27k b/w drawing of different variants of the DA machine gun from "Sowjetische Bombenflugzeuge" ("Soviet Bombers") by W. Kopenhagen.
37k b/w photo of twin DA-2 gun together with its designer V.A. Degtyaryov (same source as above).

DA 7.62mm machine gun

Designation stands for Degtyaryov Aviatsionnyj - aircraft machine gun designed by V.A. Degtyaryov.

This gun was a modification of the light infantry machine gun DP (Degtyaryov Pekhotnyi), the design of which had been begun by V.A. Degtyaryov in 1924 and which was introduced into service with the Red Army in 1927.

The DA gun was primarily intended to equip the gun turrets of the then new Soviet bombers. But there are known fixed installations also. It was a gas-operated gun and the ammunition was fed from flat disc-type magazines containing 63 cartridges. Compared with its predecessor, the DA had a pistol-like hand grip and a much shorter, upwards-sloping butt-end (for better handling inside the narrow gun turrets). There was also a bag under the gun to collect the spent cartridges.

Service introduction was in 1929. From 1930 on there was also delivered a twin-gun version, the DA-2 (the designation DA-1 for the single gun can also be found in some sources). Soviet sources quote that until March 30, 1930 1,200 DA guns had already been delivered and 1,000 more were awaiting delivery.

Modified May 5, 2000 by Thomas Heinz;

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