Can some explain the difference between a 88MM Flak gun 36 and a 37? just curious.

Juggler

Wikipedia does a good job of explaining it
Wiki page

Boils down to a few minor modifications

The Flak 37's main external difference was the switchover to the dial faced aim indicators. Also no Flak 37s had the ammo rammer either.

thanks scott

And Roy, thanks also

Add to this, that a Flak 36/37 could also take a Flak 18/36/37 gun making a clear identification not that simple.

So Flak 36 mount could have a Flak 18 gun for instance.

The difference especially between a FlaK 18 and 37 gun from a distance isn't that clear. The FlaK 36 gun has a rather distinct "step" where the former 2 are more smooth in appearance.

I'm sure Herbert means the Flak 18 rohr barrel.

Items like the early barrel and the mid and late gun shields were interchangeable. I've seen a photo of a Flak 37 mounting the early Flak 18 gun tube. I've seen a Flak 18 mounting a later curved type of gun shield most commonly associated with Flak 37s.

I wrote an article for Boresight Magazine on how to identify the various three models along with a long errata sheet on book captions (some are utterly rubbish). Email me and I'll forward it to you.

What hasn't been said is that the gun tube (Rohr in German) on the original 88 (the 18 model) was one-piece. When the rifling wore out, the entire tube had to be replaced (if I'm not incorrect). The 36 and 37 models incorporated a two-piece sleeve that allowed the inner part to be swapped-out without replacing the whole gun barrel. This is why the later models have a decided "bulge" mid-way down the barrel. There are indentations in that bulge item that allow it to unscrew from the base of the barrel.

You can see both types (the "bulge" two-piece barrel is on the left) in this photograph from this cool blog about WW II weapons:



As Roy pointed out, the base could handle both the new and older style barrels, and often did, due to parts shortages and the exigencies of war.

The FlaK 18, however, is a different breed of gun carriage with only two wheels on the front unit; it was also towed with the barrel facing forwards.

One area of confusion is the guns are often referred to by their gun tube numbers (18 or 36) and not their carriage designations (18, 36 or 37).

It gets all rather confusing.

About the position of the gun whilst being towed, is it a fact that there was only rearward facing towing of the FlaK 36/37?

And in essence, the whole gun falls into 3 parts:
- Platform (the crucifix so to say)
- Mount (the round base plus gun cradle)
- Barrel

And yes, I meant barrel, not gun as a whole. My bad.

There are 2 extremely excellent FlaK 88 guns on display at Overloon's Marshal Museum.

Good topic, especially since I just started Tamiya's Flak 36/37. I noticed the different dial instruments and the collar on the barrel just looking at the instruction book. The instruction book however shows that the collar on the barrel is larger on the 36 than the 37, is that right?

Herbert: the Flak 36 and 37 could have the barrel pointed either way as the SdAnh 202 bogies were interchangeable with either end of the Flak's carriage. Not so with the Flak 18.

Both the Overloon guns have Flak 18 barrels, but I did not notice the carriages as, I think, they were both in firing position.

Chris