airborne forces

Army Still Wants Mobile Protected Firepower From An Air-Droppable Tank Army officials gathered at Ft. Benning, GA, last week to discuss the future of the service's maneuver forces and consistently brought up a lingering capability gap for mobile protected firepower they say must be...

Thanks to JUNKHO over at MilitaryPhotos.net for the first clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3iRaVnbw&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50cpPAVoxJQ

Check out this article at RetroMechanix.com on the General Airborne Transport XCG-16, an American flying wing type combat glider with twin booms and a single rudder dating from 1944: The article reproduces an Army Air Force preliminary evaluation report on the type, which features 21 high...

Hi friends, trying to give some order in my archives I found e potential topic for this forum, related to lesser known light multi-purpose vehicles for Italian armed forces. The first I found was not secret nor only prototype as it served with several Stormi or Aerobrigate (corresponding to the...

Alongside the training and cargo gliders already in service at the outbreak of World War II, an idea that received more attention with the U.S. Army Air Force was the assault glider. Major Lewin B. Barringer, a glider specialist, on the staff of AAF, presented blueprints for such a glider in the...

Hi All! In early 1946, USAAF issued a preliminary specification for a 50,000 pounds payload Heavy Cargo and Troop carrier type aircraft. My opinion these manufacturers were participating of this competition: Fairchild Model 99 Lockheed Model L-168 Martin Model 240 (?) (?)...

G'day gents I stumbled across this Soviet prototype 2S2 (122mm I assume!) airborne SPH design, which looks like it is based on the BMD-1 chassis Does anyone have any more info (specifications/drawings/pics) on this design? Also does anyone know why it didn't it enter service? Looking...

Rotorcycles In the early 1950s the US Marine Corps was considering a single seat portable ultra light helicopter which could be airdropped. The programme was conducted by the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research and included the following designs: Hiller 1033 Rotorcycle: Two prototypes...

RMI Aircraft Designations RMI stood for Repülo Muszaki Intézet or Aviation Technical Institute. Aircraft were primarily (but not exclusively) designed for RMI by László Varga. As a result, RMI designs are often given the Varga name (in some cases, even when he was not a major designer)...

Operation Ikarus on wwii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ikarus Anyone know more about this ?

I came across this neat OSS briefing film referenced in the Wikipedia article on the M29 Weasel. The 10 minute video--worth the wait, I promise--includes some discussion of the various alternative approaches to travel across ice and snow that were evaluated as well as a lot of footage of the...

I am looking for a picture of the Douglas CG-19 glider project that was initiated in 1946. Anybody can help? Jso Heyman

In RE Smith's British Army Vehicles and Equipment (Ian Allan, 1964) There is an entry for the "T.V.1000". Described as a 6x6, differentially steered test vehicle powered by a 535bhp Meteorite petrol engine dating from 1959. It is continues: "one of the most powerful wheel vehicles then in...

During WW II the idea of the transport glider was "en vogue", so several countries developed and built such types. One of them was Sweden. The AB Flygindustri of Halmstad designed a glider with the designation Fi 3 of wooden construction, intended for 11 troops plus pilot. Much better known...