Naval History Forums

Dunmunro, I am convinced that absolutely anything the USN did in WWII, you would think was a bad idea unless the RN had already done it. It is always a fruitless exercise to attempt to convince you otherwise.

This has been debated endlessly. Friedman's volume on USN Carriers describes the USN's decision making process and why they didn't go with armored flight decks until they built much larger CVs post war. I think today it's more a question of being able to support the weight and heat generated by mode...

You touched on additional uses of the B-24. It was used extensively as an ASW aircraft, and as long range ocean recon in the Pacific. It was eventually fitted to carry a life raft for rescue of survivors in the water.

I believe the B-17's weapons were able to cover a sphere around the aircraft with no gaps, so showing the "defensive arc" would be kind of meaningless. They were most vulnerable in front due to the short time a fighter would be exposed in an attack.

Considering the hapless state of the Argentine defense forces, this really isn't a concern anymore and won't be for the foreseeable future.

It is, I think understandably, difficult for me to understand how the Germans could control the channel with literally thousands of US and British aircraft available to prevent that. Sea superiority implies, for example, that it was impossible to rescue allied airmen from channel waters, and that t...

It is, I think understandably, difficult for me to understand how the Germans could control the channel with literally thousands of US and British aircraft available to prevent that. Sea superiority implies, for example, that it was impossible to rescue allied airmen from channel waters, and that th...

It looks from these posts like there were about 10 axis ships of 5,000 tons or so which transited the channel during the entire war. I suspect the British failure to sink them was due more to their infrequency than anything else. If the Germans had tried to transit a convoy of those ships every week...

How many large German ships were sunk trying to transit the channel? Listing a few successes is one thing, but ...

I take it the British didn't have the ability to use accurate radar directed shore batteries.

A second TBS system available was more secure. This system called the FA-70 was manafactured by GEMA operating on (G wellen radar frequency band) the UHF band. This system incorporated voice scrambling and de-scrambling. This was likely the system being used between Scharnhorst and destroyer Z32 an...

The P51 had the range for long escort missions, which was probably one of its most important assets. However, if I were going to be assigned ground attack missions I would prefer the P47. The air cooled engine was much more rugged and could sustain damage that would have made it unlikely for a P51 ...

You don't know the angle at which the 8" shell hit Berwick's belt.

If you expect people to read your posts I believe you need to use paragraphs. I just couldn't handle it.

Given the Brewsters woeful reputation with the Allies, how does one explain its - dare I say - rather exemplary performance record in the hands of the Finns circa the same time frame then? If it was such a bad aircraft, then it could only have been their - the Finns - 'sisu'! (For those not familia...

Your post of about a fortnight ago RF posed a question-is the answer given herein??? Islamic State fighters have exploited the chaos of Syria's three-year-old civil war, which pits Assad and his allies against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels and Islamist militants, to carve out territory in the country'...