Becker Type M2 | |
---|---|
![]() An artist's rendering of a Becker antiaircraft gun | |
Type | Autocannon |
Place of origin | German Empire |
Service history | |
In service | Imperial German Air Service |
Wars | World War I |
Production history | |
Designer | Reinhold Becker[1] August Coenders |
Designed | 1913[1] |
Manufacturer | Stahlwerke Becker[1] |
No. built | 539+[1] |
Variants | |
Specifications | |
Mass | 30 kg (66 lb)[1] |
Cartridge | 20x70mmRB (130 g)[1] |
Caliber | 20 mm (0.787 in)[1] |
Barrels | 1 |
Action | API blowback[1] |
Rate of fire | 325 rpm[1] |
Muzzle velocity | 490 m/s (1,600 ft/s)[1] |
Feed system | 15-rounds box magazine |
The Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon was a German autocannon developed for aircraft use during World War I by Stahlwerke Becker. It was first mass-produced in 1916 and was installed in a variety of aircraft. It was the only German autocannon to see service in the air during the war.[1]
The Becker also served as the pattern for the famous Swiss-built Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, which is in service to this day, and in a later form, was the original inspiration, through the Swiss design after World War I, for the World War II German Luftwaffe's MG FF (Maschinengewehr Flügel Fest, "fixed wing-mount automatic ordnance") 20 mm autocannon design.