WWII Equipment - Vics, Aircraft and Kit

[brewster]

Praising the underrated Sherman

Thanks, just watched that on the bike. Very cool, I knew the Sherman's main virtue was numbers, but those details were fun. The brits were pretty smug about their up-gunning better than us. Loved the part about cutting up Panzers for extra armor plates. Those crews had stones.

[brewster]

He doesn't really do much military stuff.
He's mostly about breaking speed records.

That N Carolina racer reminds me of "Buggy" racers from Carnegie-Mellon University. It's an annual race where a team pushes a buggy up a hill in 3 relays, then it free rolls over a mile into a hairpin turn, then 2 more relays to the finish line. But CMU is an engineering school, and the buggies look like that one, but even more extreme, since weight is a liability, rather than an asset as in the regular soap box racer. The tiniest people around are recruited as drivers. Imagine hitting 35mph in a carbon fiber coffin with your chin a few inches from pavement.

[C-Mag]

Praising the underrated Sherman

Thanks, just watched that on the bike. Very cool, I knew the Sherman's main virtue was numbers, but those details were fun. The brits were pretty smug about their up-gunning better than us. Loved the part about cutting up Panzers for extra armor plates. Those crews had stones.

At 55,000 produced it was a little over half of the 92,000 T-34s produced. Been reading up on WWII tanks. The Panzer IV and Shermans were the most versatile of platforms with the best long term performance and ability to repair.


Yes, they were pretty smug about it. But I'm damn glad they did, because it probably forced the US Command to upgrade the guns on their own tanks sooner than they would have. By the end of the war the Easy 8, M4E8 variant with it's 76 mm gun, improved armor and engine was a pretty effective weapon system.


BTW, US war policy was centered around tanks as support, not armor on armor.

[Montegriffo]

A pensioner broke down in tears today after his lifelong dream was realised when thousands joined him for a flypast in memory of ten Second World War heroes whose plane crashed as they tried to avoid him and his friends.

Huge crowds applauded and cheered for Tony Foulds, 82, in emotional scenes as they gathered at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch the aircraft pay tribute to the American crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed Mi Amigo.

Mr Foulds was eight years old in February 1944 when he witnessed the fireball crash in the park 75 years ago - claiming the lives of ten US airmen - as the pilot tried to avoid him and his friends.

He has dedicated seven decades of his life to the memory of the airmen he never met, spending up to six days a week tending the memorial to them. Mr Foulds said: 'It's more than bravery, what they did. They saved me.'

The salute - including F-15E Strike Eagles from the USAF and an RAF Typhoon - was arranged after BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker met Mr Foulds during a walk in the park six weeks ago and started a social media campaign.

Walker used the hashtag #GetTonyAFlyPast, which also caught the attention of the Americans - and soon after Mr Foulds was told on live TV that his dream would come true - changing the hashtag to #TonyGotHisFlyPast.

Walker, who was watching from Tanzania where is working with Comic Relief, was left in tears as he watched on TV. This morning, #TonyGotAFlyPast was top trend on Twitter in the United Kingdom after the flypast took plac

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... 2511766995

[pineapplemike]

[Speaker to Animals]

A pensioner broke down in tears today after his lifelong dream was realised when thousands joined him for a flypast in memory of ten Second World War heroes whose plane crashed as they tried to avoid him and his friends.

Huge crowds applauded and cheered for Tony Foulds, 82, in emotional scenes as they gathered at Endcliffe Park in Sheffield to watch the aircraft pay tribute to the American crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress, nicknamed Mi Amigo.

Mr Foulds was eight years old in February 1944 when he witnessed the fireball crash in the park 75 years ago - claiming the lives of ten US airmen - as the pilot tried to avoid him and his friends.

He has dedicated seven decades of his life to the memory of the airmen he never met, spending up to six days a week tending the memorial to them. Mr Foulds said: 'It's more than bravery, what they did. They saved me.'

The salute - including F-15E Strike Eagles from the USAF and an RAF Typhoon - was arranged after BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker met Mr Foulds during a walk in the park six weeks ago and started a social media campaign.

Walker used the hashtag #GetTonyAFlyPast, which also caught the attention of the Americans - and soon after Mr Foulds was told on live TV that his dream would come true - changing the hashtag to #TonyGotHisFlyPast.

Walker, who was watching from Tanzania where is working with Comic Relief, was left in tears as he watched on TV. This morning, #TonyGotAFlyPast was top trend on Twitter in the United Kingdom after the flypast took plac

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... 2511766995

The F-15E wing at Lakenheath sent some jets in missing man formation for this.

I feel terrible for this guy. It's obviously not his fault, but he's carried this for his entire life. I read in another article that he blames himself for their deaths. I kind of wish the wing commander from Lakenheath can talk to him and explain to him that it was not his fault.

[C-Mag]

Big Balls
The RAF pilot who dropped the Tricolor on occupied Paris
The audacious story of how a RAF pilot flew down the Champs-Elysees to drop a French Tricolor over Nazi-occupied Paris has emerged after his medals were put up for sale.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/bri ... Paris.html

[Montegriffo]

Big Balls
The RAF pilot who dropped the Tricolor on occupied Paris
The audacious story of how a RAF pilot flew down the Champs-Elysees to drop a French Tricolor over Nazi-occupied Paris has emerged after his medals were put up for sale.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/bri ... Paris.html

We would call that ''taking the piss''.
Great propaganda and ''one in the eye'' for Jerry.

[Hastur]

One of the best videos on the T-34. Thanks again David Willey.

[C-Mag]

One of the best videos on the T-34. Thanks again David Willey.

Thanks, good info.
Soviets set out to have a technologically advanced army, and just ended up fighting a war of attrition.
Stalin: We make more tank than Fascist can destroy.