Inevitably looming at the end of the 30-ies of the threat of war forced the British Admiralty to take all possible measures to strengthen the fleet, and to do this required quickly and at minimal cost. If the ensuring action of the fighting force of the fleet one way or another was solved through the construction of various types of destroyers, as we told you in previous issues, the issue of the protection of navigation in the waters surrounding Britain and her possessions, looked much sharper. Three dozen sloops, mostly obsolete, slow moving, not able to ward off even the plane-“whatnot” — that could oppose the “mistress of the seas” potential enemy for tens of thousands of miles coastal strip of the Empire, which yet “never the sun went down”.
ESCORT DESTROYERS
This Japanese carrier-based torpedo bomber with radial engine, Nakajima “Hikari 1” made its first flight in January 1937. Delivery of the first production NAKAJIMA B5N1 on Japanese carriers launched in 1938. A year later, an upgraded version of the aircraft NAKAJIMA B5N2 was released with a more powerful engine Nakajima “Sakae 11”. B5N2 considered the best in the world deck torpedo bomber-1941.
After the Second world war in accordance with the decisions of the Crimean and Potsdam conferences of 1945, the victim of crushing defeat of Nazi Germany in the victorious countries flowed Golden streams of reparations. They were precious metals and valuable industrial raw materials, patents and promising development, foreign assets and plant equipment. One of these streams, which originate in the realm of the German company Opel, passing through the half of Europe, joined to the territory of the Moscow plant of small cars (former car Assembly plant of a name of the Communist youth international), to lay the Foundation of mass production of the first Soviet car “Moskvich-400”.
The birth of the Volga automobile plant was preceded by the signing in 1966 of the agreement on technical cooperation between the Italian firm FIAT and Minavtoprom of the USSR. The first machine, which received the designation VAZ-2101, rolled off the Assembly line in 1970.
The number of these fighters were produced in eight versions of the Japanese industrial concern Mitsubishi in 1939, amounted to about 10 499 (according to other sources — 10 937) copies. The A6M was designed in 1937, the Japanese designer Jiro Horikoshi. His first Pope the plane made on 1 April 1939.
In December 1976 the American helicopter firm Sikorsky was announced as the winner of the competition to design a multi-purpose tactical transport helicopter for the US army to replace the UH-1. The firm submitted a helicopter S-70 (UH-60), which made its first flight two years earlier in October 1974. Then the machine became the basis of the production program of the company. All the years of serial production built more than 1000 copies.
Carrier-based fighter BREWSTER F2A Brewster company was the first fighter monoplane taken into service by the Navy of the United States. Designed in 1937, the beginning of the Second world war he was already considered outdated. Japanese aircraft were superior to it in flight characteristics and firepower. However, the plane was successfully used not only in the US but in other countries, and its combat use by the pilots of the Finnish F2A puts in one number with the most outstanding fighters of the Second world war.
In automotive publications many legends about the origin of the name MERCEDES and the famous three-rayed star, crowning the radiators of the cars of this brand. However, most historians of technology agree that the three-rayed star symbolizes the Union of the three founders of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, the designers Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and the businessman Emil Elinika. And the name MERCEDES was awarded in 1901 the first truly successful car company, appeared at the insistence of Lineka, whose daughter was named Mercedes.
Composed at the end of the Second world war on Stalin’s personal order long-term plan of development of the Navy (see “modelist-Konstruktor” No. 6 in 2002) were struck by its size. It is now clear that at that time in our country, which is emerging from a difficult period of its history, was hardly the strength to carry out such an ambitious plan in full. But, most importantly, the point of this expensive program was a bit, because the main rival in the struggle for world domination, the United States already had a huge fleet to catch up, which quantitatively is not possible. The most far-sighted political and military leaders of our country understood that it is necessary to find a principally new solution that would compete with America on the oceans.
In the period from 1937 to 1945 in service with the British army consisted of only four types of infantry tanks. Changing models of military vehicles cruising type resembled a kaleidoscope. So, haven’t had time to finish military career cruising tank Krusader (“modelist-Konstruktor” No. 11 for 1999), in June 1941 began to develop a more powerful heavy cruiser tank. It was called Cromwell and the index of the A27. However, in the absence intended for his engines Rolls-Royce Meteor (they all went to the aircraft), it was decided to install the old Liberty engine as in previous models of cruiser tanks. The novelty was adopted under the name Cruiser Tank Mk VII Cavalier (A24).