The Soviet ‘Fire Hedgehog’
What looks to be an anti-infantry experiment - 88 downward-firing machine guns in the bomb bay of a Tupolev Tu-2, giving a firing rate of about 1,300 rounds per second.
Believed to be flown and tested in 1944, and abandoned due to the problems associated with in-flight reloading of the guns.
October 27, 2009, 12:34am
reblog: electronicalrattlebag:unpalombaro:benjaminhilts
Night Over Europe
“Enemy tracer bullets weave an intricate pattern as they shoot towards the planes of the Royal Air Force during a night attack on Hamburg. This picture was made from one of the raiding planes.”
(via The Boat Lullabies)
October 26, 2009, 11:03pm
“Incendiary cluster bombs fall on Germany. Two 500 pound incendiary cluster bombs plunge toward their target over Kiel, Germany. One of the bombs, containing more than 100 small incendiary bombs, is shown after the cluster broke and scattered the incendiaries like match sticks. The other big bomb has not yet broken but will do so momentarily.” (1944)
October 26, 2009, 9:39pm
“The U.S. 5th Air Force’s B-25 Mitchell bombers drop “parafrag” bombs on a Japanese air strip near Dagua, New Guinea on February 3, 1943.”
October 26, 2009, 8:12pm
the Douglas 1186 - a long range supersonic nuclear bomber project for the US Navy, featuring a derivative of the X-3 Stiletto mounted on a Mach 2 expendable bomb delivery vehicle (circa 1949)
September 20, 2009, 9:51pm
mudwerks: vintagefuture: Self-guided rockets from Klaus Bürgle retro-futurismus.de
sunday fantasy #143
September 19, 2009, 12:32am
Just three weeks after the first V-1 flying bomb fell on London, American engineers at Wright Field fired a working copy of the German Argus As 014 pulse-jet engine. This had been “reverse-engineered” from crashed V-1s that had been flown back to the United States from England for analysis.
The first launch of the fully reverse-engineered missile took place in October 1944, at Eglin Army Air Field in Florida. It was the Republic/Ford JB-2 “LOON” - the first unguided American missile.
Nearly 1,400 were built, including air and submarine-launched variants. The JB-2 never saw service in the Second World War - though some were transported by carrier to Japan, for possible use in the the planned invasion. The JB-2 was retired in 1950, many ending their lives as aerial target drones.
The Soviet Union also reverse-engineered the V-1, developing and testing along similar lines (via)
September 17, 2009, 2:51pm
The most interesting version of the V-1 flying bomb was the Reichenberg - a manned variant intended for use against high-value targets. Flight tests began in September 1944.
The Reichenberg was assigned to the Leonidas Squadron, part of the secret Battle Wing 200 (KG 200). The squadron, named after King Leonidas I of Spartaaaaaa was a suicide unit, using volunteers. Hitler and many other officers were highly against the idea of self-sacrifice, but training on the Reichenberg was approved due to the slim chance of the pilot being able to bale out.
By March 1945, over 200 Reichenbergs had been assembled, but they never entered operation. It seems the Leonidas Squadron was finally disbanded at this time.
More on KG 200, and also the final stages of the V projects, including the V-2, soon..
September 17, 2009, 10:36am
The V-1 threat effectively ended towards the end of March 1945. By then, an estimated 10,000 had been fired at England - 1,200 launched from the air by Heinkel He 111 bombers. 4,300 were brought down by aircraft/anti-aircraft fire/barrage balloons, 2,400 reached London - killing 6,000, injuring 20,000, and damaging/destroying tens of thousands of buildings.
Between October 1944 and March 1945, approximately 4,000 V-1s were fired at the Belgian city of Antwerp - a supply port that had been captured by the Allies. Just over 600 hit the city, claiming thousands of lives. Defensive artillery around the city shot down over 50% of incoming missiles, and fired almost a million rounds of ammunition in the process (via)
September 17, 2009, 9:43am
The German V-1 “buzz bomb” attacks on England began, in force, on June 15th 1944 - almost 300 fired at London, and a few at Southampton. London was always the priority target, and the Germans used reports from agents based there to try to ascertain any corrections needed to the guidance system of the weapons. Many of the reports back contained false information, which lead to some V-1s being programmed for a shorter range, resulting in them falling short of London.
The V-1s came in at 400mph, and at around 2,000ft. Various aircraft were used to intercept - modified Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Tempests, de Havilland Mosquitos - and American P-51 Mustangs and P-61 Black Widows. The jet powered Gloster Meteor also saw limited service against them.
The V-1s were fairly hard to bring down - lacking vunerable areas such as the pilot and oxygen sytem. A direct hit on the warhead by an explosive shell from a fighter’s cannon, or a very close anti-aircraft shell explosion, were the most effective forms of gunfire. There were also other slightly crazier methods..
Tempest pilots claimed 800 of the 1,771 V-1s shot down by the RAF, with Squadron Leader James Berry claiming a record 58…
September 16, 2009, 5:18pm
“The Fieseler Fi-103, better known as V-1 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 1 (“vengeance weapon”)), developed at Peenemünde by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.”
The V-1 was powered by a simple pulse jet engine. This engine - cheap to build and able to operate on cheap-grade gasoline - pulsed about 50 times a second, giving rise to the V-1’s most common nicknames - “buzz bomb” and “doodlebug”.
The low thrust of the engine meant that the V-1 had to be launched from special ground-based catapult ramps. In November 1943, RAF photo-reconnaissance pictures of Peenemünde revealed a prototype V-1 on one of these ramps for the first time..
September 16, 2009, 2:49pm
“The ‘Robot Plane’ - A Secret Weapon Hitler Promised The Allies, Dives Down On Its Deadly Mission Over Picadilly Section, London, England.” (June 1944)
September 16, 2009, 10:05am
“Two Kettering Bugs on a rail track ready for launch at the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company” (circa 1920)
September 15, 2009, 7:21pm
“The Siemens torpedo glider, seen under the hull of Zeppelin L35.” (circa 1915)
September 15, 2009, 5:56pm
