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In Austria-Hungary trials were made with mortars that didn't use explosives but pressurized air to propel the projectile. Several air pressurized mortars were taken into service by the Austro-HUngarian army, among them the 20cm Luftminenwerfer M.16. This type, like the others, used the so called System Spitz-Bartelmus, which meant that the projectile was loaded through a special breech at the bottom of the tube, but above an air chamber. The 3 meter long barrel was fixed at a elevation of 45º. During the time the bulbous air chamber was filled with pressurized air, the projectile was held in place using a sort of clutch, which was released when the pressure was correct (max 55 atmospheres) and the aiming was done. Then the projectile (22.6 or 34.4 kilos) was forced out, reaching a maximum range of some 1.460 meters. It weighed some 725 kilos emplaced, and required a crew of five. My model is based on the HäT mortar that can be found in their Austro-Hungarian Heavy Weapons set. It has been detailed, and also the models only big error has been corrected: for some reason the barrel doesn't reach down to the big air chamber, so I have inserted another piece of barrel. The crew is mostly from HäT's Austro-Hungarian Heavy Weapons set. Click on the thumbnails to see more views of this model (notice that on many of these, the model will appear larger than life):
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The
trench warfare led to a big revival of an old artillery system, the mortar, and
many experiments and innovations were made in the fighting nations. 
