Bizar equipment

[Luca]

mp44 with a curved barrel

Very interessant.
In any case curved barrel no was new idea....during first WW was used in small number and also during the secession american war, if i remeber well.

[Luca]

I ve listen concern a Luger that was with special defence system....if you no push a special button before shoot, 1 bullet that stay in special little barrel start, but the direction is back! In concrete, if You take this pistol and don't know the system of use, if You use, You kill yourself.
Is funny fantasy or some projects and produced pieces exist?
Sorry for my bad english, i hope that some Members can decriptying.
Thank You.
Luca

[Smert-Fashistam]

What about those V2 rockets, although technically they were first and last ballistic rockets of WW2, they had never been completely developed becuase of the rapid Allied/Soviet advances, thus wasting resources and precious time of Wermacht

this site seems to have lots of info on these
http://www.jirzy.webzdarma.cz/

[Aufklarung]

Apparently the car flew better

[aardvark]

No one has mentioned the infamous Soviet dog mine. This was a dog with several pounds of TNT strapped to its back. These dogs had been trained to find food under tanks(a variation on Pavlovian training). When the dog crawled under the tank a switch would trip the explosives. In reality the dog mines proved useless. The dogs associated food with Russian tanks not German, the German soldiers were warned that Russian dogs often had rabies so German soldiers tended to shoot Russian dogs, imagine your surprise if you shot at a dog and it exploded!! The US tried fitting bats (the little furry mammals) with small incendiary devices. The idea was that the bats would be released from an airplane over the target(Japan) the bats would find a roost in houses and after a few hours the incendiary devices would ignite. This idea made it to the testing stage but an accident at a demonstration, some of the bats escaped and roosted in nearby US army barracks. As planned the incediary devices went off burning down the barracks. Thus ended the short lived bat bomb program

[Zachary]

That bat program sounds very ...um.. interesting
I like this at- http://www.luft46.com/jhart/jh193-1.jpg

Regards,
Zachary

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Looks a bit like the Do. 335:



(this is a model, because it's the best picture I could find - but it was realyl produced, in about 80 pieces, some more assembebled than others...

Christian

[Erik E]

There sure are some strange aircraft ideas, like this Volksjager carrier

[Zygmunt]

The Do335 certainly flew, and was looking quite promising. In his autobiography "Luftwaffe Test Pilot", Hans Werner Lerche relates how he was testing one, and was very impressed with its speed. At the war's end, he decided to use one to get to the Americans to surrender, rather than the Soviets. At one point in his journey, he saw tracer bullets heading past him from behind. He never saw what kind of fighter was shooting at him, he just cranked the engines up to full power, and was out of that situation very quickly.

On the same journey he landed at an airfield to refuel (something which was facilitated by lots of cigarettes and other presents for the ground crew). Immediately after, there was an air raid, and US aircraft attacked the base. His freshly fuelled, uncamouflaged Do 335 was just sitting on the runway, and he was sure it would be destroyed. Fourteen other (better camouflaged, or protected) aircraft on the base were reduced to scrap, but the Do335 was left without a scratch. He could only conclude that it looked so strange that the American pilots thought it was just a decoy - and a poor one at that!

He did relate one problem with the aircraft; the compass. Having engines at both ends of the aircraft meant a strong magnetic signature for a single seater, which often left the compass giving questionable readings. Relocating the compass to the wingtips or elsewhere was tried, but the problem was never really solved.

[Aufklarung]

(this is a model, because it's the best picture I could find - but it was realyl produced, in about 80 pieces, some more assembebled than others...

Christian

Are you saying the images you posted are of a model??

Really, to me, they look like CGI from a game. Perhaps I misunderstand.


Oh and the anti tank pistol has to rank up there too. Silly Germans!

[Custermen]

I thought I knew most of the German aircraft---at least the ones that were produced and sent to the front lines. This one is a stranger to me. Of course, if it was a Navy plane then that would explain it.

I'm posting this just to allow someone a chance to strut his stuff.

The photo is from an eBay item. This is a recognition model that sold for $409. The same seller listed a model of a FW-200 for $492 and a Ju-88K for $380 and some British Fairey.

Custermen

[TonyG]

I'd never seen this one before either, here's some info on it



http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/ha139.html

Operated by Deutsche Lufthansa in the trans-Atlantic transport role before the war, the three Ha 139's were appropriated by the Luftwaffe at the outbreak of hostilities. V1 and V2 were used as transports in the Norwegian campaign while V3 was rebuilt in 1940 and redesignated the Ha 139B/U. The most obvious changes were the inclusion of a long observer nose. The Ha 139B/U was later rebuilt and redesignated the Ha 139B/MS, being equipped with mine-sweeping equipment in the form of a large current-carrying degausing ring for detonating magnetic mines

[Custermen]

the Ha 139B/MS, being equipped with mine-sweeping equipment in the form of a large current-carrying degausing ring for detonating magnetic mines

I've seen photos of the He-111 with this large Ring encircling the entire fuselage. That would be a sight to see on this seaplane.

Thanks for info. Wonder how many were in operation?

I've been shopping around for my own recognition model without finding any in my $$$ range. When I was touring the Ready Room in the US Navy Museum in Pennsacola, I was tempted to snatch one of their models they had hanging from the low ceiling. But they would not be that dumb to hang "original" models. That Recognition model of this Ha-139 would be a real rarity to own.

Custermen

[Aufklarung]

mit der ring.

[Thunderstruck]

The Do -335 Pfeil certainly existed and was built.



Here's a link. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/profile/d335top.htm

My favorite German fighter, btw.

Steve