Breda-SAFAT machine gun: Difference between revisions

Breda-SAFAT
Breda-SAFAT
	A 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Breda-SAFAT machine gun on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Type	Machine-gun
Place of origin	Italy
Service history
In service	Late 1930s and 1940s
Used by	Regia Aeronautica; Royal Hungarian Air Force; Syrian Army
Wars	Spanish Civil War; World War II; Six Day War
Production history
Designed	1935
Manufacturer	Breda-SAFAT (Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche / Breda Meccanica Bresciana / Società Italiana Ernesto Breda - Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino)
Variants	Breda-SAFAT 20mm cannon
Specifications
Mass	12.5 kg (28 lb) (7.7 mm); 29 kg (64 lb) (12.7 mm)
Length	109 cm (43 in) (7.7 mm); 139 cm (55 in) (12.7 mm)
Barrel length	64 cm (25 in) (7.7 mm); 80 cm (31 in) (12.7 mm)
Cartridge	7.7x56mmR light, 12.7x81mmSR heavy
Caliber	7.7 mm (0.303 in); 12.7 mm (0.50 in)
Barrels	1
Action	Short recoil
Rate of fire	800–900 rounds/min (7.7 mm); 700 rounds/min (575 rounds/min synchronized) (12.7 mm)
Muzzle velocity	730 metres per second (2,400 ft/s) (7.7 mm); 765 metres per second (2,510 ft/s) (12.7 mm)
Feed system	Belt-fed

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Breda-SAFAT (Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche / Breda Meccanica Bresciana - Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino) was an Italian weapons manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s that designed and produced a range of machine-guns and cannon primarily for use in aircraft. Based on the M1919 Browning machine gun, the Italian guns were chambered to fire indigenous ammunition with 7.7 mm (0.303 in) and 12.7 mm (0.500 in) calibres, predominantly ball, tracer for the 7.7mm, including high explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T) (filled with 0.8 grams of PETN), or armour-piercing (AP) for the 12.7mm.

Design and development

During the 1930s both Breda and SAFAT (a division of FIAT) were given the task of producing designs for a new range of machine-guns for use in aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica, the offering from Breda being preferred. FIAT contested the decision but lost, resulting in the sale of SAFAT to Breda to form Breda-SAFAT.

Despite the aim of producing an airborne machine-gun equal or superior to other similar weapons, the use of low propellant capacity rounds resulted in significantly lower muzzle velocities than other weapons of similar calibres. Other inadequacies included high weight and modest rates of fire as well as the ineffectiveness of the High Explosive-Incendiary-Tracer round.

However, despite these shortcomings, the Breda-SAFAT gun was generally praised by the Italian pilots and armourers: the pilots because of its long range and apparent good hitting power, the armourers because of its reliability.^[2]

Thus, Italy lacked machine-guns with the critical qualities of light weight, a high rate of fire, good muzzle velocity, good projectile weight and reliability, while the Soviets, Germans, Americans and Japanese had 12.7 mm calibre automatic ordnance in the Berezin UB, MG 131, Browning M2, and Ho-103 respectively. Late-war Italian aircraft began to adopt the "original" calibre German Mauser 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151 cannon to give their aircraft parity in firepower with Allied fighters, with as many as three MG 151 fitted to Macchi MC.205, Fiat G.55 and Reggiane Re.2005—the third cannon firing through the propeller hub of the licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines (Fiat Tifone) inline inverted V12 engines used to power these aircraft—in addition to synchronized cowl-mounted 12.7mm Bredas-SAFATs.

The Breda guns, although adequate in 1935 at the time of their design, were out-classed by the standards of 1940, with Italian fighters such as the Fiat C.R.42, Fiat G.50 Freccia, Macchi MC.200, Macchi MC.202 and Reggiane Re.2000 still only having two 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns and sometimes two extra 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns. Despite their shortcomings, thousands of Breda guns were built in the 1930s and 1940s, arming nearly every Italian fighter and bomber of that period. Many of these weapons were also adapted for the anti-aircraft role and remained in service until the 1970s as reserve weapons; even if all the aircraft that they equipped had been phased out by that time.

