Best WW2 plane for Ukraine today?

[Shortround6]

Carl Gustav's underneath Piper L-4 wings ( remote piloted),
Big drones

 

[Beemer]

Keep in mind that the StuG also did not engage at long ranges, but closer (as in ambush) ranges.

It could defeat the sloping armor of the T-34 in that mode and I'm sure in a modern setting, a StuG crew would use their 75mm to best advantage against modern Soviet Russian armor.

All modern tanks have their Achielles heels and the StuG will find it.

Want to make a bet that NO russian commander has ever read Gudarian, Rommel, Liddel-Hart nor Von Rundstedt? The UA forces have adequate tanks. What they need are guys like Wittman and Carius, Guderain and Rommel training them. WIth the kind of training the germans had at the beginning of 41 thru 42, they could put a world of hurt on the russians even using the little Hetzer. All you have to do is STOP a russian tank, you don't want to destroy it, just knock a track off and have the infantry capture it. I doubt any russian tanks have the bogie wheel drive like the Tigers did. Sadly even a tiger's 88 with a tungsten round will barely dent modern tank armor. But if you can hit the turret ring junction and dent that, you now have a sturm series with a MUCH higher profile. No idea what the 128mm of the Jagdtiger would do, but something that big with enough velocity behind it would work.

Now, does anyone know when the first discarding sabot round was made? And no, it's actually BEFORE WWI! You can find the design for one in an old Scientific american magazine via the internet archive. Around the 1870's called Warburtons non glancing projectile. It was actually a naval round for penetrating the then new armored cruisers like the Monitor and Merrimac. If you find it there's photos too.

 

[SaparotRob]

Carl Gustav's underneath Piper L-4 wings ( remote piloted),
Big drones

Welcome to the Dark Side.

 

[Jimbob]

I would have to go with the Skyraider myself.

 

[SaparotRob]

Looks, style and grace. It's the whole package. And oh what a package she brings.

 

[MiTasol]

But the Skyraider etc would take at least a year to get it back in production and would need re-engining.

What is needed is something that can be produced on a shoestring using basic low tech engineering and materials and that can be remote controlled (or gps controlled).

A simplified Piper Cub would fit the bill - slice the top off the fuselage above the engine cowl line and drop the wing on that - and simplify the wing. Launch it from a dolly or have drop away landing gear to reduce drag/increase speed and range. It would probably have a low radar signature.

There is nothing to stop putting the bomb(s) internally and they do not need to be dropped. Just fly the whole package into the target. Just like the kamakaze drones the orcs are using (but put a muffler on the engine so there is no warning that it is coming. Just silence then kaboom

 

[GrauGeist]

The Ukrainian's summer offensive was certainly out of Patton or Rommel's playbook, but forget Carius or Wittman - the Ukraine army needs guys like Primozic, Brandner and Amling with their StuGs.
These three guys accounted for 176 Soviet tanks destroyed with their SturmGeschütz.

btw, my favorite tank ace is Kurt Knispel

 

[Admiral Beez]

Ukraine army needs guys like Primozic, Brandner and Amling with their StuGs.

Agreed, any expert help is always welcome. To be fair, I don't think the Ukrainians have demonstrated a lack of effective strategic or tactics. Just give the AFU two hundred Sturmgeschütz with spares and ammunition and they'll do fine.

From postwar, but it's too bad there isn't a warehouse of well-mothballed Kanonenjagdpanzer or Stridsvagn some place. The former's Rheinmetall BK 90/L40 90mm gun will tackle anything smaller than a MBT, while the latter's L7 105mm with modern ammunition will reliably kill any T-62 or non-ERA T-72.

Instead of scrapping older kit, NATO should have warehoused their retired MBTs and AFVs. When 2022 came along Ukraine could have received M60 and other MBTs.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

(this coming from a B52G flying crewchief during Desert Storm).

Stationed where? I was a firefighter with the 801st in Moron, Spain.

At one rahrah meeting an intel guy showed us before and after pics of a cement plant strike our guys flew. Three-ship mission, 153 750-lb bombs, only four or five outside the perimeter fence of the plant.

Sucked to be them.

 

[Admiral Beez]

if you REALLY wanted to make a statement. a full 24 plane squadron of B-52's would do wonders for morale, even if they didn't HIT anything.

I was thinking the Tupolev Tu-95 Bear would continue to serve as long as the B-52. But the Ukrainians seem to have a knack for catching them parked in the open at their air bases.

From Dec 5, 2022 attack.

1st Big Loss For RuAF? Satellite Imagery Confirms Russia 'Lost' Its Tu-95 Bomber For The First Time In Ukraine War

Recent satellite imagery of the Engels-2 Air Base located in the Saratov region shows that at least one Tu-95 strategic bomber of the Russian Aerospace Force caught fire and suffered significant damage. The bombers were recently deployed to the Engels Air Force Base triggering concerns about a...

eurasiantimes.com

 

[SaparotRob]

I think 5 Tu-95s were damage.