Recent content by dobbie

The Panther might have been able to maintain its original design weight, but something would have to give. Smaller/lighter drivetrain. Lighter armor could in addition have been a way to go with greater angularity so an anti tank projectile still has "more armor" to penetrate due to the increased...

Name me a textbook invasion against a fortified location anywhere in WWII which followed the plan. The landing on the Normandy coast was done in bad weather, Omaha in particular was more heavily fortified than the others and the terrain wasn't very good for a beach invasion. About the only thing...

The B-17 was the most heavily modified US heavy bomber in WWII. It needed to be in order to keep up. The B-24 was easier to build, and despite being able to fly a bit farther or carry a bit more of a bombload, could not hold formation at the altitudes the B-17 could. The B-17 could take more...

Good points shortround....at the time of the M3, the only tank production line was at Rock Island and they were capable of making a few hundred tanks per year, and the American's werent even sure how big a turret ring needed to be in order to handle the 75MM gun. Thats why the sponson mount for...

I think the biggest obstacle to US tank guns was that America really didnt get serious about building effective tank guns until 1940. The Germans and Soviets had a lot of experience in the Spanish Civil War and were continually upgrading weapons and chassis. The Sherman's first fight wasnt...

I just dont see the swap doing either side much good. The reason America developed long range fighters and bombers is because we needed them to reach the targets, and were fighting a different sort of war than what Germany was. The German industry was concentrating more on tactical strikes and...

If your friend is interested in her father's service record, she can fill out an SF-180 and submit it. Being a surviving child they wont charge her for that service. If she needs any further help, any of the veterans organizations should be happy to help. DAV, VFW, American Legion, etc.

Some shirkers bother me more than others...John Wayne made millions making war films while taking a deferment. As opposed to folks like Jimmy Stewart who was rejected once because he was too skinny, so he "fattened up" and reapplied, ultimately retiring as a Brigadier General in the Air Force...

I really don't think the Allison was developed to its full potential. It produced more power down low than a lot of other liquid cooled engines and the A model Mustang down low was one of the fastest fighters on the deck in its time frame. That tells me they got a lot right with both the...

Don't get me wrong...."the gas hog" is my favorite! I suppose that if you made the fuselage long enough and wide enough to pack all of the plumbing necessary, you could have had something to show at high altitude. But that would take a clean sheet of paper to make it all work. Just like the...

With a mechanical supercharger? Turbochargers are great, but then you end up with a monster sized fighter such as the P-47. Great aircraft, but a gas hog.

The Allison could have made the high altitude horsepower with the proper supercharger set up, but no money was allocated for such a project until late in the war. I think the urgency of the war and production kept the redesign off the boards. As it was, Packard was already producing the Merlin...

For American liquid cooled engines, the only choice I see is the Allison V3420 which never was fully developed. Perhaps the R-R Griffon might have been the better candidate? And neither one was fully developed early in the war.

I think you would have ended up with a different fighter than the Spitfire. As it was designed as an interceptor, there would be far too many necessary changes in order to turn it into an escort type aircraft. However, Id love to see what the result would be! If modifying the Spit is the only...