Walter_Sobchak

Heh.

 

Walter had come up with a theory that the rangefinder setup in the M47/T42 was based on the panther F or the late-war tiger II with a similar arrangement.

 

Any sources that say yea or nay?  It seems plausible to me, and would mark one of the few design features of the panther that anyone copied.

Not sure I ever said that the American system was based on the system found in Panther F.  I might have said the Germans were the first to come up with a system of that style.  I have no idea if the American designers copied the system from the Germans.  However, it is plausible. 

Actually, I have toyed around with the idea of making a "Truth about the Sherman Tank" video.  The organization I work at includes the local cable access channel, so I have plenty of access to video production equipment.  There is an M4A3 on display outside an American legion a few miles from my house that would make a nice shooting location. 

In rural Alaska, especially among the native villages, Tang is a big thing. You know there's something important going on when they announce over the radio that they'll be serving coffee AND Tang.

Buzz Aldrin Says 'Tang Sucks'

Interesting story.  One question that popped into my head while reading it.  The article goes out of it's way to criticize Japanese pilots for gunning down enemy airmen floating down to Earth in parachutes.  What was allied policy in this situation?  Did our guys shoot up parachutes as well? 

I'm too embarassed to post pictures of the 1/72 scale stuff I have built myself.  Mostly I buy the prebuilt platic or diecast stuff. 

When I was a kid, I had a collection of German tanks in 1/35 scale, all Tamiya kits.  I had various other kits in various scales, including all sorts of weird stuff my friend and I built out of spare parts. We made an entire army of made up vehicles to battle the German tanks.  Eventually, all the weird stuff got blown up when my friend and I came into the possesion of several packs of bottle rockets.  It was a glorious battle, plastic shards flying in ever direction.  The German stuff never got the bottle rocket treatment, I think it eventually got sold in a garage sale when I went off to college. 

I recently picked up a book called "The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II" by John Ellis.  It looks quite interesting.  Anyone else familiar with it?

Yes, but did Matthew McConaughey take his shirt off?  I'm pretty sure that is the standard by which most of his films are supposed to be judged. 

Now you've mentioned it, you've got to post it

Alas, it does not really exist.  However, if it did, it would have to incorporate the Doctors catchphrase "It's bigger on the inside" somehow.

So that means I am not allowed to post my fan-fiction Dr Who/Sherlock crossover porn?  Geeez, that seems unfair.

I'm reading From Hot Air To Hellfire, the history of army attack aviation, by James Bradin. 

That sounds interesting.  Also, it's listed used on Amazon for $.01 plus shipping.  Can't argue with that price. 

I'm going to guess that the last picture is incorrect.  Those look like 12 cylinder engines, most likely either the 12150L or the X150-960.  Both of those engines are based off the ubiquitious Soviet family of 12 cylinder engines.  But, I could be wrong, I am no expert on Chinese (or Soviet) engines. 

A 2700HP engine should set off alarms in peoples head that this is not a realistic proposal.  Assuming they could even pull that much power out of something that would fit in a tank, there really is no need for that much power.  Power levels above 1500 offer diminishing returns as far as performance goes.  And, that sort of power output is going to gobble up a lot of fuel. 

I just picked up a copy of "Dresden" by Frederick Taylor. 

What little I can find on the internet about this tank says that the 1500 HP engine designated is derived from the German MTU MB871ka501.  If so, they have improved it a bit.  THe MB871 is the smaller, 8 cylinder version of the 12 cylinder MB873 which powers the Leo2.  It is claimed that the MB871ka501 has 1200HP, so the Chinese have managed to squeeze another 300HP out of it.

Incidentally, the South Korean K-1 88 also uses the MB871ka501 engine. 

Has anyone come across any information regarding how the BMP-1 performed during the 1973 Yom Kippur war?  That's the only example I can think of where an IFV has been used in a high intensity conflict between forces that were roughly equivelent (as opposed to the Persian Gulf war at least.)

I have a question for  you.  It seems that on a lot of the Soviet tank designs in the 50's and 60's, they have uneven spacing between road wheels.  I seem to remember reading that on the T54/55, the gap between the first and second road wheels was to create space between the torsion bars for an escape hatch.  Is this true?  Also, why on later models like T-62 did the gap move back between the third and forth, and forth and fifth roadwheels?

In case anyone wants to download PDFs of Ogorkiewicz old AFV profile magazines on Swedish armor, here are some links.

AFV Profile 28 S-Tank

AFV Provile 42 Modern Swedish Light Armor

Since the Jagdpanther fixed the final drive issues of the Panther is it still a bad tank?

I know the Jagdpanther had an improved final drive but is there good evidence that it was completely "fixed?"  I think there is a british report on a captured Jagdpanther that showed that they had issues with the final drive.  But I may have remembered that incorrectly.  Anyone remember that?