Messerschmitt Me 262

[metalfossil]

So as not to clog up the NK thread...

Australia has the only Me 262 left in the world that is still in its original camo. It resides at the Australian War Memorial. It was given to us a a war prize by the Brits at the end of WW2.

'Black X' and four other Me 262s took off from an airfield in Northen Germany (Fassberg) to escape the oncoming Russians. So the story goes they were ordered by Doenitz to fly to the nearest Allied controlled airfield so as they could take up the fight against the Russians. However, when they landed all the pilots were captured....

There are actually some full size flying replicas in the states. Take a look at Stormbirds.com

[Hotblack]

Here is the one at the war memorial in Canberra taken in 2004

[soop]

That's pretty awesome.

[immortality]

yes the germans were technically superior in many fields. just looks at how over engineered there tanks were.

[soop]

Didn't always work in their favour though!

[MACE]

Nice find have to pay this museum a visit

Germans are very switched on being able develop planes like this and V1 and V2 rockers etc at the time.

[immortality]

well no it didn't, especially there tanks. the engines on those could have lasted years where as the average running time would have been days. a waste of time and money really but then he was aiming to build the 3rd Reich to last a 1000 years

[soop]

That was a big pitfall with their technology though. Great on paper but hard to use and maintain in practice.

[CSP]

Also on paper, and (unfortunately?) never built were the Landkreuzer P. 1000 and P. 1500 tanks. The P. 1000 was approved though. And scary to think about trying to destroy one if it was ever advancing on you!

[soop]

Probably just deal with it the same way they delt with the other Panzers.

Infantry.

[T-rex]

Yes I love random World War info, I was reading memoirs (I think) some where about how the German tank crews pitied the American tank crews because they were sending them out in their own sealed coffins and that the average amount of tanks it took Americans was about 10:1 to kill a tiger.

[Hotblack]

Nice find have to pay this museum a visit

Germans are very switched on being able develop planes like this and V1 and V2 rockers etc at the time.

Yeah a trip is worth it but plan to spend at least 5-6 hours looking around they also have guy doing talks about some of the exhibits, I'm planing on going back in the next 12 months as they have changed some of the displays...

some random pics of the war memorial...


Tail gunner position Lancaster Bomber

P51 Mustang

Lancaster bomber

[crazyspoon05]

Also on paper, and (unfortunately?) never built were the Landkreuzer P. 1000 and P. 1500 tanks. The P. 1000 was approved though. And scary to think about trying to destroy one if it was ever advancing on you!

Definitely ahead of their time, looking at some of those above you can see where America got it's post WWII tank designs from

[STEEV888]

i went their earlier this year and spend so many hours looking and reading about everything some of the displays are soo good
i ended up getting asked to leave by a security guard because when they were closing i was still reading

one thing really pissed me off though
when i was there there was an indian family fully dressed in their gear with a little boy running around..
the little boy got into the pool in the middle and was picking p all the money and pocketing it and after he was full he would give it to his mum who would also pocket it.. then they ran away -.- (this all happened in about 25 seconds)
i wanted to shoot them...

[Calaber]

Yes I love random World War info, I was reading memoirs (I think) some where about how the German tank crews pitied the American tank crews because they were sending them out in their own sealed coffins and that the average amount of tanks it took Americans was about 10:1 to kill a tiger.

The tanks principally used by the Americans were M4 Shermans, which were nicknamed "Ronsons" by their own crews because of their ready propensity to "brew up" when struck by a shell. They were comparitively lightly armoured and used petrol engines and the German 88's had no trouble penetrating their armour. The Sherman's greatest advantage lay in sheer numbers and mechanical reliability and, after the British 17 pounder gun was adapted to the Sherman chassis to form the Sherman Firefly, they could match the German guns in battle.

By comparison, the Panzer V and VI (Panther and Tiger) were heavily armoured but mechanically unreliable. Their suspension was complex and could be fouled by frozen mud in the Russion theatre. The excessive weight of the German tanks also created problems with unreliability in the transmissions. More Tigers and Panthers were lost to mechanical breakdown than enemy action. As the war ground to a close, the lack of fuel was also an issue for the Germans and many tanks werer abandoned simply because of no fuel.

[Jesterarts]

Also on paper, and (unfortunately?) never built were the Landkreuzer P. 1000 and P. 1500 tanks. The P. 1000 was approved though. And scary to think about trying to destroy one if it was ever advancing on you!

Jesus ####ing christ! That P1500 is just plan retarded!

I don't think those would be very practical in a combat situation, it would litereally be like trying to drive a boat on land!

I'd imagine those mosters would never even removely get close to a front line, they would be MILES away.

So the enemy would probably never get to see them.

[immortality]

i guess at some stage the idea of the p1500 translated into the Paladin 155mm Howitzer

M109 howitzer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MACE]

Thanks heaps for the pics Hotblack

In surprised no one has mentioned the Soviet/Russian T-34's

They were arguable the best tanks for the war

T-34 Tank

On another note glad to see many war/militaria buffs on here

[HamaTime™]

Thanks heaps for the pics Hotblack

In surprised no one has mentioned the Soviet/Russian T-34's

They were arguable the best tanks for the war

T-34 Tank

On another note glad to see many war/militaria buffs on here

Love anything to do with WW2, I've been more of a fan of Naval and Air combat history over army/infantry stuff.

You are right though, T-34 was pretty much the 'best' in terms of it's agility, speed, firepower, durability, endurance, reliability and armour combined. In terms of sophistication/technical achievement, the Tiger would have ticked all the boxes. The T-34 was basically the M1 Abram of WWII.

I'd be very interested in re-visiting the war memorial, I haven't been for almost 6 years. Be good to go back.

[metalfossil]

Nice find have to pay this museum a visit

Germans are very switched on being able develop planes like this and V1 and V2 rockers etc at the time.

Talking of the V2, The Australian War Memorial has one with it's original trailer; the trailer being the only one left in the world. They also have an Me 163 (Komet) and an Me 109.

Neccesity is the mother of invention....

[Calaber]

The world is probably very fortunate that time ran out for Germany. If Hitler had held off for perhaps three or four years, to allow his engineers and scientists to develop and perfect their technology, instead of invading Poland in 1939, who knows what might have eventuated? German science only really trailed the Allies in radar development in 1940. They were already working on nuclear research, had already flown the world's first jet aircraft two years before (the Brits actually thought they were first until they discovered the truth after the war), they were developing the world's first cruise missiles, ICBM's, guided air-launched bombs, rocket powered aircraft....bloody mind boggling, really, that one country was capable of so much technological leadership at one time.