860 réponses à ce sujet

[bEVEsthda]

Only 17 of Richthofen's victories came in the Dr.I. Here's a breakdown:

Albatros D.III - 23 victories
Albatros D.II - 17 victories
Fokker Dr.I - 17 victories
Halberstadt D.II - 12 victories
Albatros D.V - 9 victories
Fokker F.I (prototype Dr.I) - 2 victories

The Dr.I...was not the best plane of the war. Although it offered exceptional maneuverability, there were a lot of engine problems associated with it, and the wing structure was highly unstable (in addition to being poorly constructed). It probably wasn't even the best German plane of the war; from a technical standpoint, that was probably the Fokker D.VII. The German fighter with the largest operational impact was either the Fokker E.I (which was a poorly made aircraft overall except for the revolutionary interrupter gear on the machine guns) or the Albatros D.III (which didn't have quite the same effect but was an overall better aircraft and the workhorse of the Luftstreitkräfte).

 

Yes. Except I would say all of E.I, E.II, and E.III when we're talking about the "Fokker scourge" and operational impact. Only 50 E.I were made. These were "Eindecker" monoplanes and the first dominant fighter of WW1.

 

The advantage in the air shifted back and forth between Germany and the allies, depending upon the fighter types, as they were developed. There were a great many types involved, but there came a strong dominance with the introduction of certain types. Albatross D.II and D.III followed the Eindecker with another period of German advantage. Then came the big crunch from the British, with their brilliant S.E.5a and the (in)famous, unstable Camel, which became the most successful fighter of WW1, but took considerable skill just to fly. Germany never recovered. At the end they did field the Focker D.VII, which is generally considered a brilliant aircraft. Britain did have something that was more than just an answer though, the Sopwith Snipe, a Camel on steroids.

 

The Fokker Dr.I was inspired by the Sopwith Triplane, an English experiment. The thing with the biplanes, was that the box-like wing construction allowed for a very light construction, with a lot of wing area, simultaneously with lots of load bearing strength for tight turns. The load is carried by wires and struts, rather than the wing spars. Aerodynamically it's quite disadvantaged, compared to a monoplane. But at this point in time, the strength, wing area and low weight of the biplane, came out ahead in the equation. The Triplane was a sort of question, asking if three wings - for even more area and less span - was now the next step. Despite some success both for Sopwith and Dr.I, both nations came up with the answer that it wasn't. The drag increases considerably, without really adding anything further to the biplane's construction advantages. 

[bEVEsthda]

Awwwwwww yeeeeaaaaaah!

 

 

A very important and spectacularly successful dive bomber of the Pacific war.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Just a fine Cavalry of ancient times:

 

 

Edit: never played this game. So is this Byzantine or Sassanid Cavalry?

[bEVEsthda]

Well, it's time again.

 

"Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-360-2095-23, Flugzeuge Messerschmitt Me 110" by Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-360-2095-23 / Wanderer, W. / CC-BY-SA. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikim...mitt_Me_110.jpg

 

This is the sometimes misunderstood Messerschmidt Bf 110.

Why do I say that? Well, here's a short but reasonably accurate brief on the aircraft, that is fair to the BF 110.

 

 

The video is definitely wrong about one thing. Luftwaffe never assigned Bf 109s to escort Bf 110s. That's nonsense. Just an urban legend that possibly has its origins in some of Goering's rants.

The legend does come from the Bf 110's biggest failure, the Battle of Britain. But to put that into some perspective, the Bf 109 didn't do much better. Particularly not when ordered to use the same idiotic tactics: Close cover of the bombers.

 

Luftwaffe did understand that they would need a long range fighter. The Japanese and Americans had no problems with designing long range fighters. In fact, almost every fighter they did was a long range fighter by European standards.

European designers placed an immense importance on small frontal area. They also painstakingly designed their aircraft to be as light as possible. There were in fact three things they missed which actually were more important. Structural stiffness, aerodynamic cleanness, and aerodynamic symmetry. Germany had the additional problems of not being able to design good coolers, and having too low octane fuel and thus inferior engines.

 

A number of less than optimal design details meant that the Bf 110 didn't quite get the performance it needed to have, in order to perform satisfactorily against Western fighters. But lets not forget the also-mistake of making it a two-seater. The British were no different and also insisted in putting two crew members into many early attempts to make long range fighters. The belief was that a navigator/radio-operator was needed. I suppose the Fairey Fulmar will have to represent the successful British attempt. Successful when it was used in the exact same way as when the Bf 110 was also successful: When it was faster than the opposition.

