alternate history

After the Sino-Soviet split the PLA really stagnated until they opened to the west in the late 70s, but even then the slow trickle of technology didn't help the PLA too much. It was the fall of the Soviet Union and the Russians providing them with lots of relatively advanced equipment and...

On 2 april, 1968 premier Stanley Kubrick masterpiece 4 years earlier he decided to make The "Perfect" Movie and he succeeded 50 years later 2001: A Space Odyssey has nothing lost of its Magic, its mysteries Its Space Hardware still looks realistic, even timeless Allot of Sci-Fi Movies made...

In the late 60s the Germans were looking for a replacement for its ground attack Fiat G 91s. As an offset against costs for BAOR and RAF Germany the UK succeeds in selling Harriers to the Bundeswehr and getting Dornier involved in its production and a joint trainer which becomes the Hawk. HS and...

Not trying to provoke either side of the current debate but I am old enough to remember a time when the 6 original members of the European Community discussed the setting up of a full blown EDF in the 1960s. It was never a runner politically but had it been, I imagine the following equipment...

Listening to "The Birds" on Radio 4 last week reminded me of a paperback novel I bought in the 70s by Daphne Du Maurier about a US warship landing in Cornwall during a "near future" in which Britain had left the European Community as it then was and was forced into a Union with the US. I recall...

This is a suggestion to the administrator. How about a thread or threads of fictional TV and movie spacecraft and aircraft?

Updated This is updated artwork for the F-23A illustrations I did for Scott Lowther's APR article. Ogami mushashi had noticed some errors in the top view of the F-23A, so I finally got around to updating it. All views were updated. I'll probably do some updates for the NATF as well. I added...

As we know the Russians managed to standardise their tanks forces in the 60s and 70s on two designs: The T55 and later the T72. What tank should NATO have chosen if politics had been no object?

In the spirit of what-if? Scotland votes to exit the United Kingdom and re-join the EU. As part of the negotiations with the London Government, the Scottish First Minister insists that all nuclear warheads for the Trident submarines must leave Scottish territory as soon as Scotland becomes...

The original Cuban invasion plan, authorized by President John F. Kennedy on January 28, 1961, was code named Operation Pluto. The plan was to land approximately 1,500 Cuban exiles on the coast of Trinidad, Cuba, between the Escambray Mountains and the southern coast of Cuba. The plan was...

1983, rather than 1982 is a key date for decisions for the RN and UK defence as a whole, in the light of the Falklands and it's effect not just on defence thinking but on the UK populace's attitude to their country. As surely as it was to the political establishment. But in terms of changes a...

Hi folks, Maybe this really belongs in 'The Bar' but just indulging in a little alternative history speculation, I wonder what might have happened if what are to us genuine American, Soviet and British 1930s-1940s designs such as (e.g.) the Tremulis ‘Zero’ Fighter, the Lockheed L-133, the...

If I understand it correctly, in World War 1, Austria-Hungary's army consisted of the Imperial Austrian Landswehr, the Royal Hungarian Honved and an "Common" Army. If Austria-Hungary had lasted into WW2, either in it's historical form, or as some kind of federal constitutional "dual" monarchy...

One of the most common what-ifs has intrigued me for a while and I wondered what the effects of it might be. The Paris Summit of 1960 was one of missed opportunities of the Cold War. Putting aside CIA conspiracy theories, I wondered that the effects of having the right people in the right place...

Just seen these on the GPTNW Facebook page......Enjoy! And feel free to rip this apart! :D

Futuristic helicopter from the Russian urban fantasy/horror film Temnyy Mir (Dark World) (2010).

This link give you the frontpage from the new York times, Frank Poole was reading in Discovery. The Front news talks of missing airliner with 2304 people on board ! the craft label HEP/COMM 11-Z4 got twelve engine and take 2500 passengers and crew of 199 it make 2400 mph in 70000 feet...

I've caught papacavy's "What If" disease, but this is purely for interest rather than literary purposes. As we all know, the Fairey Battle was an airplane which, once tested in combat, did not imbue its crews with any confidence that they would come home from attacking defended targets. Let's...

As we end the first year of remembering the start of the First World War and begin to think about the end of the Second World War and the world Britain found itself in, many experts have given us their thoughts on TV and elsewhere about Britain's role in both wars and their impact on Britain's...

If Eurcopter had built the Heavy Transport Helicopter, is it likely that Eurocopter would have named the helicopter for a big cat continuing the naming convention of Sud Aviation/Aerospatiale? Or do you believe that it would have been named for another animal? Any guesses on the EC model number?