Recent content by cherry blossom

This may need a small caveat. If you look at the Japanese destroyers that launched torpedoes during Second Guadalcanal, most were old and not fitted with the Type 93. Some of the others had fought at First Guadalcanal and may have used their torpedoes. The two sent by Tanaka arrived as Lee...

I am not one of the experts but a 0.855 scale RR Nene became the Derwent V. The Nene gave about 5,000 lb trust and the Derwent V gave 3,500 lb trust.

For those of you who like DIY R. Bradley Lathe - made in a POW Camp

Very hesitantly, could this be the Capelis XC-12? This was an obscure failure but was used as a prop for a variety of films according to Wikipedia Capelis XC-12 - Wikipedia so perhaps it also achieved immortality via a cribbage board.

There was a thread some years ago arguing that the Ki 61 engine mount was a copy of the He 100 design Ki-61 and He-100 related?.

As others have noted, we have been at least near here before where I tried to make a similar argument without suggesting steep dive bombing and, I think it is fair to say, received more criticism than support. I agree that Me 262 bases in France would have suffered heavy attack and believe that...

The MS 406 has interesting history. One indication is that a small redesign to the MS 410 could significantly improve the performance, probably because the original radiator design was very poor (suggested by "The Rise and Fall of the French Air Force" by Greg Baughen The Rise and Fall of the...

Arboria was a neutral during WW2 and its airforce was able to buy or copy designs from almost everyone. In particular it was able to obtain the latest aero-engines from both sides. However, it suffered the great disadvantage that it had limited access to light alloys and therefore tried to equip...

The LaGG-3 certainly has the best nickname Lakirovanny Garantirovanny Grob or "guaranteed varnished coffin".

The Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 has most of those beat (if that is the right word). The Re 2001 would have it for breakfast.

The Albemarle is simple. It should have been cancelled. It was designed following a specification according to Wikipedia: "This sought a twin-engine medium bomber of wood and metal construction, without the use of any light alloys, in order that the aircraft could be readily built by less...

Here is a dive bomber with an Italian engine that might have had an effect had it been available to fly from Sicily from June 1940

Am I missing the joke with the pictures of a Ki-43 and A5M above?

The exception might be the Germans. For example, Prinz Eugen hit Hood once and Prince of Wales three times whilst Bismarck hit Hood at least twice and also hit Prince of Wales four times. Hipper scored at least 8 hits during the Battle of Barents Sea in fairly complete darkness at quite long...

I decided to come back to this after reading pbehn's informative comments on Operation Steinbock above. What this shows is that the Luftwaffe was fighting its own war without giving any thought to the overall situation. Very little thought would have told them that a successful Allied invasion...