Triple-A: What goes up must come down.

[Scott Rose]

Quad mounted .50 Vickers Gun onboard HMS London. (Imperial War Museum Photo)


German Flak Battery, Russia, Late 1942 (Source: Unknown)

[raconnel]

It does indeed! I believe that, at Pearl Harbor, a lot of the damage to civilian buildings and vehicles was from AA debris.

Richard

[Scott Rose]

Row of 20mm Oerlikon cannons aboard U.S.S. Hornet (U.S. Navy Photo)

[Scott Rose]

88mm Flak 18 Battery, probably in North Africa. (Source Unknown)

[Forgotten Field]

WWII US Army AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) Units have some interesting history. AAA units were in use during WWI, and the improvements in air power solidified their need for national defense. In the post-Great War reorganization of the US Army in the early 1920's, multiple units were created in the National Guard (NG) and Organized Reserve (AR) for this purpose. Most NG units were descendant units of old regimental units with the new technologically advanced anti-aircraft artillery role added as their mission. Due to the separation of responsibilities of US Defense, these units fell under the Coast Artillery Corps, and were some of the first units activated in the 1940-1941 call-up for the "limited national emergency." A little known unit was the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, of the New Mexico National Guard. They were called up in 1941 and headed to the Philippines later that year, stationed around Clark Field, later taking part in the defense of Bataan and ultimately the Bataan Death March.

If the subject interests anybody, there is a great website with histories of the Coast Artillery AAA units at this link:

http://cdsg.org/coast-artillery-corps/

[Mark Allen M]

Gun crews aboard USS South Dakota man their 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942.

[raconnel]

That gunner reminds me of Reddy Kilowatt.

[maxum96]

Lots of damage in Los Angeles back in 1942 from AAA during the Battle of LA.

[leo]

From what I have read almost all of the damage in Honolulu et al was caused by naval fire, they just fired at will and many shells were incorrectly fused for AA.
I have always been amazed that anything got through the wall of AA that our carrier groups put up!