“PETREL” — THE LAST HOPE OF THE LUFTWAFFE

The world’s first experimental jet aircraft is Not. 178 flew in Germany on 27 August 1939, Quite apart from him in “Gloucester” (UK) was established aircraft E28/39 with a turbojet engine (TRD), which took to the skies in may 1941, the Third aircraft with a gas turbine engine, patented F. Willem, soared in the United States. It happened October 2, 1942 the First combat aircraft with turbojet was Me.262, created under the leadership of V. Messerschmitt.

Read more

THE RESPONSE FROM CHAMBERLAIN

THE ANSWER FROM THE CHAMBERLAINThe first years after the conclusion of the London naval agreement of 1930, it caused a massive shift to the construction of light cruisers with 6-inch guns, were relatively quiet. The development of a new (or rather, a revival of the old) class was quite consistent and logical. Would the good old times when making each new project was justified primarily real needs of the fleet, but not artificial limits on the tonnage and caliber of the guns.

Read more

“DELTA” PROTECTION OF DEMOCRACY

World war II had just ended, and yesterday’s allies very quickly began to turn into bitter enemies. The coming era of atomic weapons and of high-speed means of delivery have forced American commanders to take a fresh look at air defense of the country. In August 1945, the United States was a competition for the creation of a supersonic interceptor capable of speed up to 1260 km/h and altitude of 15 km in 4 minutes. Agree requirements for those years — fantastic! Probably this request was based on the characteristics of the Me-163.

Read more

Rocket SHIP Be-10

Rocket SHIP Be-10With the beginning of the era of jet aircraft on the agenda was a question about a Russian military jet flying boat. Therefore, in may 1947, the OKB G. M. Beriev at the beginning of the initiative the development of jet seaplane Maritime reconnaissance P-1 with two jet engines VC-1. In November 1951, the first prototype of the R-1 was completed and submitted to perform the factory flight test and test pilot I. M. Sukhomlin started on it first run. At first there were no signs of trouble. Usually the plane was released after the first flight runs at speeds of up to 70% of the runway. In this speed range R-1 behaved normally, but when I decided to make a run at 80% of takeoff speed (over 165 km/h), started the longitudinal oscillations of such force that the aircraft were thrown out of the water. One time the car almost stood on his tail and only the instant reaction of the pilot prevented a disaster.

Read more

FAR EASTERN PERFECTION

FAR EXCELLENCEAfter the signing of the Washington Treaty, appeared so uncomfortable and unwelcome for all parties involved, except that of the United States, the Japanese decided to close the infringement in the linear ships, number and tonnage of which was strictly determined by a ratio of 5:5:3 in favor of the United States and England, at the expense of cruisers. “Minimum” fleet’s new policy, developed in 1923, included no less than forty cruisers of the maximum allowed size — 10 thousand tons! They had to form 10 divisions of four ships and become, essentially, the backbone of a fleet. It is clear that such a full swing in its implementation would cost a huge amount, hardly inferior to the cost of those superliners, the construction of which had to be abandoned in accordance with the agreement.

Read more

ROCKET LAUNCHERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT

ROCKET LAUNCHERS ON THE EASTERN FRONTThe German army during the Second world war widely used rockets In the Wehrmacht, they were called “mines”, and tubular launchers for them – “mortars”. Some sources claim that the Creator of the German propellant rockets caliber 100, 150, and 210 mm were engineer Nebel. Therefore, they were designated collectively as Nebelwerfergranate, which means “mine of the Month”. However, such an expression could be interpreted as “smoke mine” (Nebel – fog, smoke). The second assumption seems the most probable: the term the Germans used in the First world war to refer to the mines with smoke-forming or toxic substances.

Read more

“MODERATION AND MORE MODERATION”

We left the guide of the fleet “mistress of the seas” on the border of the 20-ies and 30-ies of XX century in deep thought about the future of the cruising fleet. Fully replace the old cruiser ultimate 10-tasaciones “Washington”, armed with eight-inch guns, clearly failed. England needed 50, in the worst case — 40 cruisers, while the number built, “County” under construction “truncated” “exetera” did not exceed a dozen. The rest of the Park were “veterans” of the world, armed with six-inch, still quite fit to fight with auxiliary cruisers, but are no longer able to resist the modern “colleagues” probable opponents in a dueling situation. And, worst of all, at least from the point of view of the lords of the Admiralty, they did not come for joint action with the fleet as cruisers, developed in the best years of 29 knots, and now hardly able to permanently exceed 26 — 27, could not lead the attack fleet destroyers. Required urgently find a solution to the problem, traditional to spread out on half of the world Empire: to cover all of their trade routes and to sweep them from enemy raiders. At the same time should not forget about the line Navy, for immediate support which required at least two dozen cruisers. And all this with very limited funds.

Read more

The FIRST post-war TRUCK ZIS-150 and ZIL-164

The FIRST post-war TRUCK ZIS-150 and ZIL-164The FIRST post-war TRUCK ZIS-150 and ZIL-164For many of my peers postwar truck ZIS-150 are associated with the period when in Moscow and other cities turned to mass construction of the famous five-story Khrushchev. Thousands of trucks on the basis of these machines was delivered to the construction site concrete, many truck tractors with a bulky semi — wall panels, and side cars and other cargoes, including people, which at that time was not forbidden by the rules of the road. By the way, in those years truck mixers-mixers we have not been, and to the concrete prematurely seized, the trucks had to navigate city streets with great speed, generously spilling the contents of the body.

Read more

NISSAN MICRA

NISSAN MICRASerial production of the compact car-hatchback NISSAN MICRA of the fourth generation was launched in 2010 in the British branch of the Japanese company Nissan in the city of Sunderland. For car, we developed a new platform that received from Japanese experts title V (versatility — versatility). This means that on the basis of a new universal platform can also be produced as sedan and mini-van — as suggested on Nissan plants in England, Japan and India. Interestingly, the company plans to annually produce one million cars each modification!

Read more

THE “WORKHORSE” OF THE BRITISH ARMY

In 1966, the military command of the British army felt that the troops needed a new car a solid class that would be easier and on dimensions less than the then car firms “Austin”, “Morris”, “Humber”. In accordance with the tasks the army needed a four wheel drive truck with a payload of one tonne, capable of towing artillery gun or transport trailers weighing up to a ton and a half. And provided the possibility of carrying up to eight soldiers in full combat gear. An important qualities of the new car was recognized its simplicity and manufacturability, small dimensions.

Read more