Bringing more firepower to the fore for your British Airborne – the 20mm Polsten Cannon is ready to hitch up to your jeep, load into the Horsa gliders and take off for the invasion!
Designed by a team of British, Polish and Czech designers before 1941 it was built with the focus on being simpler and much cheaper to manufacture than the Oerlikon without reducing its effectiveness.
Although the British command at the time preferred the 40mm Bofors over 20mm weapons, it was decided there was still a need – the Polsten, only having 119 parts compared to the Oerlikon cannon which was made out of 250 parts, would see over 13,500 built and was still in service at the end of 1944.
300 light weight and collapsible frames were designed specifically for the needs of the new airborne service as preparation for the invasion of Europe, and would be seen in service for Operation Market Garden and the drop on Arnhem.
Many other variants of this simple and effective weapon would be developed to fit a wide array of vehicles, such as the Crusader AA, and it would remain in use to the 1950s.
- Weight 57 kg (126 lb)
- Length 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)
- Barrel length 1.45 m (4 ft 9 in) (barrel)
- Calibre 20 mm (0.78 in)
- Rate of fire 450 rpm
- Muzzle velocity 830 m/s (2,700 ft/s)
- Effective firing range 1,000 m (3,281 ft)
- Maximum firing range 2,000 m (6,562 ft)
- Feed system 60 round drum magazine or 30 round box magazine
In Bolt Action
| Cost: | 40pts (inexperienced), 50pts (Regular), 60pts (Veteran) |
| Team: | 3 men |
| Weapon: | 1 light automatic cannon |
| Options: | May add a second, third or fourth light auto cannon to the mount at a cost of +30pts per gun. |
| Special Rules: | |
| Team Weapon | |
| Fixed | |
| FlaK |
How about towing it into combat with your airborne jeep then add you glider to get them into their target zone with this nifty combo set:
Check out the entire British Airborne range here:
Dan Hewitson
Tom Mecredy
Craig Nixon