world war ii

Hi everybody, I often read that Curtiss-Wright Aviation did not do enough research work during the Second World War to be able to survive its aeronautical branch and face the new markets after the Second World War. It is considered that its production and improvement work on the P-40 (we can...

Ever since the first Zeppelin raids in World War 1 the vulnerability of the civilian population of the UK to attack from the air has been a major factor in shaping our armed forces. The tile "Air Defence of Great Britain" comes from the organisation set up to meet the only air threat imagined in...

The British aviation historian Michael J F Bowyer died recently, aged 95. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/30/michael-bowyer-obituary

CONTENTS GUNS Ikaria MG FF (20-mm) Mauser MG 151 Series (15/20-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 103 (30-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 (30-mm) Mauser MG 81 (7.92-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 131 (13-mm) Mauser MG/MK 213 C Rheinmetall-Borsig BK 3.7 (37-mm) Rheinmetall-Borsig BK 5 (50-mm) Mauser...

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the United States theatrical release of the World War II tank film Fury on October 17, 2014. Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal were phenomenal as a tight-knit band of battle-hardened tankers joined by a raw recruit as...

I’d never heard of this before, but it’s one of the worst friendly fire incidents I’ve heard of from WW2, made worse that no action was taken against the person who seemingly was most responsible for it.

For anyone with deeper pockets, a collection of drawings, sketches and ephemera by Giovanni Caproni is up for auction at Abdingdon on 12 November. https://www.mallams.co.uk/auction/details/ab-early-flight---the-caproni-collection--the-collectors-sale/?au=565

Vertical Flight Society just published excellent video narrated by Cherles Seibel himself about Seibel helicopters. Described are: - Seibel S-1 (design study on tiltrotor) - Seibel S-2 (design study on coaxial helicopter) - Seibel S-3 (single-seat helicopter with CG control mechanism...

By mid-1942 the shortage of tungsten needed for production of anti-tank artillery shells was so critical that the Heereswaffenamt issued a specification calling for a Panzerabwehrrakete (anti-tank missile) fitted with hollow charge warhead. Early in 1943, Dr. Otto Kramer began the development...

As any deeply invested Spitfire fan knows, the intended major developments never eventuated and the history of the Spitfire was one of interim variants that did very well. The dead ends are as follows: SPITFIRE III: Merlin 20 development with four cannon and major airframe revisions; abandoned...

Hi everyone, I tend to be quite interested in discussing the details of a scenario where the Entente holds the front near the Franco-Belgian border in 1940 (mostly in other forums). I was now wondering what the impacts would be for the RAF. Obviously we may see fewer American aircrafts in...

The three Tiger class cruisers arouse strong opinions. As the only major non-carrier RN warships built after WW2 they mark the transition of the RN from a force built round its battleships' big guns to a missile dominated navy. The 6" and 3" guns fitted to them were supposed to be a new approach...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78d649vzlqo https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cqlvd41pnk7o https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/21/parachute-drop-near-arnhem-marks-80-years-since-operation-market-garden...

So a dude on the War Thunder forums, "Whelmy", found some docs on this Canadian "super heavy tank" a number of years back, designed by a Canadian dude named (lieutenant) Norman Samuels. Unfortunately i only saved one of the documents from his posts, but he did publish a number of them back in...

Hello all, been a minute I am not sure where to post this, but has anyone heard of the Welbum? It's in the same league as the Welrod, Welwand, Welfreighter, and Welman when it comes to British convert R&D at Station IX in WW2. I saw the name pop up while reading about the Welwand and I...

In the late-war period a battery of the ill-fated 5cm FlaK 41 was directed by a remote controlled system, overcoming it`s manual traverse problems and testing what would be the Gerät 58 5,5cm control system. Does anyone know about this development?

The Bundesarchiv/Militäraarchiv listened to my prayers and made available the plans for a German fleet submarine project I was looking after since I bought Eberhardt Rössler`s "Geschichte des Deutschen Ubootbaus", in the early1990`s. All we had was a cross section and the general specifications...

Henschel Zitterrochen The Messerschmitt P 1111 (January 15,1945 jet fighter project) was fast, climbed very fast and high, manoeuvred exceedingly well at low speed, had enough room to transport a lot of fuel and armament, could be built in wood and was surprisingly small and nice to look at...

Due to the jet age, various super props never go to production despite their high performance. Among those, it can be said that XP-72 and Spiteful F.16 were the most high capable design. So let say if these prototype got to production stage, which would be the ultimate piston fighter? XP-72...

I found this photograph on tvd.im, a website that covers militaria and sundries. The entry and caption were for a Curtis SC Seahawk. Obviously, this ain’t it, but what is it? I did a cursory look at Luft’46 didn’t come up with anything that looks like this seaplane. The tail looks like it came...