Building socialism.
Posts tagged USSR
Sukhoi fighters of the past 50 years. Note: TsAGI = Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute, the closest equivalent of NACA/NASA. Most Soviet aircraft design went through TsAGI first, which dictated certain things. This explains why the MiG-21 and Su-9/11 look very similar, and why both of these delta-winged aircraft had separate conventional tailplanes rather than being pure “tail-less” delta jets (such as the Dassault Mirage series, F-102, F-106, etc).
That said, what I really want is a Su-27 painted red with the words “bite it sideways” on the underside.
There are times I can imagine Soviet daily life matching up with Soviet propaganda.
The Kursk battle also saw wider use of the PzKw VI, the ‘Tiger I’ tank. It was a kick-ass tank with an unreliable engine. Against the T-34 (also kick ass, but with a reliable engine and standard equipped with a hammer to move the gear shift - what respectable tank doesn’t have a hammer to change gears), the Tiger could hold its own but was easily outnumbered as the war went on.
Danger close. Both the Pe-2 and Il-2 were extremely effective attack aircraft. The Il-2 was actually called “The Black Death” by the Germans.
The PzKw IV, in service with the German army through most of the war. It was the workhorse of the armored force.
Several examples of the Panzerkampfwagen V (PzKw V, Panzer V), better known as the ‘Panther’ tank. Hitler kept delaying Operation Citadel partially to allow more examples of this tank to reach the front.
“Stalin’s Organ”, the Katyusha rocket artillery weapon, which was approved for production June 21st, 1941 - one day before Germany invaded.
