Aeroguide 28 - B-52 Stratofortress

Nicknamed the 'Big Ugly Fat Fella' (the more polite version!), or 'Buff' for short, Boeing's B-52 has for years epitomised American air power. When the first of the breed took to the skies above Seattle on 15 April 1952, no one dared imagine that the huge shiny bomber would be retained as a key ingredient in the nation's nuclear'triad' for nearly half a century. Today, nearly forty years down the road, only 270 of the original 744 airframes remain in front-line service, yet the 'Buff' continues to eclipse its successors numerically. What is all the more remarkable is that many of these so-called follow-on bombers have already been retired, relegated to the status of gate guardian or museum piece, or left to rot amidst the scrub and sand at the Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 'boneyard'. The glamorous B/TB-58 Hustlers were cleaved by giant axes into so many chunks of scrap metal during the early 1970s; a solitary, unairworthy XB-70A Valkyrie is parked at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; and Strategic Air Command's fleet of sixty FB-111A 'Aardvarks' look set to follow a similar fate long before the thick black smoke of a Stratofortress 'cart start' becomes a sight of yesteryear.

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Airfix Model World 2011-11

NORTH AMERICAN internet kit seller Sprue Brothers is beating the failing US economy by relocating to bigger and better premises. Located in Liberty, Missouri, the new 15,000sq ft building provides more space than the previous location. The larger building has allowed construction of a multi-level floor plan which currently provides ample office and working space for the current staff of 12 as well as the entire inventory. New products lines are being negotiated at present, and should only serve to swell the mail order specialist's already outstanding reputation within the industry. Owner Gordon Kwan said: "We're finding increased interest from new and existing modelling businesses and yes, more brands are on the horizon...and this has meant that we simply had to move to grow. But in line with our policy to only promote items that are in stock, actual announcements on new items won't be made until we have definite release dates from the manufacturers."

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Convair B-36 Peacemaker - A Photo Chronicle

The United States Army Air Forces had become a separate military service from the Army on September 18, 1947. When B-36Bs started entering the SAC inventory in the fail of 1948, the newly independent U.S. Air Force had 59 groups. The USAF wanted to expand to 70 groups, but was thwarted by Fiscal Year 1949 budget restraints. President Harry S.Truman was determined to hold the FY 49 defense budget to $11 billion.The three military services squabbled with each other over who was to receive the lion's share of the money. The Air Force wanted more B-36s, but the Navy wanted a new supercarrier, the first of four, that would give them a strategic bombing capability. The Air Force's position was that strategic bombing should remain an Air Force responsibility, and that a Navy strategic bombing capability was redundant.

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Cots Journal 2011-12

A Lockheed Martin team recently demonstrated how software defined radios can extend the Army's tactical network by connecting disparate ground troops with the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS). During a recent Army exercise, AMF JTRS demonstrated the system's range and capability by successfully relaying a combination of voice, data and imagery from a test bed AH-64 Block III Apache helicopter (Figure 1) to ground forces over the Internet-Protocol-enabled Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). AMF JTRS is a software defined radio that is capable of providing Internet-like connectivity, providing a secure infrastructure for joint forces to send data, imagery, voice and video.

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The Observer's Book of Aircraft Military

The most compact reference source to the entire spectrum of today's military aircraft for pocket or bookshelf, this volume of The Observer s BASIC Book of Aircraft illustrates the vast majority of the aeroplanes serving with the world's air forces and naval air arms, from attack bombers to assault transports; from strike fighters to support helicopters. For the first time in a book of this size comparison silhouette drawings are provided to enable differing versions of one basic aircraft design to be readily compared, and in addition to no fewer than 406 individual drawings and 140 photographs, the reader will find an enormous wealth of information, much of which has remained previously unpublished, concerning the production status of each aircraft type, quantities built of each version, the air arms by which it is used, its characteristics and its history. Never before has so much fact been gathered between the covers of so small a book.

