Poyekhali! @bt-tank - Tumblr Blog

USS Kentucky (BB-6) and USS Prairie (AD-5) at New York Navy Yard, circa late 1901. USS Vermont (1848) is behind USS Kentucky.

Note: the flags at half mast for President McKinley’s assassination and death on September 14, 1901.

LOC: LC-D4-20484

ladyhistory

WWI Aviation 101

(as learned from reading two WWI pilot accounts)

Keep the sun behind you if at all possible so the enemy can't see you coming.

If your engine acts up upon take off, land immediately. Trying to push it by turning back will end way worse.

Keep the heights. It's easier (and safer) to dive than climb.

Try not to think about how you might literally die at any point multiple times a day. Just party with your buddies on your off-time and make the best of it.

Being outnumbered is generally not a good thing, but if you attack, commit and make it count.

Landing in a wheat field may look safe but that crap will clog up your propeller and flip your plane. Planes suck as lawnmowers.

Your enemy is just as scared as you are.

Communication is key -- if you see an enemy, rock your wings or wiggle parts of your plane to alert your friends.

If you have to emergency-land away from your aerodrome, try to land near a nice French house in the countryside with nice people who will spoil you.

Shoot your guns every now and then so they don't freeze up.

Some things can only be learned through trial and error, and some mistakes you don't live to make again.

It may be warm on the ground, but you will freeze your butt off at 20,000+ feet. Layer up and smear whale fat on your face to prevent frostbite.

People think you're a rockstar, but remember that your job has a higher mortality rate than everybody else's. You still look cool af though.

Know what motivates you. Revenge. Idealism. Adventure. Whatever it is, make sure it keeps you going.

Just because the enemy has superior equipment, doesn't mean he's invincible.

Adopt cute mascots along the way.

Looking around for enemies whilst in an open cockpit has a really limited range of motion, so good luck with that.

Spinning leads to more spinning which leads to inevitable death. Don't spin unless you can absolutely control it.

When they hear a plane, soldiers in the trenches are ordered to freeze in position in order to keep from being seen from above. You can't see them from that high up anyway, but they probably won't believe you.

If the weather is bad, you'll probably get the day off.

Getting drunk and smashing stuff at bars is actually part of the experience, because it keeps your mind off, y'know, death.

Operate heavy machinery with your knees whenever you need to.

Your machine gun will inevitably jam. A lot. You're going to have to stand up while flying and hit with a hammer until it works again.

You won't be given a parachute because the higher ups think you won't fight as hard if you have one. Try not to get shot down and plummet thousands of feet to the ground. Or go up in flames. Everything is really flammable, including you, because you're covered in motor oil that the engine spits back on you.

Seriously, don't think too hard about it all.

ladyhistory

Also your average life expectancy as a fighter pilot is anywhere from 3-9 weeks. Just do your best.

dieselpunkflimflam

The Specter is in the cockpit.

thisdayinwwi

Apr 8 1920 British soldiers on duty at Jaffa Gate, Old City, Jerusalem. At the time it was under military Occupation. Then Palestine was a British Mandate and in flames, Israel would be born in 1948.

Call Number: LC-M32- 13837

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019695011 Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-matpc-04717

Colourized by Lord_o_the_North

tpmmpt-1

Simulating travel over rough ground for trainee tank gunners in the American Expeditionary Force in 1918

supplyside

demolition of the blast furnaces

rocketumbl

McClelland Barclay Experimental Camouflage Design

greatwar-1914

“This is how German lands will look if France reaches the Rhine!” German propaganda poster, WWI.

artyrambles

Tiger in winter.

just-shower-thoughts

If you need to laugh childishly today, it has been 6969 days since the year 2000 ended.

just-shower-responses

i’m putting a date on this, 1/30/20 it’s fucking real

lockheed-martini-deactivated202

Porche tank plant, presumably, showing two prototype Panzer VII "Maus" hulls and turrets being assembled, with an incomplete Tiger 1 turret on top for scale.

Note the rack of horseshoe shaped Tiger 1 turret walls resting between the two Maus turrets.

redarmyscreaming

Sikorsky Iliya Muromets Ilya Muromets were a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and military heavy bombers used during World War I by the Russian Empire.

lex-for-lexington

“USS Prichett (DD-561) coming alongside USS Essex (CV-9) during 1944 carrier TG operations. Photo by Paul Madden.”

(Source)

bmashina

The American “jeep” & tank tracks E-100.The width of the tracks is only 100 cm.

lockheed-martini-deactivated202

That we scrapped that tank prototype is a crime.

ravens-wing214-deactivated20230

An incomplete E-100 chassis with tracks installed.

This would have been scrapped after inspection and testing performed by Allied military personnel.

bmashine-deactivated20240516

In 1943 the Adlerwerke company received an order to develop the tank E-100 . However, in 1944, stopped the development of heavy tanks . By the end of the war, a prototype chassis was manufactured, captured in the aftermath by the British army .

@sarallis

ravens-wing214-deactivated20230

At one point it had tracks and a functional drive train.

All they needed was a turret and crew……

lockheed-martini-deactivated202

Turret was in Russian hands. E100 used a Maus turret.