German artillery aimed skyward

[Steve1871]

I know they did this with matching guns to shoot at aircraft, but no see trying hit a plane with a cannon. Can someone explain why they did this. The whole set up is costly to make

[AOK4]

It's a flak gun. There were plenty of this kind of guns in use. Without the whole setup, it was impossible to get enough elevation to shoot at planes.

Special flak guns were developed during the war, but this kind of construction remained in use.

Edited 2 January by AOK4

[Steve1871]

Thanks AOK4

[Spaceman]

In the first years of the war, none of the nations had a gun capable of shooting at aircraft. The gun shown is a 7.7 cm Fk 96 n.A clearly mounted on an improvised anti-aircraft mounting. The Germans eventually developed the dual purpose 10 cm Kanone 14 capable of firing at elevations of up to 45 degrees and employing a complicated 2-man sighting system. However, they did not fully appreciate the difficulty of shooting at aircraft when the gun was designed and it proved a complete failure. It was not until the 8.8 cm Flak 16 was introduced in 1917 that they had an effective anti-aircraft gun. 

[Steve1871]

Thank you SPACEMAN. Always love to learn!