Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German anti-ship guided missile, a radio controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine slung underneath it. It was designed by Herbert A. Wagner, the Hs 293 project was started in 1940, based on the Gustav Schwartz Propellerwerke pure glide bomb that was designed in 1939. The Schwartz design did not have a guidance system, instead. It was intended to be launched from a bomber at sufficient distance to keep the aircraft out of range of anti-aircraft fire. A Henschel team, under Dr. Herbert Wagner, developed it the year by adding an Walter HWK 109-507 rocket engine underneath. This allowed the bomb to be used from a lower altitude, some examples used the BMW 109-511 of 600 kg thrust. The elevator was operated with an electrically powered jackscrew as the proportional control. Remote flight control was provided through the Kehl-Straßburg link, with the Hs 293s control setup having no movable rudder on the ventral tailfin, the rocket provided for only a short burst of speed making range dependent on the height of launch.
From a height of 1,400 m the Hs 293 had a range of about 12 km, the Hs 293 was intended to destroy unarmoured ships, unlike the unpowered, armour-piercing Fritz X, which used the same Kehl-Straßburg system. Five coloured flares were attached to the rear of the weapon to make it visible at a distance to the operator, during nighttime operations flashing lights instead of flares were used. The Allies put considerable effort into developing devices which jammed the radio link between Kehl transmitter and Straßburg receiver, jammers aboard U. S. Navy destroyer escorts were ineffective at first, as the frequencies selected for jamming were incorrect. On balance, the probability that a Hs 293 launched would actually strike a target was about the same at Anzio as it was during Operation Avalanche. Meanwhile, as attacks were taking place at Anzio, the United Kingdom began to deploy its Type 650 transmitter which employed a different approach, which proved quite successful. The Type 650 automatically defeated the receiver, regardless which radio frequency had been selected for an individual missile, there was a tailless delta winged Hs 293F.
In addition, there was a Hs 293H air-to-air model, over 1,000 were built, from 1942 onwards. The closest Allied weapon system in function and purpose to the Hs 293 series was the US Navys Bat unpowered, the Hs 293 served as the basis for a number of developments, none completed. On August 25,1943, an Hs 293 was used in the first successful attack by a missile, striking the sloop HMS Bideford, however, as the warhead did not detonate. On August 27, the sinking of the British sloop HMS Egret by a squadron of 18 Dornier Do 217 carrying Hs 293s led to anti-U-boat patrols in the Bay of Biscay being temporarily suspended
Air-to-air missile
An air-to-air missile is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fueled, ramjet engines, as used on the Meteor are emerging as propulsion that will enable future medium-range missiles to maintain higher average speed across their engagement envelope. Air-to-air missiles are broadly put in two groups, most use infrared guidance and are called heat-seeking missiles. In contrast, medium- or long-range missiles, which fall under the category of beyond visual range missiles, tend to rely upon radar guidance. Some modern ones use inertial guidance and/or mid-course updates to get the missile close enough to use an active homing sensor, the air-to-air missile grew out of the unguided air-to-air rockets used during the First World War. Le Prieur rockets were attached to the struts of biplanes and fired electrically, usually against observation balloons, by such early pilots as Albert Ball.
Post-war research led the Royal Air Force to introduce Fairey Fireflash into service in 1955, the US Navy and US Air Force began equipping guided missiles in 1956, deploying the USAFs AIM-4 Falcon and the USNs AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder. The Soviet Air Force introduced its K-5 into service in 1957, as missile systems have continued to advance, modern air warfare consists almost entirely of missile firing. The use of Beyond Visual Range combat became so pervasive in the US that early F-4 variants were armed only with missiles in the 1960s. High casualty rates during the Vietnam War caused the US to reintroduce autocannons and traditional dogfighting tactics, in the Falklands War British Harriers, using AIM-9L missiles were able to defeat faster Argentinian opponents. Since the late 20th century all-aspect heat-seeking designs can lock-on to a target from angles, not just from behind. Other types rely on radar guidance, a conventional explosive blast warhead, fragmentation warhead, or continuous rod warhead is typically used in the attempt to disable or destroy the target aircraft.
