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Developed from the Blenheim light bomber, the Beaufort proved to be heavier than it's parent design. This extra weight, in part because of the additional crewman, proved to be too much for the original Bristol Mercury engines. After reviewing several designs, the Bristol Taurus was chosen though there were initial installation problems. These instalation problems, among them a tendancy to overheat, delayed development somewhat. However, two squadrons were operational by August 1940, the 22 and 42 Squadrons of Coastal Command. The Beaufort served the Coastal Command well, laying hundreds of mines and were involved in the attacks on the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau as well as numerous attacks on smaller shipping. No photo credit available.
 



The Blackburn Shark was a carrier-borne torpedo bomber built by the Blackburn Aircraft company. It first flew on August 24, 1933 and went into service with the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Canadian Air Force, Portuguese Navy, and the British Air Observers' School. The type was obsolete by 1937 and in 1938 it began to be replaced by the Fairey Swordfish. No photo credit available.
 



Mitsubishi Jokogyo K. K. was awarded a contract in 1943 by the Japanese Army Air Force for a long range high altitude fighter with heavy armament. The design team headed by Tomio Kubo set about designing a single engine aircraft but a single powerplant of sufficient power was not available so a twin engineed configuration was adopted.
The design proved to be very promising and proved to be highly manueverable. The Japanese Naval Air Force showed an interest in the design and plans were set for them to receive several aircraft for use as land based interceptors.
Four prototypes were completed and were in the midst of testing at wars end. No photo credit available
 



With the success of the Ki.45 Toryu in service with the Japanese Army Air Force, Kawasaki considered producing a more powerful and otherwise refined version. This aircraft was given the designation Ki.96 and was developed as a two-seat heavy fighter and three prototypes entered production on August 1942.
By late 1942 the J.A.A.F. had become interested in the concept of a twin-enigined single-seat heavy fighter and ordered Kawasaki to adapt the Ki.96 for this role. The first prototype was completed in September 1943 with the second crew position faired over. The second and third prototypes had a dedicated single-seat cockpit and a better canopy design.
The prototypes exceeded expectations but the indecisive officials of the J.A.A.F. did not have a plan for integrating this class of aircraft into the order of battle. This led to a descision to have the type revert to the original two-seat design and eventually without clearly defined goals the design was abandoned.
The wings and tail assembly of the Ki.96 were eventually resurrected and used in the development of the Ki.102 heavy fighter. No photo credit available.
 



The early months of World War II in Europe showed the Japanese that there would be a possible need for a heavier fighter. Going against the Japanese trend of manoeuverability over all other attributes, the Ki 60 design focused on speed and rate of climb with a heavy armament.
A development contract was placed with Kawasaki in February 1940 for a cannon armed fighter with a liquid cooled engine. Kawasaki had recieved a license to build the Daimler-Benz line of engines and it was decided that the new aircraft should be designed around the DB 601A.
The first prototype suffered from high wing loading which resulted in excessive take-off and landing speeds. The second and third prototypes had revised wings but this did little to improve the aircrafts shortcomings. The pilots of the Japanese Army Air Force were less than impressed with the performance of the aircraft and demanded changes. Over-all this aircraft performed dismally and combined with a lack of firm support for a heavy fighter concept the design was abandoned in late 1941. No photo credit available .
 



#OTD in 1942, the crew of USS New Orleans (CA-32) used coconut logs to repair the ship after the entire bow was lost the previous night during the Battle of Tassafaronga. After 11 days of repairs but still with a quarter of the ship missing, the crew sailed the cruiser in reverse for 1,800 miles to reach Sydney, Australia. No photo credit available.
 
Aaron Brooks Wolters said:
View attachment 603842

INS Viraat, former Centaur-class aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, beached at Indian the town of Alang, awaiting to begin scrapping, the only British WW2-era capital ship left in the world. No photo credit available.
Click to expand...

Hermes was laid down in 1944 but she was only launched in 1953 and commissioned in 1959. She did have the underpinnings of a WW2 design but I'm not entirely sure she fits the bill as a WW2-era capital ship given that her service commenced 15 years after the end of the war. HMS Belfast is the closest Britain has to a surviving WW2-era capital ship...and I'm not sure she really qualifies (although she was, at various times, flagship of the 10th Cruiser Division, the headquarters ship of Bombardment Force E on D-Day and later flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Division in the Far East).
 


Thank you for clearing that up buffnut.
 
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