Regardless of how bad their engines or handling characteristics were, maybe – just maybe, they were made at the wrong time or for the wrong mission. Here are the three worst WWII fighters: 1. Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov’s LaGG-3 The Soviet-designed LaGG-3 had underpowered engines in addition to being relatively heavy. Therefore, it suffered from poor maneuverability, particularly […] More
Last American Battleship The historic battleship was the 4th Iowa-class ship ordered in June 1940. The 5th and 6th ships were laid down but never entered service, making the USS Missouri the Navy’s last American battleship ever commissioned. Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa Missouri supported Allied troops during the invasion of Iwo Jima by […] More
1. It Had To Be Americanized At first, the US wasn’t interested in the British Canberra. It needed to fit American standards, as even the thread on the nuts and bolts was different than British standards. A lot more technical alterations were done for America to be finally confident in taking in the British aircraft. […] More
Operation Desert Storm As part of the Reagan administration’s program, USS Wisconsin and Missouri were both reactivated. The two ships were famously used during WWII in the Pacific theater. Back then, Wisconsin shelled enemy fortifications and helped friendly carriers. Meanwhile, Missouri participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was the ship used […] More
Pack’s Pirates The wolfpack composed of USS Steelhead, USS Hammerhead, and USS Parche departed the island of Midway in June 1944. Their mission was to patrol the area between Formosa and Luzon to destroy Japanese merchant ships. A Long Convoy On July 31, a Japanese convoy composed of 18 ships carrying 10,000 troops and a […] More
A Veteran Plane U-2 spy planes have been in service for 70 years. A plane with such a long service life will experience more maintenance later on and the U-2 is no exception. Easy Engine Access The plane’s long cylindrical fuselage can be separated behind the wings. This gives the maintenance crews easier access to […] More
Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet The US maintains a National Defense Reserve Fleet composed of ships for national emergencies. The Suisun fleet in California is one of the eight original fleet sites, hosting 60 ships at one point. It was officially closed in 2016, leaving two active fleets remaining – the James River Reserve Fleet and […] More
Defining Kill Ratio Kill ratios are computed by the number of enemy aircraft destroyed by bombers divided by the number of bombers destroyed by enemy aircraft. Air-to-air kills are counted; air-to-ground kills are not. Source of Data The data were taken from a 300-page Army Air Forces statistical digest of WWII in December 1945. In […] More
There’s More To It By now, almost everyone knows how excellent the Warthog’s gun is in combat. However, this magnificent gun isn’t the only thing that makes the Warthog one of the best in the business. Eleven Hardpoints The A-10 has a payload capacity of 16,000lbs. Nowadays, the capability of warbirds to carry various weapons […] More
Faulty Torpedos USS Wahoo was part of the Gato-class submarines whose principal weapon was the steam-powered Mark 14 torpedoes and, later on, Mark 18s. The change from the Mark 14 was due to its unreliability in combat. It sometimes ran too deep, exploded prematurely, or failed to detonate. Failure After Failure Lieutenant Commander Marvin Kennedy […] More
A Normal Test Flight On January 25, 1966, Lockheed flight test specialist Jim Zwayer and pilot Bill Weaver were tasked to operate the SR-71. The two were to evaluate the Blackbird’s systems and procedures designed to reduce trim drag and improve high-Mach cruise performance. To achieve this, the Center-of-Gravity (CG) would be placed further aft […] More
1. Far From The Initial Plan In the beginning, Fort Drum was just an island called El Fraile located at the mouth of Manila Bay in the Philippines. The small island caught the attention of US military officials, who thought it would be a great idea to make it a mine control and casemate station. […] More
