In the BMW S1000RR comments, the German 88 was brought up.  Great weapon system that.  88mm, or 3.4 Inch, it was a big bore gun for Anti-Aircraft work, but it also served very well in both Field Artillery and Anti-Tank roles.  Especially since our tanks were not burdened with an overabundance of Armor.

They used the 88 for everything… mounting it on everything they had that needed a big gun.   The concept of the 88 was used by us, in the form of our 105mm guns.  But still, the 105 as good as it is, especially in Smooth Bore versions, just never had that same Jack of All Trades utility of the 88.

Just take a look at this.  Too many good pics to post up, even cherry picking the best ones.

On trains, on tracks, direct fire, AA, Arty, on wheels… And the fact that they could all fire the same shells made Logistics a breeze.  Simple and Multi-Role effective.  And at the time, allied forces didn’t really have anything quite like it.