Warheads are typically detonated by a proximity fuze or by an impact if it scores a direct hit. Less commonly, nuclear warheads have been mounted on a number of air-to-air missile types although these are not known to have ever been used in combat. Guided missiles operate by detecting their target, and homing in on the target on a collision course, although the missile may use radar or infra-red guidance to home on the target, the launching aircraft may detect and track the target before launch by other means. Radar guidance is used for medium- or long-range missiles, where the infra-red signature of the target would be too faint for an infra-red detector to track. There are three types of radar-guided missile – active, semi-active, and passive. Radar-guided missiles can be countered by rapid maneuvering, deploying chaff or using electronic counter-measures, active radar -guided missiles carry their own radar system to detect and track their target
Tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat, with heavy firepower, strong armour, and tracks providing good battlefield maneuverability. The first tanks were designed to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare, now they are a mainstay of ground forces. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapon platforms, mounting a large-calibre cannon in a rotating gun turret. In both offensive and defensive roles, they are units that are capable of performing tasks which are required of armoured units on the battlefield. As a result of advances, tanks underwent tremendous shifts in capability in the years since their first appearance. Tanks in World War I were developed separately and simultaneously by Great Britain and this was a prototype of a new design that would become the British Armys Mark I tank, the first tank used in combat in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The name tank was adopted by the British during the stages of their development. While the British and French built thousands of tanks in World War I, Germany was unconvinced of the tanks potential, Tanks of the interwar period evolved into the much larger and more powerful designs of World War II.
Tanks in the Cold War were designed with these weapons in mind, improved engines and suspensions allowed tanks of this period to grow larger. Aspects of gun technology changed significantly as well, with advances in shell design, during the Cold War, the main battle tank concept arose and became a key component of modern armies. Modern tanks seldom operate alone, as they are organized into combined arms units which involve the support of infantry and they are usually supported by reconnaissance or ground-attack aircraft. The tank is the 20th century realization of an ancient concept, the internal combustion engine, armour plate, and continuous track were key innovations leading to the invention of the modern tank. Many sources imply that Leonardo da Vinci and H. G. Wells in some way foresaw or invented the tank, leonardos late 15th century drawings of what some describe as a tank show a man-powered, wheeled vehicle with cannons all around it. However the human crew would not have power to move it over larger distance.
In the 15th century, Jan Žižka built armoured wagons containing cannons, the caterpillar track arose from attempts to improve the mobility of wheeled vehicles by spreading their weight, reducing ground pressure, and increasing their traction. Experiments can be traced back as far as the 17th century and it is frequently claimed that Richard Lovell Edgeworth created a caterpillar track. It is true that in 1770 he patented a machine, that should carry and lay down its own road and his own account in his autobiography is of a horse-drawn wooden carriage on eight retractable legs, capable of lifting itself over high walls. The description bears no similarity to a caterpillar track, armoured trains appeared in the mid-19th century, and various armoured steam and petrol-engined vehicles were proposed
Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles. In land speed racing, it is a term applied to the long, custom built, the first high-speed streamliner in Germany was the Schienenzeppelin, an experimental propeller driven single car, built 1930. On 21 June 1931, it set a record of 230.2 km/h on a run between Berlin and Hamburg. In 1932 the propeller was removed and a system installed. The Schienenzeppelin made 180 km/h in 1933, the Schienenzeppelin led to the construction of the diesel-electric DRG Class SVT877 Flying Hamburger. This two-car train set had 98 seats and a top speed of 160 km/h, during regular service starting on 15 May 1933, this train ran the 286 kilometres between Hamburg and Berlin in 138 minutes with an average speed of 124.4 km/h. The SVT877 was the prototype for the DRG Class SVT137, during test drives, the SVT137 Bauart Leipzig set a world speed record of 205 km/h in 1936.
The fastest regular service with SVT137 was between Hannover and Hamm with an speed of 132.2 km/h. This service lasted until 22 August 1939, three examples were built during 1935-36. Built for top speeds of over 85 mph, they soon proved much faster in test runs, DRG 05-002 made seven runs during 1935-36 during which it attained top speeds of more than 177 km/h with trains up to 254 t weight. On 11 May 1936 it set the speed record for steam locomotives after reaching 200.4 km/h on the Berlin–Hamburg line hauling a 197 t train. The engine power was more than 2,535 kW ) and that record was broken two years by the British LNER Class A44468 Mallard engine.4 km/h average between start and stop. In 1938 on a test run, the locomotive Mallard built for this set the official record for the highest top speed attained by a steam locomotive. That record stands to this day, the London Midland and Scottish Railway introduced streamline locomotives of the Princess Coronation Class shortly before the outbreak of war.