Applications

Fighters

Bombers

Ground-attack

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Williams, Anthony G.; Gustin, Dr. Emmanuel. Flying Guns of World War II.
^ Gustavsson, Håkan; Slongo, Ludvico (2012). Gladiator vs Cr.42 Falco: 1940–41. Duel 47. Osprey Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 9781849087087.

References

Ciampaglia, Giuseppe (2006). "Quando la Regia adottò il cannone da 20mm". RID Magazine (11).
Gustavsson, Håkan; Slongo, Ludvico (2012). Gladiator vs Cr.42 Falco : 1940–41. ISBN 9781849087087.
Williams, Anthony G.; Dr. Emmanuel Gustin (2003-02-01). Flying Guns of World War II. Ramsbury: Airlife. p. 316. ISBN 978-1-84037-227-4.

External links

Media related to Breda-SAFAT at Wikimedia Commons

Italian Wikipedia image of a SAFAT machine gun in the ground role

[Williams-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Williams, Anthony G.; Gustin, Dr. Emmanuel. Flying Guns of World War II.

[2] Gustavsson, Håkan; Slongo, Ludvico (2012). Gladiator vs Cr.42 Falco: 1940–41. Duel 47. Osprey Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 9781849087087.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox Weapon|is_ranged=yes|
+{{Infobox weapon
+| name               = Breda-SAFAT
-|     image=
+| image              = 12.7mmBreda-SAFAT.jpg
-|   caption=
-|      name=Breda-SAFAT
+| image_size         = 300
+| caption            = A {{convert|12.7|mm|in|abbr=on|3}} Breda-SAFAT machine gun on display at the [[Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]]
-|      type=Aircraft machine gun
+| origin             = Italy <!-- [[WP:INFOBOXFLAG]] -->
-|    origin={{flagcountry|Italy|1861-state}}
+| type               = [[Machine-gun]]
-|       era=World War II
+<!-- Type selection -->| is_ranged          = y
-|      design_date=1935
+<!-- Service history -->| service            = Late 1930s and 1940s
-| prod_design_date=
+| used_by            = [[Regia Aeronautica]]<br>[[Hungarian Air Force|Royal Hungarian Air Force]]<br>[[Syrian Army]]
-| serv_design_date=
+| wars               = [[Spanish Civil War]]<br>[[World War II]]<br>[[Six Day War]]
-| used_by=Italy
+<!-- Production history -->| designer           =
-|      wars=WW2
+| design_date        = 1935
-|   spec_type=
+| manufacturer       = Breda-SAFAT (''[[Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche]] / [[Breda Meccanica Bresciana]] / Società Italiana Ernesto Breda - [[Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino]]'')
-|   caliber=7.7 mm (0.303 in)<br/>12.7 mm (0.50 in)
+| unit_cost          =
-|    part_length=
+| production_date    =
-|    cartridge=7.7x56R (10.1 g)<br/>12.7x81SR (34.2 g)
-|    feed=
+| number             =
+| variants           = [[Breda-SAFAT 20mm cannon]]
-|    action=
+<!-- General specifications -->| spec_label         =
-|    rate=800–900 rounds/min (7.7 mm)<br/>700 rounds/min (575 rounds/min [[Interrupter gear|synchronized]]) (12.7 mm)
+| weight             = {{convert|12.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}} (7.7 mm)<br/>{{convert|29|kg|lb|abbr=on}} (12.7 mm)<ref name=Williams>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Anthony G.|title=Flying Guns of World War II   |first2=Dr. Emmanuel |last2=Gustin }}</ref>
-|    velocity=730 m/s (7.7 mm)<br/>765 m/s (12.7 mm)
-|    weight=12.5 kg (7.7 mm)<br/>29 kg (12.7 mm)
+| length             = {{convert|109|cm|in|abbr=on}} (7.7 mm)<br/>{{convert|139|cm|in|abbr=on}} (12.7 mm)<ref name=Williams/>
+| part_length        = {{convert|64|cm|in|abbr=on}} (7.7 mm)<br/>{{convert|80|cm|in|abbr=on}} (12.7 mm)<ref name=Williams/>
-|    length=
