From the outbreak of war in 1939, German Luftwaffe armament designers and technicians pioneered many revolutionary concepts in the barrelled armaments of their military aircraft, particularly as the threat posed by the combined US and British Allied strategic bombing campaign grew in intensity from 1943. Desperate solutions were sought in an effort to counter the threat posed by Allied bomber aircraft to German industry and infrastructure, which in turn saw the introduction into service of airborne guns with ever-increasing calibres and impressive levels of lethality. This book examines the use of the humble rifle calibre machine gun as an aircraft weapon along with the efforts to develop suitable cannon with greater destructive power for aircraft use, the advances made during the inter-war years and the various barrelled weaponry either used or proposed by the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War. This work encompasses not only the technical and operational appraisals of the various weapons used by the German Luftwaffe aircrews, which include some of Germany's leading surviving fighter aces of the Second World War, but also the armourers tasked with their day-to-day maintenance, the instructors and technicians on the ground, and those who found themselves at the receiving end of their firepower both in the air and on the ground. This unique work encompasses many new and previously unpublished testimonies as told by those who were there in their own words and for the first time. AUTHOR: Born into a military family, Tim Heath's interest in military history began at an early age. Firstly, specialising in military ammunition, weapons and militaria collecting in general with particular emphasis on the air war of the Second World War, he embarked upon an extensive programme of groundbreaking research which inadvertently led him to focus his efforts on the social history elements of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich Germany with particular emphasis upon the roles of females prior to and during the Third Reich Nazi era. During the course of his research work spanning some thirty-six years, he has worked closely with both the German War Graves Commission, Kassel, Germany, and veterans and civilians from all sides of the global conflict that was the Second World War. His first book, Hitler's Girls - Doves Amongst Eagles, was published by Pen and Sword Books Ltd in 2017. Following on from the success of Hitler's Girls, Tim has written a further thirteen books. He has written extensively for some of the UK's leading military history publications and has contributed articles to various online media resources around the world. He has also appeared in the Sky History documentary series Hitler's Handmaidens and The Nazis -Threads of Evil for Refuge 31. He lives in the former market town of Evesham, Worcestershire, UK, with his partner Paula. 40 b/w illustrations
