This page was last edited on 5 October 2022, at 17:58. I believe, in German service the color combinations for the aiming stakes varied. Damiun Walker, instructor for 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery, said the event's goal is to help leaders within the unit fine tune their skills with the artillery piece. As technology improved, the trunnions became part of the barrel and the cradle was abandoned. These were complex instruments and various other methods were also used. The term includes automated aiming using, for example, radar-derived target data and computer-controlled guns.