Under new Ownership...

[Django]

I'd love to see the Kikka come out of storage and get some attention.

[Jesse C.]

Did anyone notice the B-32 Dominators behind the Kikka? They are not on the moon, they are in Japan!

[The Inspector]

It's more likely that those are Nakajima G8M 'Renzan' (Rita) fuselages (the photo is in a Nakajima hanger isn't it?) which owes more to the Douglas DC-4E for it's basic design than any other large Allied airframe, rather than Consolidated Texas built B-32's of which there were very very few in the Pacific Theatre @ the end/after the end of the War.

[gary1954]

Rice burners is that a B-25C in the Hanau photo?

[Steve Nelson]

It's more likely that those are Nakajima G8M 'Renzan' (Rita) fuselages (the photo is in a Nakajima hanger isn't it?) which owes more to the Douglas DC-4E for it's basic design than any other large Allied airframe

Those are definitely "Rita" fuselages in the background..only a couple of prototypes were completed, but there were several more under construction when Japan surrendered. The "Rita" was actually a completely indigenous design. It was the Mitsubishi G5N "Liz" that was a direct adaptation of the failed DC-4E..the Japanese purchased the sole prototype from Douglas, and Mitsubishi reverse-engineered it into a bomber. Only a half-dozen or so were built, and ended up serving as long-range transports.

SN

[wwrw2007]

somewhere in ETO


What plane is this? I almost thought ME264 but that had 4 engines and a twin tail.

[TAdan]

He-177. A four engined bomber (two engines in each nacelle). Apparently it could also do some dive bombing.

[The Inspector]

And had a reputation as being the Teutonic version of the B-29 as far as having unexpected and disastrous engines fires/failures just about anytime it felt like it. It used the DB 610 which was two 605's with a common crankshaft like the W-3420 ALLISON.

[Steve Nelson]

I remember reading comments from a high-ranking Luftwaffe official (Milch, I think) about the He-177 (aptly named "Grief".."Griffin" in German, but it's English meaning is much more appropriate.) Anyway, this General was commenting that after looking the aircraft over he realized it would be a nightmare to service in the field, saying "you had to remove and disassemble the engine just to change the spark plugs!" The double-engine single-nacelle combo was intended to give the plane the power of a four-engine bomber with the drag of a twin, but as The Inspector mentions they had a habit of bursting into flames at the slightest provocation (such as starting the darned things up!) The engines were crammed so tight into the nacelles that fuel and oil lines ran right next to the exhausts, and there was no room for a true firewall.

The airframe itself was sound enough..IIRC at least one was converted to a conventional four-engine configuration with Junkers Jumos. But for some reason the RLM continued to doggedly persue the combo-engine configuration long after it had been proven to be..well..a dog (The U.S. tinkered with a similar powerplant idea in the Fisher P-75, by "marrying" a pair of Allison V-1710s..but quickly realized it was a flop.)

One of the Achilles' heels of the Nazi military was that it was completely enamored with cutting edge technology, at the expense of servicability. The Tiger was a great tank, but it was a maintenance nightmare..constantly breaking down in the field. The Russians could built three or four comparatively primitive T-34s for the same cost, and they were much more dependable and easier to fix.

I always get a chuckle when I hear folks say "if the Luftwaffe had just put the Me-262 into service sooner as a fighter, things would have been much different." Hogwash. When it was put into squadron service, the 262 was still very much an experimental design and wasn't even close to being ready for operational deployment. Also, given the wartime situation the Germans didn't have the facilities or materials necessary to build them properly, nor the fuel of facilities to operate and maintain them. Back in the 1990s, there was a large contingent of the aircraft modeling community that was caught up in this "Luft '46" movement. There was a whole spate of kits of concept aircraft that never made it off the drawing board, that supposedly could have "turned the tide" if only the Germans had had the sense to put them into production. I got completely fed up with it, telling all the Luft '46ers "We won. They Lost. Deal with it."

SN

[Zachary]

He11s bells! I'm not sure why I didn't check this thread out earliers, but man am I glad I did. Great great photos here! Thanks for sharing them.

Zack

[Second Air Force]

One of the Achilles' heels of the Nazi military was that it was completely enamored with cutting edge technology, at the expense of servicability. The Tiger was a great tank, but it was a maintenance nightmare..constantly breaking down in the field. The Russians could built three or four comparatively primitive T-34s for the same cost, and they were much more dependable and easier to fix.

My father was in North Africa with a forward maintenance battalion of 1st Armored Division and he and his crew was assigned to get a Tiger I in running order so it could be tested. (This is one of those stories I wish I'd taped or written down.....) He said the tank was beautifully finished and built incredibly strong but had a weak transmission and final drive design. They scrounged several machines to find the parts they needed to get "his" tank operational. Once they had her running everyone was appalled at how slow it was and how much fuel it burned, but they did like the idea of all that armor around them.

The tank was spirited away, dad moved on to the Italian campaign, and the Tiger ended up at Aberdeen. I've done some research and it appears that "dad's tank" is now in England being restored. I plan on visiting one day so I can actually touch an artifact that my father had a small part in saving.

Great pictures!
Scott

[/quote]

[Steve Nelson]

Now that's a cool story! Having a connection to any surviving WWII artifact is neat, but something as iconic as the Tiger I is really awesome!

My brother wrenched tanks for the USMC back in the early '80s. I think he was telling me that the Tiger's main weakness was the final drive, and to make matters worse it was designed in such a way that you had to remove the engine to replace it.

A few years ago a former Wermacht tanker spoke to our model club about his experiences driving Panzer IVs on the Eastern Front. Somebody asked if he ever got to crew a Tiger. He scoffed, and said "those all went to the SS Panzer units. We would do all the real fighting, and they'd show up after the battle was won and hog the glory, then disappear." His unit had been pulled back to one of the Baltic states to reorganize and re-equip when the war ended, and he was shipped off to a Soviet gulag. After getting home to Germany in '47, he emigrated to the States.

SN

[tinbender2]

What is with the 4-point star insignia painted over the German cross, on the fuselage of the JU-88 night fighter?

[B17news]

from Wright Field

[DaveM2]

Banndit

Nice to see you post again. Check my PM to you sent in 2008!

Dave