+<!-- Ranged weapon specifications -->| cartridge          = [[.303 British|7.7x56mmR]] light, [[12.7x81mmSR]] heavy
-|   variants=
+| cartridge_weight   =
-|   number=
+| caliber            = {{convert|7.7|mm|in|abbr=on|3}}<br/>{{convert|12.7|mm|in|abbr=on}}<ref name=Williams/>
+| barrels            = 1
+| action             = Short recoil<ref name=Williams/>
+| rate               = 800–900 rounds/min (7.7 mm)<br/>700 rounds/min (575 rounds/min [[Synchronization gear|synchronized]]) (12.7 mm)<ref name=Williams/>
+| velocity           = {{convert|730|m/s|ft/s}} (7.7 mm)<br/>{{convert|765|m/s|ft/s}} (12.7 mm)<ref name=Williams/>
+| feed               = Belt-fed<ref name=Williams/>
 }}
-'''Breda-SAFAT''' was a series of [[machine gun]]s used on [[Italy|Italian]] aircraft during [[World War II]]. The machine gun came in 7.7mm (0.303 inches) and 12.7mm (0.50 inches) variants. The 7.7mm variant was similar to the [[M1919 Browning machine gun]] and could use some types of [[.303 British]] ammunition. The 12.7mm version could fire a high-explosive/incendiary/tracing (HEIT) round with 0.8 grams of [[PETN]].
+'''Breda-SAFAT''' (''Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche / Breda Meccanica Bresciana'' - ''Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino'') was an Italian weapons manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s that designed and produced a range of machine-guns and cannon primarily for use in aircraft. Based on the [[M1919 Browning machine gun]], the Italian guns were chambered to fire indigenous ammunition with {{convert|7.7|mm|in|abbr=on|3}} and {{convert|12.7|mm|in|abbr=on|3}} calibres, predominantly ball, tracer for the 7.7mm, including high explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T) (filled with 0.8&nbsp;grams of [[PETN]]), or armour-piercing (AP) for the 12.7mm.
-The birth of these weapons came from the desire to have better machine-guns to face the new generation of aircraft, with their higher performance and better armor compared to older aircraft.  Breda based their designs off Browning machine-guns, adapted for Italian exigences, in particular with the change of cartridges from 7.62x63mm to 7.7x56R and from 12.7×99 to 12.7×81mm. The latter especially weakened the weapon and the goal of a lighter machine-gun with a high rate of fire proved a failure. In any case, the completed gun saw the concurrence of similar projects from the powerful industrial group Fiat, which proposed new weapons designed by its subsidiary factory, the SAFAT. But Breda/Browning machine guns proved superior, and the heaviest Browning machine gun was five kilograms lighter than the Fiat-SAFAT. Despite attempts by Fiat to sell their design, Regia selected Breda for the contract. Fiat still did not surrender and launched a lawsuit aimed at Breda. But Fiat lost their case and the court ordered it to pay the trial expenses as well. After this failure, Senator Giovanni Agnelli was so irritated that he decided to exit the small weapons industry for the next twenty years, selling SAFAT (Società Anonima-Fabbricazione Armi Torino) to Breda itself.  The Fiat predominance on machine-guns ended and began the rise of Breda, then an almost minuscule factory in Brescia.
+==Design and development==