The Ferrovie dello Stato developed the FS Class ETR200, a three-unit electric streamliner and these trains went into service in 1937. On 6 December 1937, an ETR200 made a top speed of 201 km/h between Campoleone and Cisterna on the run Rome-Naples, in 1939 the ETR212 even made 203 km/h. The 219-kilometre journeys from Bologna to Milan were made in 77 minutes, in the Netherlands, Nederlandse Spoorwegen introduced the Materieel 34, a three unit 140 km/h streamlined diesel-electric trainset in 1934
Canard (aeronautics)
A canard is an aeronautical arrangement wherein a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The term canard may be used to describe the aircraft itself, despite the use of a canard surface on the first powered aeroplane, the Wright Flyer of 1903, canard designs were not built in quantity until the appearance of the Saab Viggen jet fighter in 1967. The aerodynamics of the configuration are complex and require careful analysis. Canard foreplanes, whether used in a canard or three-surface configuration, have important consequences on the aircraft’s longitudinal equilibrium, the term “canard” arose from the appearance of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis of 1906, which was said to be reminiscent of a duck with its neck stretched out in flight. The Wright Brothers began experimenting with the foreplane configuration around 1900 and their first kite included a front surface for pitch control and they adopted this configuration for their first Flyer. They were suspicious of the aft tail because Otto Lilienthal had been killed in a glider with one, the Wrights realised that a foreplane would tend to destabilise an aeroplane but expected it to be a better control surface, in addition to being visible to the pilot in flight.
They believed it impossible to provide control and stability in a single design, and opted for control. Many pioneers initially followed the Wrights lead, the Fabre Hydravion of 1910 was the first floatplane to fly and had a foreplane. But canard behaviour was not properly understood and other European pioneers—among them, Louis Blériot—were establishing the tailplane as the safer, including the Wrights, experimented with both fore and aft planes on the same aircraft, now known as the three surface configuration. After 1911, few canard types would be produced for many decades, in 1914 W. E. Evans commented that the Canard type model has practically received its death-blow so far as scientific models are concerned. Experiments continued sporadically for several decades, in 1917 de Bruyère constructed his C1 biplane fighter, having a canard foreplane and rear-mounted pusher propellor. First flown in 1927, the experimental Focke-Wulf F19 Ente was more successful, two examples were built and one of them continued flying until 1931.
Immediately before and during World War II several experimental canard fighters were flown, including the Ambrosini SS.4, Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender and Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden. These were attempts at using the configuration to give advantages in areas such as performance, armament disposition or pilot view. The Shinden was ordered into production off the board but hostilities ceased before any other than prototypes had flown. But the stability and control problems encountered prevented widespread adoption, in 1963 the Swedish company Saab patented a delta-winged design which overcame the earlier problems, in what has become known as the close-coupled canard. It was built as the Saab 37 Viggen and in 1967 became the first modern aircraft to enter production. The success of this aircraft spurred many designers, and canard surfaces sprouted on a number of derived from the popular Dassault Mirage delta-winged jet fighter
Henschel Hs 124
The Henschel Hs 124 was a German prototype twin-engined heavy fighter-bomber. After two were manufactured, work on the airplane was cancelled, the Hs 124 V1 had two liquid-cooled 12-cylinder Junkers Jumo 210A engines of 449 kW each. It was fitted with a turret with two 7.9 mm MG15 machine guns in the nose. The Hs 124 V2 had two BMW 132DC 9-cylinder radial engines of 640 kW each and it was fitted with two 7. 9mm MG15 machine guns and carried up to 600 kg of bombs
Panzer III
The Panzerkampfwagen III, commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd. Kfz, the Panzer III effectively became obsolete in this role and was supplanted by the Panzer IV. From 1942, the last version of Panzer III mounted the 7.5 cm KwK37 L/24, production of the Panzer III ended in 1943. However, the Panzer IIIs capable chassis provided hulls for the Sturmgeschütz III assault gun until the end of the war, the first task was direct combat against other tanks and other armoured vehicles, requiring the tank to fire armour piercing shells. On January 11,1934, following specifications laid down by Heinz Guderian, the Army Weapons Department drew up plans for a tank with a maximum weight of 24,000 kg. Such supportive tanks designed to operate with friendly infantry against the enemy generally were heavier, the direct infantry-support role was to be provided by the turret-less Sturmgeschütz assault gun, which mounted a short-barrelled gun on a Panzer III chassis.
Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall all produced prototypes, testing of these took place in 1936 and 1937, leading to the Daimler-Benz design being chosen for production. The first model of the Panzer III, the Ausführung A. came off the line in May 1937, ten. Between 1937 and 1940, attempts were made to standardize parts between Krupps Panzer IV and Daimler-Benzs Panzer III, much of the early development work on the Panzer III was a quest for a suitable suspension. Several varieties of leaf-spring suspensions were tried on Ausf, D, usually using eight relatively small-diameter road wheels before the torsion-bar suspension of the Ausf. E was standardized, using the six wheel design that became standard. The Panzer III, along with the Soviet KV heavy tank, was one of the tanks to use this suspension design first seen on the Stridsvagn L-60 a few years earlier. A distinct feature of the Panzer III, influenced by British Vickers tanks, was the three-man turret and this meant that the commander was not distracted with another role in the tank and could fully concentrate on maintaining awareness of the situation and directing the tank.
