Flakpanzer IV Ostwind

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Arcade Realistic Simulator

General info

Ostwind in the Garage.

The Flakpanzer IV Ostwind is a Rank III German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun with a battle rating of 4.7. It was introduced in Update 1.43.

The main purpose, usage and tactics recommendations

General play style

The Flakpanzer IV Ostwind is a anti-aircraft platform on the Panzer IV chassis. Armed with a rapid firing 37mm FlaK43 cannon, it is capable of dishing out serious damage to enemy aircraft. Being a modified Panzer IV, the Ostwind has decent speed and maneuverability compared to other vehicles at its rank. Due to being outfitted with a 37mm cannon, it will struggle to defend itself from enemy armour if shooting frontally, but with the right type of ammo, could do damage if shooting into the sides. When operating the vehicle, its recommended to not be isolated from friendly armour for you are a very easy target.

Vehicle characteristics

Tactics

Specific enemies worth noting

Counter-tactics

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Even one hit from the cannon will deal significant damage to aircraft
  • Impressive ammo capacity of 1000 rounds
  • Insane reload rate of 0.3 seconds
  • Excellent turret traverse to keep up the fire on enemy air
  • Vastly faster fire rate compared to Sd.Kfz. 6/2

Cons:

  • Armour not competitive at its tier
  • Hexagonal turret susceptible to HE rounds
  • Insanely high repair cost in Arcade Battles makes grinding almost impossible (18,158 SL upgraded repair cost)
  • Open roof is an easy target for strafing runs

Specifications

Arcade Realistic Simulator

Armament

1 x 3.7 cm FlaK43 cannon
  • Ammunition Capacity: 1,000 Shells (8 round magazine)
  • Rate of Fire: 250 Shots per Minute
  • Gun Depression: -10°
  • Gun Elevation: 87°
  • Turret Rotation Speed: 20.8°/s (Stock), 28.82°/s (Upgraded), __._°/s (Prior + Full Crew), __._°/s (Prior + Expert Qualif.), 41.8°/s (Prior + Ace Qualif.)
  • Reloading Rate: 0.3s (Stock), __._s (Full Crew), __._s (Prior + Expert Qualif.), __._s (Prior + Ace Qualif.)

Ammunition

Ammunition Penetration in mm @ Type of
warhead 		Velocity
in m/s 		Projectile
Mass in kg 		Fuse delay
in m: 		Fuse sensitivity
in mm: 		Explosive Mass in
TNT equivalent
in g: 		Normalization At 30°
from horizontal: 		Ricochet:
10m 100m 500m 1000m 1500m 2000m 0% 50% 100%
PzGr 65 64 52 40 30 23 APHE 740 0.69 1.3 15 22.1 -1° 43° 30° 15°
Sprgr. 18 2 2 2 2 2 2 FI-T 820 0.62 0.3 0.1 49.3 +0° 11° 10° 9°
M.Gr. 18 4 4 4 4 4 4 FI-T 914 0.55 0.3 0.1 108 +0° 11° 10° -

Belt types

Belts Shell composition Combat usage
Default APHE / FI-T
(Armour Piercing High Explosive –Fragmentation Incendiary tracer) shell 		50% of this belt are useless against tanks or planes. However against other SPAA this belt can reliably take out crew, armament, ammo and engine. Having one belt in reserve does not hurt.|-
Sprgr. 18 FI-T
(Fragmentation Incendiary Tracer) shell 		Versus planes and open combat compartment vehicles. Aircraft will usually take three to six hits.
PzGr APHE
(Armour Piercing High Explosive) shell 		Decent enough versus light tanks and other vehicles from the side and rear. Due the lack of HE filler, it causes underwhelming damage so many shells would have to be fired for good effect on target.
M.Gr. 18 FI-T
(Fragmentation Incendiary Tracer) shell 		Great against light-skinned vehicles and aircraft. Can usually take down aircraft in one to two hits.

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Ostwind.
Full
ammo 		1st
rack empty 		2nd
rack empty 		3rd
rack empty 		4th
rack empty 		Recommendations Comments Visual
discrepancy
125 93 (+32) 62 (+63) 31 (+94) 0 (+125) Turret empty: Keep full Clips with 8 rounds each (1000 rounds max)
*Ammunition clips in turret do not empty.		 Yes

Crew

  • Commander
  • Gunner
  • Loader
  • Driver
  • Assistant Driver

Total: 5 Crew members

Armour

Armour type:

  • Rolled homogeneous armour
Armour Front Sides Rear Roof
Hull 80 mm (11°) Front plate
20 mm (72°) Front glacis
80 mm (11-12°) Lower glacis		 30 mm 30 mm (4-15°) 10 mm
Turret 25 mm (27-31°) 25 mm (29-31°) 25 mm (33-39°) N/A

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
  • Some track links are placed on the front glacis, adding 15 mm armour at their area.
  • Belly armour is 10 mm thick.