 

So speed is the most important property of a big, heavy fighter. Forget the nonsense repeated in every account of the Bf 110, that it wasn't maneuverable enough to dogfight against single engine fighters. It didn't need to be. The Bf 110 was quite successful when it met light, highly maneuverable fighters, in France, Balkan and the Eastern front. ...As long as it was faster! If the BF 110 would have had a similar relative climb&speed advantage as the American Lockheed P-38 Lightning had, then it would have been successful on all fronts.

 

And Luftwaffe and Messerschmidt understood this. The original design effort  was to make the Bf 110 a fast plane. And initially it seemed to be, when compared to early single engine fighters. Unfortunately, things where not stagnant.

But the idea was at least partially right. So it was not "poorly conceived" at all.

German aircraft design relied heavily on conventional engineering wisdom, but lacked experience of where that may lead wrong, so the execution was not flawless.

And then there is the second negative factor, the second crewman. However, this feature was crucial in providing the Bf 110 with its most successful role: As a night fighter. Actually they even put in a third crewman.

 

It turned out that Messerschmidt's execution of its intended replacement, the Me 210, was considerably more flawed than the Bf 110. So just like the Bf 109, the Bf 110 also had to serve throughout the war.

 

The Bf 110 should also be mentioned in the context of fighting against un-escorted american day bombers during 1943, when it inflicted such losses that the Americans had to cancel operations until they were able to give their bombers fighter escort all the way.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

So I have two questions...

 

• Which fighter was the best (least flawed) Natzi German fighter (Jet or pre-jet)?
• What was the best Fighter designed and utilized by Imperial Japan (not necessarily the Kamikaze ones)?

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Also watched the Hitler's airplane scene in 'Valkyrie' movie and I found it quite enjoyable:

 

 

The first minute at least.

[bEVEsthda]

 

So I have two questions...

 

• Which fighter was the best (least flawed) Natzi German fighter (Jet or pre-jet)?
• What was the best Fighter designed and utilized by Imperial Japan (not necessarily the Kamikaze ones)?

 

 

In the perspective of judging them in their own time, and against contemporary fighters, the early Bf 109 (like the Bf 109B) and Zero stands out.

Except for range, the early Bf 109 was the best fighter in the world, by a considerable margin. Hands down.

It remained a good plane through to Bf 109E and Bf 109F. But those two versions were facing much stiffer competition from Spitfire, Hurricane and P-40. Later versions, the increased weight and speed became too much for the 109 airframe to cope well.

 

The Zero too was exceptional at its introduction, early in the war. Not only did it possess exceptional air combat performance and good armament, but it also had a stupendous range and endurance.

 

In a more absolute sense, the Me 262 has, of course, to count as Luftwaffe's premium fighter. It was far from flawless. The jet engines were awful and it could have had more suitable armament. But the basic airplane was sweet.

Focke Wulf Ta 152 series (a development from FW 190D-9) was Luftwaffe's most refined and best conventional fighters. As competent as any allied fighter fielded in WW2. But it only arrived in very small numbers at the end of the war, and in the West, where the air superiority was already won by the allies. Thus the FW 190D-9 probably has to count as Luftwaffe's best conventional fighter fielded in numbers. It too had a range of problems that saw it initially as being rather slow. A gap behind the radiator lowered back pressure so the cooler drag became much too aggravated. It took a good time for the Germans to get this sealed. Also, the MW boost aggregates, which it depended upon to reach higher speeds than American fighters' cruising speed, was in poor availability. It's debatable whether any of this made any difference. The one thing that saved German pilot lives at the end was the shortage of fuel. Because if you took off, you got shot down. The jets had the best chances to survive.

 

The Japanese Army's Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate is generally held as the best Japanese fighter. It impressed American test pilots after the war. It combined a very good sustained climb with the usual Japanese low speed maneuverability, which made it harder to tackle than most, for American high performance fighters like P-47 and P-51. Another good fighter was the Ki-100.

The Japanese Navy would probably want to hold up the Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden Kai. But it had even worse engine problems than the Ki-84, which meant it rarely performed as advertised. Also, the exploits of the N1K-J and N1K2-J are often (like a lot of Japanese air-air records) fabricated.

[Melra]

Since Glaives of Azzinoth were already linked, don't have that much to link :/

 

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Since Glaives of Azzinoth were already linked, don't have that much to link :/

 

 

Is this AK-47 or its rip off?

[Melra]

Is this AK-47 or its rip off?

It is a Finnish RK 62, it is based on AK-47.

[Jstatham1227]

[Vortex13]

Navy Rail gun test firing.


 

 

 

I think they have it facing the wrong way.

 

When I see this I am reminded of that one line from Johnny Dangerously:

 

"This goes through armor. Through the victim. Through the wall. Through the tree outside."