-The muzzle velocity of  the Breda 12.7mm was less than other .50 calibre guns because its ammunition was 12.7×81mm and not 12.7×99mm or 12.7×108mm.  The Breda's muzzle energy was only 10,000 joules compared to 16,000–17,000 joules of other cartridges.  The Breda guns were reliable, but they had the worst power-weight ratio of all machine guns  mounted on World War II aircraft. In comparison, the Japanese [[Ho-103]] had a similar 12.7×81mm round but the gun was 6–7 kg lighter and hand a rate of fire of 800–900 rounds per minute with a 34.2 gram projectile.  The Japanese gun's rate of fire was at least 20% better, but was still reliable.  The Isotta-Fraschini Scotti tried to improve upon the Breda's performance, but it still had a lower rate of fire and was not as reliable. Despite the availability of high explosive shells, Italian pilots preferred in general the armor-piercing and incendiary ammunitions to the weak destructive capability of a mere 0.8 grams of explosives. It is untrue that other countries did not adopt high explosive 12.7–13mm caliber shells. Almost all did so, but they rated this ammunitions too weak to justify its cost and did little damage to metal structures.  On top of this, they were not effective against armor. But still, high explosive shells were only common with guns in caliber 20mm and over.  British experts called the high explosive smaller calibres "ridiculous" and the U.S. used only few series of HE 12.7mm ammunitions.
+During the 1930s both Breda and SAFAT (a division of [[FIAT]]) were given the task of producing designs for a new range of machine-guns for use in aircraft of the [[Regia Aeronautica]], the offering from Breda being preferred. FIAT contested the decision but lost, resulting in the sale of SAFAT to Breda to form Breda-SAFAT.
+Despite the aim of producing an airborne machine-gun equal or superior to other similar weapons, the use of low propellant capacity rounds resulted in significantly lower muzzle velocities than other weapons of similar calibres. Other inadequacies included high weight and modest rates of fire as well as the ineffectiveness of the High Explosive-Incendiary-Tracer round.
-Thus, Italy lacked machine guns with the critical qualities of light weight, high rate of fire, good muzzle velocity, good projectile weight, and reliability.  While the Russians, Germans, United States, and Japanese had them in the [[Berezin UB|Berezin]], [[MG 131]], M2, and Ho-103.  Late war Italian aircraft began to adopt the German Mauser [[MG 151]] to give their aircraft parity in firepower with Allied fighters.  Aircraft such as the [[Macchi MC.205]], [[Fiat G.55]], and [[Reggiane Re.2005]] had as many as three MG 151s in addition to two cowl mounted Breda machine guns.  The last generation of Italian aircraft of World War II were armed with MG 151s only.
+However, despite these shortcomings, the Breda-SAFAT gun was generally praised by the Italian pilots and armourers: the pilots because of its long range and apparent good hitting power, the armourers because of its reliability.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gustavsson |first1=Håkan |last2=Slongo  |first2=Ludvico |title=Gladiator vs Cr.42 Falco: 1940–41 |series=Duel 47 |year=2012 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=9781849087087 |page=71}}</ref>
-The Breda guns, although adequate in 1935 at the time of their design, were inadequate by the standards of 1940. In 1941 the [[Fiat C.R.42]], [[Fiat G.50]], [[Macchi MC.200]], [[Macchi MC.202]], and [[Reggiane Re.2000]] still only had two Breda 12.7mm machine guns and sometimes with two extra wing mounted Breda 7.7mm guns.  This was clearly inferior armament at the time, equal to that of CR.32s in 1935.  Nevertheless, thousands of Breda machine guns were built in the 1930s and 1940s, arming nearly every Italian fighter and bomber aircraft of that period.  Many of these reliable weapons were adapted also for the anti-aircraft role, and remained in service until the 1970s as reserve weapons, even if all the aircraft that they equipped were phased out by that time. The last heavy machine gun used on Italian aircraft was the Browning M3, as used on the [[Fiat G.91]]R.
