20 x 110 MM HISPANO SUIZA 404.
The
Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20 mm
autocannon was one of the most widely used aircraft weapons of the 20th century, used by
British,
American,
French, and many other military services. Firing a 20 mm diameter projectile, it delivered a useful load of explosive from a relatively light weapon. This made it an ideal aircraft weapon, replacing the multiple 7.62 mm (.30 caliber)
machine guns commonly used in military aircraft in the 1930s.
It was based on the earlier
Swiss Oerlikon FF S weapons, which Hispano-Suiza manufactured under license in France as HS.7 and HS.9. In the late
1930s engineer
Mark Birkigt designed a new and much improved version with a revised action, much faster rate of fire, and somewhat higher
muzzle velocity. The result was the
Type 404, or
HS.404, which was widely considered the best aircraft cannon of its kind. The 404 was widely used on pre-war French designs, notably in installations firing through the drive shaft of the
Hispano-Suiza 12Y engine, a system known as a
moteur-canon. The HS.404 was fed by drum magazines that could accommodate at most 60 rounds. Since in most installations the magazine could not be switched during flight, the small ammunition capacity was problematic. In 1940, Hispano-Suiza was developing a belt-feeding system, as well as derivatives of the HS.404 in heavier calibres such as 23 mm, but all these projects were halted with the German occupation of France.
In the meantime, Great Britain had acquired a license to build the HS.404, which was first used in a British fighter as the
Hispano Mk.I with the
Westland Whirlwind of 1940. British engineers developed a belt-feeding mechanism. The new design was adopted by the
RAF and
FAA in 1941 in a slightly modified form as the
Hispano Mk.II. Four cannons replaced the eight
Browning .303 machine guns in the
Hawker Hurricane and in tropical versions of the
Supermarine Spitfire, and became standard armament in later fighters. Most other Spitfires had only two cannons, because of technical difficulties (i.e., inadequate gun-heating capacity for the outboard cannon leading to the gun freezing at high altitiudes), along with four 0.303 calibre or two 0.50 calibre machine guns.
The gun was also licensed for use in the United States as the
M1, with both the
United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and
U.S. Navy planning to switch to the 20 mm as soon as sufficient production was ready. A massive building program was set up, along with production of
ammunition, in 1941. When delivered the guns proved to be extremely unreliable and suffered a considerable number of misfires due to the round being "lightly struck" by the firing pin. The British were interested in using this weapon to ease production in England, but after receiving the M1 they were disappointed. In April 1942 a copy of the British Mk.II was sent to the U.S. for comparison, with the differences being primarily that the British version used a slightly shorter chamber that they believed was the cause of the U.S.'s problems.
The U.S. declined to modify the chamber of their version, but nevertheless made other different modifications to create the no-more-reliable
M2. By late 1942 the USAAC had 40 million rounds of ammunition stored, but the guns remained unsuitable. The U.S. Navy had been trying to go all-cannon throughout the war, but the conversion never occurred. As late as December 1945 the
Army's Chief of Ordnance was still attempting to complete additional changes to the design to allow it to enter service.
Meanwhile, the British had given up on the U.S. versions and production levels had been ramped up to the point where this was no longer an issue anyway. They upgraded to the
Hispano Mk. V, which had a shorter
barrel, was lighter and had a higher rate of fire, although at the expense of some muzzle velocity. One of the main British fighters to use the
Mk. V was the
Hawker Tempest Mk. V Series II, which mounted a total of four. The U.S. followed suit with the
M3, but reliability problems continued. After
World War II the
United States Air Force (USAF) adopted a version of the M3 cannon as the
M24, similar in most respects except for the use of electrically primed ammunition.
The Hispano fired a 130 gram (4.58 oz) 20 mm × 110 mm projectile with a
muzzle velocity between 840 and 880 m/s (2,750 and 2,900 ft/s), depending on barrel length. Rate of fire was between 600 and 850 rounds per minute. It was 2.36 m (7 ft 9 in) long, weighing between 42 and 50 kg (93 and 110 lb). The British Mk V and American M3/M24 weapons were lighter with higher rates of fire than the early HS.404 guns.
In the post-war era the HS.404 disappeared fairly quickly due to the introduction of
revolver cannon based on the German
Mauser MG 213. The British introduced the powerful 30 mm
ADEN cannon in most post-war designs, and the French used the very similar
DEFA cannon, both firing the same ammunition. The USAF introduced the 20 mm
M39 revolver cannon to replace the M24, while the Navy instead combined the original Hispano design with a lighter round for better muzzle velocity in the
Colt Mk 12 cannon.
Some drawings on my website.
UK Vliegtuig munitie: - 20 mm Hispano Suiza 404 - Bodemvondsten : Forum tweede wereldoorlog