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
The Vickers Windsor was an RAF heavy bomber during WWII, featuring the now famous ‘geodetic’ structure. Here are five facts that you need to know about this unique aircraft: 1. The top speed achieved by the aircraft was 317 miles per hour Although not as fast as initially specified, was a significant improvement for the […] More
During the height of WWI, Germany’s High Seas Fleet came head-to-head with the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy, making it one of the biggest battleship battles in history. Knowing Their Place The Germans knew that their high seas fleet was inferior to the British Grand Navy. The British, in turn, didn’t feel compelled to […] 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
USS Nevada was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships. The battleship also served in both World Wars. Here’s an interesting take on the only American battleship to somehow escape Pearl Harbor: USS Nevada The ship was the first of a class of two 27,500-ton battleships alongside USS Oklahoma, its sister ship. Both ships […] More
Highly Sophisticated (At The Time) The US knew the B-17 wouldn’t be effective in a war against Japan. Japan is located in the Pacific, where space for air bases is scarce. One solution to this problem is to design a plane that could fly longer without refueling. Since the aircraft was also designed to operate […] More