Most tanks of the time did not have this capability, providing the Panzer III with a combat advantage versus such tanks, for example, the French Somua S-35s turret was manned only by the commander, and the Soviet T-34 originally had a two-man turret crew. The Panzer III, as opposed to the Panzer IV, had no turret basket, the Panzer III was intended as the primary battle tank of the German forces. However, when it met the KV-1 and T-34 tanks it proved to be inferior in both armour and gun power. As a result, production of self-propelled guns, as well as the up-gunning of the Panzer IV was initiated, in 1942, the final version of the Panzer III, the Ausf. N was equipped with rounds of HEAT ammunition that could penetrate 70 to 100 millimetres of armour depending on the rounds variant, the Japanese government bought two Panzer IIIs from their German allies during the war
Dornier Do 17
The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift, was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dorniers company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke. It was designed as a Schnellbomber, a bomber which, in theory. The Dornier was designed two engines mounted on a shoulder wing structure and possessed a twin tail fin configuration. The type was popular among its crews due to its handling, especially at low altitude, designed in the early 1930s, it was one of the three main Luftwaffe bomber types used in the first three years of the war. The Do 17 made its debut in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Along with the Heinkel He 111 it was the bomber type of the German air arm in 1939–1940. Production of the Dornier ended in mid-1940, in favour of the newer, the successor of the Do 17 was the much more powerful Dornier Do 217, which started to appear in strength in 1942. Even so, the Do 17 continued service in the Luftwaffe in various roles until the end of the war, as a tug, research.
A considerable number of surviving examples were sent to other Axis nations as well as countries like Finland, few Dornier Do 17s survived the war and the last was scrapped in Finland in 1952. On 3 September 2010, the Royal Air Force Museum London announced the discovery of a Henschel-built Dornier Do 17Z buried in the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent, on 10 June 2013, the salvage team raised the airframe from the seabed. In 1932, the Ordnance Department issued a specification for the construction of an aircraft for German State Railways. The factory at Friedrichshafen began work on the design on 1 August 1932, when the Nazis took power in 1933, Hermann Göring became National Commissar for aviation with former Deutsche Luft Hansa employee Erhard Milch as his deputy, soon forming the Ministry of Aviation. The Ministry of Aviation designated the new aircraft Do 17, and on 17 March 1933, just three months after taking office, Milch gave the go ahead for the building of prototypes. At the end of 1933, the Ministry of Aviation issued an order for a high speed aircraft with double tail, and for an aircraft with special equipment, in other words.
The original design configuration in 1932 had sported a single vertical stabilizer, the Do 17 was first demonstrated in mock-up form in April 1933. The special equipment was to be fitted later, to disguise its offensive role, in April 1934, the Dornier works at Manzell began project definition. During this month, the armament was designed and the bomb release mechanism details ironed out. Production of these began on 20 May 1934 and, on 23 November 1934
Tiger II
Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf, B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd. Kfz and it is known under the informal name Königstiger, often translated literally as Royal Tiger, or somewhat incorrectly as King Tiger by Allied soldiers, especially by American forces. The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latters thick armour with the armour sloping used on the Panther medium tank, the tank weighed almost 70 tonnes, and was protected by 100 to 185 mm of armour to the front. It was armed with the long barrelled 8.8 cm KwK43 L/71 anti-tank cannon, the chassis was the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless tank destroyer. The Tiger II was issued to tank battalions of the Army. Development of a tank design had been initiated in 1937. Another design contract followed in 1939, and was given to Porsche, both prototype series used the same turret design from Krupp, the main differences were in the hull, transmission and automotive features.
The Henschel version used a hull design with sloped armour resembling the layout of the Panther tank. The Porsche hull designs included a turret and a mid-mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the Elefant tank destroyer and this had six road wheels per side mounted in paired bogies sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair, this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. This method of propulsion had been attempted before on the Tiger and in some US designs, the Porsche suspension were used on a few of the Jagdtiger tank destroyers. Another proposal was to use hydraulic drives, dr. Porsches unorthodox designs gathered little favour. Henschel won the contract, and all Tiger IIs were produced by the firm. Two turret designs were used in production vehicles, the initial design is often misleadingly called the Porsche turret due to the belief that it was designed by Porsche for their prototype, in fact it was the initial Krupp design for both prototypes.
This turret had a front and steeply sloped sides, with a difficult-to-manufacture curved bulge on the turrets left side to accommodate the commanders cupola. Fifty early turrets were mounted to Henschels hull and used in action, the turrets were designed to mount the 8.8 cm KwK43 L/71 gun. Combined with the Turmzielfernrohr 9d monocular sight by Leitz, which all but a few early Tiger IIs used, it was a very accurate and deadly weapon
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