each of which (along with the central pedestal) had adjustable screwed foot for leveling. For transport each of the legs could be folded, and the barrel was also partially retractable. Combat record Tactically employed in battle as a four-gun field battery, Japanese combat forces used the weapon during the invasion of Manchuria, Soviet-Japanese Border Wars and the Second Sino-Japanese War. They found the Type 88 gun's high velocity rounds were extremely effective anti-tank weapon when fired horizontally. The weapon was the standard Japanese mobile antiaircraft artillery weapon and used against Allied forces more than any other artillery weapon. During both the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa it was used effectively with armor-piercing rounds against American M4 Sherman tanks and as a coastal-defense gun. Against armor, it had the advantage of a 360 degree traverse, but it was not easily moved and so it was less effective when fired from ambush against tanks. Towards the end of the war many of the Type 88s were withdrawn from front line combat service and sent back to the home islands, to help reinforce Japan's homeland defenses against Allied air raids and to prepare for the threat of Allied invasion. It was assigned to civil defense units in major Japanese cities, but its maximum effective vertical range of meant it was ineffective against the USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers, which could fly as high as . Some guns were also assigned to coastal defense batteries. A variant was experimentally fitted to a Ki-109 bomber in an attempt to shoot down the B-29 Superfortress bombers at high altitude. Weapons of comparable role, performance and era British QF 3 inch 20 cwt United States 3-inch M1918 gun Ammunition Anti-aircraft Type 90 HE AA pointed: complete round: 8.94 kg, projectile: 6.52 kg with Type 89 AA fuse High explosive Type 90 HE pointed: complete round: 8.55 kg, projectile: 6.35 with Type 88 impact or Type 88 delay Armor-piercing Type 95 APHE: complete round: 6.2 kg Shrapnel Smoke Incendiary Illumination See also Type 96 AA gun prime mover Notes References Bishop, Chris (eds) The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Barnes & Nobel. 1998. . Chant, Chris. Artillery of World War II, Zenith Press, 2001, . McLean, Donald B. Japanese Artillery; Weapons and Tactics. Wickenburg, Ariz.: Normount Technical Publications 1973. . Mayer, S.L. The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan. The Military Press, 1984.