The Sherman's 75mm gun was designed around the ammunition for the 19th century French "75" light artillery piece (albeit with different loadings)....
A couple of comments on the Churchill, from things I recall reading long ago: 1. There was once a long-range shoot-out in Normandy between a...
It seems to me that various different issues are being mixed up here. One is that some aircraft were highly rated when first introduced, but were...
That'll be Nathan Okun, who produced the comparative analysis I provided a link to previously. I suspect that all the programme does is look at...
If I had to go to war in a WW2 dive bomber, I'd pick the Petlyakov Pe-2: the performance was good enough for a fighter version to be built. See:...
Thanks, that's helpful. It would be nice of there were a computer programme with all of the variables involved (tactical as well as technical)...
I don't disagree with any of that, but I don't see it as contradicting the technical analyses comparing shell weight, destructiveness, and the...
The Swordfish was slow, but it was loved by its crews (never discount that), was responsible for setting up the Bismarck for destruction and for...
Battleships were generally designed to resist damage from guns equivalent to the ones they were armed with: hence the importance of "immune zones"...
The P-39 got a lot of hype as a prototype but was thereafter a disappointment (although the Russians liked it - but perhaps that says more about...
All hits are not equal, even if they all penetrate. They vary in their destructive effect, and the significance of that destructive effect also...
I agree with your post. It's a good middleweight vs a super-heavyweight. For the Bismarck to prevail, absolutely everything would have to go...
It was a very interesting and technically successful weapon, but the relatively light weight of the .45 ACP bullet meant that its effective range...
The Thompson was much more solidly built than the Sten, but the downside was that it was much heavier. OK for vehicle crews to have, not so much...
The British tested a Sten at 300 yards and discovered that the bullet was well able to deliver a lethal wound.
None of the belt-fed guns in use by anyone in WW2 could be called "light" by current standards. The closest were the German MG 34 and MG 42, but...
Some people even write entire novels about them :rolleyes:
Whittle produced the first workable jet engine. His design was patented internationally, and was in the public domain. The jets used in the Me 262...
In one range session a couple of years ago I fired a Lee Enfield No.4, a K98k, an FG 42 and a MKb 42 (W). The Lee Enfield was much better than...
Anything which improved the performance of the German Army and thereby delayed the end of the war would have had one result: the first atom bombs...