Engine & mobility

Weight: 25.0 ton

Max Speed: 42 km/h
Stock

  • Engine Power: 426 hp @ 3000 rpm
  • Power-to-Weight Ratio: 17.04 hp/ton
  • Maximum Inclination: 40°

Upgraded

  • Engine Power: 525 hp @ 3000 rpm
  • Power-to-Weight Ratio: 21.00 hp/ton
  • Maximum Inclination: 43°

Modules and improvements

History of creation and combat usage

Development

Development of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns that could keep up with the Panzer formations were not taken into consideration in the early years of World War II due to the Luftwaffe's superiority over the air, but gradual losses in the Luftwaffe and inability to support their flights gave the Allies the upper hand in the air, granting them air superiority. The growing air power of the Allies forced the Germans to develop methods to protect their tank formations from strafing from Allied aircraft, one early design to protect the front line tanks was the Flakpanzer IV Mobelwagen, an interim design as Flakpanzer designs underwent development. SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Wilhelm Krause of the 12th SS Panzer Division came up with the concept of the Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind in the summer of 1944. The commander of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment, SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Wünsche, received this and presented it to Hitler, to which he approved for its development.

The Wirbelwind design used the Panzer IV as its basis, but the original Panzer IV turret was removed and replaced with a open-topped turret that mounted the anti-aircraft armament. The anti-aircraft armament chosen for the Wirbelwind was a quadruple mounted 2 cm FlaK 38. The Wirbelwind entered service in 1944 in time to see service during the Battle of Normandy. Combat experience showed that the 2 cm FlaK 38 cannons on the vehicle was insufficient to deal with the more armoured Allied aircraft. Thus, the 2 cm Flak 38 was replaced with a 3.7 cm Flak 43 cannon. The new vehicle mounting it was essentially a Wirbelwind adapted to mount the single autocannon, named the Flakpanzer IV Ostwind, and featured a modified, but still open-topped six-sided turret for the cannon. The production of the Ostwind went on in the Ostbau Werke at Sagan, Silesia. Only 44 of such vehicles were manufactured from July 1944 to March 1945.

Combat usage

The troops nicknamed the Ostwind the same name as the Wirbelwind, the "Keksdose" (Biscuit Tin), due to its unique turret shape. The Ostwind were equipped with Panzer formations to protect them against low-flying aircraft. Compared to the Wirbelwind's 2 cm Flak cannons, the 3.7 cm FlaK 43 gave the Ostwind a more effective firing range and damage to the target. The Ostwind served in an anti-aircraft role and a ground support role like the Wirbelwind, to which its high rate of fire and large caliber caused devastating effects to unarmoured or lightly armoured targets. The Ostwind reportedly saw service during the Ardennes Offensive in the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"

It was determined that the Flakpanzer IV in the Wirbelwind and Ostwind configurations were to be replaced by the Flakpanzer IV Kugelblitz by early 1945, in an attempt to yet again increase the firepower of the anti-aircraft guns. But this never happened due to the war ending before the Kugelblitz could be deployed.

Ingame description

@var:description

Screenshots and fan art

Skins and camouflages for the _____ from live.warthunder.com.

Additional information (links)

References


Sidebar

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germ_flakpanzer_iv_ostwind.png

Icon-country-der.png Ostwind
Nation Germany
Type SPAA
Rank 3
Battle Rating
4.7

   Metric✓       Imperial   

Characteristics
Weight
25,000 kg
Number of Crew 5
Hull armour thickness
80/30/30/10 mm
Statistics
Engine power (stock)
426 hp
Engine power (upgraded)
525 hp
HP/ton ratio (stock)
17.04
HP/ton ratio (Upgraded)
21.00
Max speed
42 km/h
Main Weapon
1 x 37 mm FlaK 43 Autocannon
Ammo stowage 1,000 rounds
Vertical guidance -10°/87°
Economy
Required RP 40,000 RP
Vehicle cost 150,000 SL
Crew training cost 43,000 SL
Max repair cost*
9,070 SL
Free repair time (Stock)
5d 20h
Free repair time (Upgraded)
1d 22h
Warning: this sidebar is a WIP and can be incorrect. Last updated 1.75.0.185.
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