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Why Did Britain Put a Tank Gun Inside an Aircraft

72K views · Sep 13, 2026 · People & Blogs

Comments · 43

  • @martinhow121 · 7 days ago

    Interesting. I had never made the Mollins connection. My father worked at Mollins in 1936-38 and then at Power Mountings who designed and made the FN Turrets used in Lancasters, Sterlings etc. He was a stress design engineer and production tester and later electronic and electrical engineer.

    8

  • @davideyres955 · 4 days ago

    Go and see it at the DeHavaland museum, it’s an old school museum with great staff giving you a great commentary on the different exhibits. Several mozzies and a lot of other DeHavaland aircraft.

    6

  • @SylviusTheMad · 2 weeks ago

    Measuring anything in hundredweight makes a story better.

    8

  • @sianbarnett1000 · 3 days ago

    The mosquitoes weren’t wooden aeroplanes, yes wood was used but the trick was resin, they were the first composite aeroplanes, the things were structurally as strong as sheet Ali plus some, the only reason I knew anything about them was my mum used to make them with a load of girls from a piano company, I had her tools till the garage got robbed.<br>The Mullen’s cannon was extreme, a vending machine company made the auto loader she said, a pilot said it felt as if the plane actuality stopped momentarily when fired, given the laws of motion I suppose it must have with that much recoil? <br>A mental plane, she said the thing would kill you in a heartbeat if you were even slightly hesitant, there were girls ferrying them that were scared of them, happy in a spitfire but the gray lady was not for the faint hearted.<br>Mark

    7

  • @brucesummers7448 · 23 hours ago

    The Germans did the same with two of their aircraft prior to the tank battle at Kursk and their canons were highly effective, in particular with the thinner armor on the top of the tanks.

  • @hoplite1766 · 4 days ago

    Excellent mini doc, great sources and excerpts from once secret papers. This is a cut above the average

    4

  • @klishnor1 · 6 days ago

    A 6 pounder? That&apos;s a firecracker. A further development of the &quot;large gun&quot; idea was carried out using the 96 mm calibre QF 32-pounder, based on the QF 3.7-inch AA gun designed for tank use. The airborne version again used a Molins autoloader (but the 32 pounder took up so much space that only six shells could be crammed into the bomb bay) plus a novel form of muzzle brake. It was developed to prove the feasibility of using such a large weapon in any aircraft. Sadly, this installation was not completed until after the war, when it was flown and fired in a single aircraft without problems. Whilst the recoil was nasty, there&apos;s no truth to the story that when it fired, the Mossie flew backwards.

    3

  • @dirkverlinden2516 · 1 day ago

    Thanks for sharing!🍻

  • @mariaelliott5600 · 2 weeks ago

    Truly amazing yet another reason &nbsp;why the mosquito was an amazing plane and the pilots that flew these monsters Truly huge great orbs that could sink the &nbsp;subs by them selves. Thank you brave heroes for your sacrifice and service

    7

  • @jfc213 · 1 day ago

    now you know &nbsp;what gave them the idea &nbsp;for the A10

    1

  • @davidthompson3697 · 9 days ago

    great video thanks

    1

  • @MartinPaulo · 2 days ago

    Wow: the ending was somewhat sudden.

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