AERIAL DEFENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 22, 5 November 1938, Page 5

AERIAL DEFENCE.

THE NEW GUN IN BRITAIN. SMALLER ONE COMPLEMENTARY. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, November 4. The Secretary of State for War (Mr Hore-Belisha) mentioned in the House of Commons that there was being‘put into operation a 4.5-inch gun which would further strengthen the anti-air-craft armament. He hoped that those men allotted the 3.7 guns would not consider them obsolete, as the 3.7 gun was complementary to the 4.5, as the 3-inch was to the 3.7.—British Official Wireless.

A London cablegram published on Wednesday stated: The “Daily Express,” under the heading “Big Defence Secret out: Britain has World’s Most Powerful Anti-aircraft Gun,’’ says the report of the Select Committee on the Estimates reveals the existece of a 4.5 anti-aircraft gun. Military circles were surprised to find it mentioned, as they regarded it as an official secret. FieldMarshal Goering’s newspaper “National Zeitung” recently stated that Germany’s 3.46 in anti-aircraft gun, with a ceiling of 26,000 feet, and capable of firing 20 shots a minute, was “a weapon to which foreigners paid special attention.” Britain’s gun is now known to be of revolutionary design and performance far surpassing that of the recent -3.7 in gun, which has a 30,000foot ceiling and is capable of firing 12 rounds a minute.

In a cablegram' published on October 20 regarding the manufacture of guns in Australia, it was stated that the War Office was agreeable to the manufacture in Australia for New Zealand of a 4.5 in., gun, which was a considerable advance on the 3.7 in. The details were being closely guarded. The gun was not yet standard equipment in Britain.