+Thus, Italy lacked machine-guns with the critical qualities of light weight, a high rate of fire, good muzzle velocity, good projectile weight and reliability, while the Soviets, Germans, Americans and Japanese had 12.7&nbsp;mm calibre automatic ordnance in the [[Berezin UB]], [[MG 131]], [[Browning M2]], and [[Ho-103 machine gun|Ho-103]] respectively. Late-war Italian aircraft began to adopt the "original" calibre German Mauser {{convert|20|mm|in|abbr=on|3}} [[MG 151 cannon]] to give their aircraft parity in firepower with Allied fighters, with as many as three MG 151 fitted to [[Macchi MC.205]], [[Fiat G.55]] and [[Reggiane Re.2005]]—the third cannon firing through the propeller hub of the licence-built [[Daimler-Benz DB 605]] engines (Fiat ''Tifone'') inline inverted V12 engines used to power these aircraft—in addition to [[Synchronization gear|synchronized]] cowl-mounted 12.7mm Bredas-SAFATs.
+The Breda guns, although adequate in 1935 at the time of their design, were out-classed by the standards of 1940, with Italian fighters such as the [[Fiat C.R.42]], [[Fiat G.50 Freccia]], [[Macchi MC.200]], [[Macchi MC.202]] and [[Reggiane Re.2000]] still only having two 12.7&nbsp;mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns and sometimes two extra 7.7&nbsp;mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns. Despite their shortcomings, thousands of Breda guns were built in the 1930s and 1940s, arming nearly every Italian fighter and bomber of that period. Many of these weapons were also adapted for the anti-aircraft role and remained in service until the 1970s as reserve weapons; even if all the aircraft that they equipped had been phased out by that time.
+==Applications==
+[[File:Breda safat of fiat rs14.jpg|thumb|12.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns in the waist gun positions of a [[FIAT R.S.14]]]]
+===Fighters===
+* [[Fiat CR.32]]
+* [[Fiat CR.42]]
+* [[Fiat G.50 Freccia]]
+* [[Fiat G.55]]
+* [[Macchi C.200]]
+* [[Macchi C.202]]
+* [[Macchi C.205]]
+* [[Reggiane Re.2000]]
+* [[Reggiane Re.2002]]
+* [[Reggiane Re.2005]]
+===Bombers===
+* [[Caproni Ca.133]]
+* [[Caproni Ca.309]]
+* [[Caproni Ca.310]]
+* [[Fiat BR.20]]
+* [[Piaggio P.108]]
+* [[Savoia-Marchetti SM.79]]
+===Ground-attack===
+* [[Breda Ba.64]]
+* [[Breda Ba.65]]
+* [[Breda Ba.88 Lince]]
+* [[CANSA FC.20]]
+==Notes==
+{{reflist}}
 == References ==
+* {{cite journal|author=Ciampaglia, Giuseppe|title=Quando la Regia adottò il cannone da 20mm|journal=RID Magazine|issue=11|year=2006}}
+* Gustavsson, Håkan; Slongo, Ludvico (2012). Gladiator vs Cr.42 Falco : 1940–41. {{ISBN|9781849087087}}.
+*{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Anthony G.|title=Flying Guns of World War II|publisher=Airlife|location=Ramsbury|isbn=978-1-84037-227-4|pages=316|author2=Dr. Emmanuel Gustin|date=2003-02-01}}
+==External links==
-* {{cite journal|last=Ciampaglia Giuseppe|title=Quando la Regia adottò il cannone da 20mm|journal=RID magazine|issue=11|year=2006}}
+{{Commons category-inline|Breda-SAFAT}}
+*[[:it:File:Breda safat 12,7 campale.jpg|Italian Wikipedia image of a SAFAT machine gun in the ground role]]
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Breda-Safat Machine Gun}}
 [[Category:Aircraft guns]]
-[[Category:Medium machine guns]]
 [[Category:Heavy machine guns]]
+[[Category:Medium machine guns]]
+[[Category:Machine guns of Italy]]
-[[it:Mitragliatrice Breda-SAFAT]]
-[[pl:Breda-SAFAT]]
+[[Category:Breda weapons]]
+[[Category:World War II machine guns]]
-[[sv:Breda-SAFAT]]
+[[Category:12.7×81 mm firearms]]