Info & stuff

[flakbait]

Just some interesting info I came across while going through a few books and sites. We know that only 200 F4U-1Cs were produced. But did you know...

472 N1K2-Js produced
40 Ostwinds produced


40 is not a mis-print. The factory only produced 40 Ostwind vehicles, out of an order of 200+. The Kugelblitz, which mounted a pair of Rheinmetall modified Mk-103 30mm cannons, never got off the ground. In that case, the factory was over-run by U.S. troops before the first vehicle was completed. 2 pre-production vehicles were used in testing. Both were captured.

Flammpanzers based off the Panzer III chassis didn't make much of a dent in anything. Some 65 were modified into Flammpanzers, and none survived the Battle of the Bulge. A Wirbelwind wouldn't be hard to add since it was based off the Panzer IV chassis. Mounting quad 20mm cannons in an open barbette similar to the Ostwind.

Just some random stuff, I'm bored beyond belief right now.


Flakbait
Delta 6's Flight School
"My art is the wings of an aircraft through the skies, my music the deep hum of a prop as it slices the air, my thrill the thunder of guns tearing asunder an enemy plane."
Flakbait
19 September 2000

[Jigster]

From what I've read, the only large bore, short range (in comparison to high altitude flak guns) that were even remotely successful against aircraft were the 40mm Bofors mounted on gun carriages and M-19's. M-19's had double Bofors, helping it considerably.

The M-15a1 had a production run of 1,500 but was considered  very ineffective because of tracking problems and was considered more useful as a infantry support vehicle with the 37mm and 2 .50's (!)

M-16's delivered lots of lead per second and were very effective in the AAA role and infantry support.

The Pz-38 flak, and the German halftracks mounting single 20mm AAA guns had much more in service and were said to be more effective.

Whats really sad is that the N1K2 may of had a 2000 HP engine but due to fuel and the manufactering problems with the engine due to the B-29's bombing, they had lots of problems even getting them to work right, let alone produce peak power. Random engine failures should be modeled!  

Least it isn't the N1K1-Ja. Awful hard to land that one without damaging it's telescoping gear.

- Jig

[Major Tom]

Saburo Sakai on the niki:

Take that idiot Minoru Genda. He could barely fly, but he jumped up and down about the Shiden-kai, so everybody else pretended to like it, too. That plane was a piece of crap, put together by a third-rate firm.