[Billy-the-Squid]

The holy Boltgun, smiting heretic scum since the 30th millennium.

[The Invader]

I think they have it facing the wrong way.
 
When I see this I am reminded of that one line from Johnny Dangerously:
 
"This goes through armor. Through the victim. Through the wall. Through the tree outside."

Nah, they had large plastic crates filled with sand to stop the dart. Granted, it still obliterated the first crate.

[The Invader]

The U.S. GCV( Ground combat vehicle ) a prototype being developed by the U.S. Army as a replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It ways in at 84 Tons! And can carry nine fully armed soldiers, it's nearly impervious to all shoulder fired launchers and IEDs.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

I found this excellent informative pic about Japanese fighters:

 

Alright, Japanese without anese is censored!

 

[bEVEsthda]

And for those looking for the Zero on that, - it's the Mitsubishi A6M. There are two + one floatplane variation.

[Lotion Soronarr]

Time for some sword appreaciation!

 

[Garryydde]

With the further militarization of police forces when do you think we'll see something like this?



It'd definitely make police chases much more exciting. Offenders wouldn't stand a chance against the BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT

[Fidite Nemini]

With the further militarization of police forces when do you think we'll see something like this?



It'd definitely make police chases much more exciting. Offenders wouldn't stand a chance against the BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT

 

 

Mandatory:

 

 

Chopper should've got himself a different spot though. Optimum is just the sensor hub on top of the rotor showing up with the rest of the aircraft concealed from direct line-of-sight, but that bush is so small the chopper can't get much lower. But all of that is redundant, really. So go ahead, floor it, I dare ya!

[bEVEsthda]

Here's a peculiar revolver I don't think many of you know of.

 

 

 

Some clues:

 

It costs as much as a nice car.

It's not for everyone's hands to fire it.

It fires bullets weighing 400-450 grains at speeds of 1300-1450 feet/sec.

While it isn't quite as powerful as the Smith&Wesson model 500, recoil energy is almost three times, due to the smaller size and weight of the gun.

 

It's a Linebaugh.

 

 

 

Edit: P.S.  Linebaugh actually have introduced a caliber even more powerful than .500 S&W, the .500 Linebaugh Maximum. Firing bullets in excess of 500 grains.

 

 

 

Note the reason he's leaning his head backwards, with his arms so stretched out: If not, he'd get the gun barrel whipping straight into his face or top of head.

[ME_Fan]

^what even is the point? Massive calibre hand cannons are a bit of a joke in my opinion. Yeah I guess some people might find them fun to shoot for sport, but they don't really have any real effective application at all. Anything above a .44 Magnum is just a bit goofy and ott.

 

A Desert Eagle chambered in .357 is probably the largest sidearm I'd really want in any kind of actual combat situation.

[The Invader]

It's going to be a really bad day if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of one of these.

[Cknarf]

 

Most glorious 7.62x54r.

 

In service since '91.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1891.

[bEVEsthda]

^what even is the point? Massive calibre hand cannons are a bit of a joke in my opinion. Yeah I guess some people might find them fun to shoot for sport, but they don't really have any real effective application at all. Anything above a .44 Magnum is just a bit goofy and ott.

 

A Desert Eagle chambered in .357 is probably the largest sidearm I'd really want in any kind of actual combat situation.

 

Indeed.

However, it's not a combat firearm or a combat caliber.

For a combat sidearm, 9mm, .45ACP, .40S&W, .38, .357 are rational. Desert Eagle maybe not so much. The lockwork is not particularly appropriate for a carry sidearm.

 

I do not think handgun hunting is ethical. Nor bow hunting. I don't think hunting for meat is wrong. But when you do decide to take the lives of animals, I do think it comes with a set of responsibilities for those animals. And handguns and bows are not compatible with those responsibilities.

 

But that is what those handguns and calibers are for. FYI, .475 Linebaugh has been used for both single shot kill of Cape Buffalo, and single shot kill of an Elephant. Very unethical, IMO, to do that, just to prove that it can be done. But that's beside the point.

 

In real life, these guns are probably more used by gun enthusiasts just for the hell of it, and to see how far it penetrates through wet newspaper. Another common use is self defense carry in Alaska and the Arctic, against bears. Basically, all big revolver cartridges come into use for that, from .44 magnum upwards, with heavy bullets.

The Linebaughs and .500 S&W are just for those who thinks enough might not be enough. Personally, I'd be more worried about being seriously injured in the face from recoil, by firing such a gun in a frantic, uncontrolled situation, and then unconscious, bleeding, on the ground with an enraged Grizzly or Polar Bear nearby. Nor would my first option be to shoot at the bear.