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US MACV-SOG Reconnaissance Team in Vietman

Throughout the 1960s the insurgency in South Vietnam gradually escalated. While denying involvement, North Vietnam had long supported the insurgency with arms, munitions, supplies, and advisers. Some small North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units were operating in South Vietnam in support of the Viet Cong (VC), the military arm of the National Liberation Front, the outlawed South Vietnamese communist party. While some of the troops and materials arrived in the south by crossing the demilitarized zone along the 17th Parallel, which separated North and South Vietnam, and others by boat, by far the most were sent through Laos and Cambodia. This was accomplished via the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, which North Vietnam had begun to develop in mid-1959.

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Vehicules Militaires Magazine No.40

Après avoir organisé en novembre 2009 l'opération « Tissu est dans l'iode » retraçant la libération de la région de Strasbourg par la 2eme DB.elle récidive avec la « découverte de la Ligne Maginot aquatique » le 8 et 9 octobre prochain.La ligne Maginot aquatique est une série de fortifications lacustres fondées sur des inondations couvertes par des bunkers légers qui se sont avérés efficaces.C'est une portion de 27 kilomètres qui se trouve en Moselle proche de Sarreguemines et demeure unique en Europe. Au programme: Départ du convoi de Munster (57) en direction de Barst.Le camp de base sera installé à la casemate de Barst.Circuit de 40 km à la découverte des infrastructures construites entre 1936 et 1940 (bunkers,barrage,salle des vannes..) Dimanche :visite du site de Barst et du cimetière américain de St Avoid.

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Pirate - The Golden Age

The term 'The Golden Age of Piracy' is accepted by most pirate historians as a historical shorthand, although its chronological definition is loosely defined. The term itself was never used until the 1920s, when Rafael Sabatini penned the pirate novels Captain Blood and The Black Swan, which would later be adapted into swashbuckling films. The term was used with a sense of irony, as even Sabatini would admit that there was nothing romantic about piracy. It was, after all, merely a form of violent crime committed on the high seas. However, as a historical term, it serves the useful purpose of encompassing the great upsurge of piratical activity that took place during the first decades of the 18th century.

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Steel Masters No.106

Pour les Américains, la guerre du Pacifique est donc avant tout une guerre aéronavale exigeant, outre des moyens mawnts effectués par des troupes instruites aux opérations amphibies, suivis de combats classiques pour éliminer les garnisons ennemies puis de l'aménagement de bases logistiques pour le bond suivant en direction de l'archipel nippon, l'objectif ultime. Il est évident, dans ces conditions, que la Navy y joue un rôle prépondérant, le Marine Corps qui lui est associé et l'Army assurant sur terre la conquête des îles. De décembre 1941 à mars 1942, les forces japonaises obtiennent des succès relativement faciles face à des adversaires réduits à la défensive. Puis, de mars 1942 à l'été 1943, l'équilibre se rétablit progressivement : les Alliés obtiennent leurs premiers succès offensifs et arrêtent la progression japonaise. Enfin, de l'été 1943 au 10 août 1945, la supériorité croissante des Alliés est telle que les victoires éclatantes successives les mènent aux lisières du Japon et provoquent sa capitulation.

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World War II Magazine January/February 2010

For Australians, it was the biggest naval disaster of World War II. When the light cruiser HMAS Sydney disappeared without a trace in November 1941, all 645 crewmembers — more than a third of the men who died serving on Australian naval ships during the entire war — went with it. After several days went by without word from the vessel, a small armada of rescue ships was sent out to search near its last known position off the coast of Western Australia. They came across a handful of lifeboats bobbing in the waves of the Indian Ocean, but they were filled with Germans, not Aussies. Under interrogation, the Germans said they were the crew of the Kormoran, a raider that had been lurking in Allied shipping lanes disguised as a merchant ship.

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Aviation Week & Space Technology 2011-12-05

General Electric and Rolls-Royce are dissolving the Fighter Engine Team (FET) after deciding to discontinue self-funding the F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The move comes after an Oct. 31 meeting between GE Aviation leadership and Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in which "it became clear that the Defense Department would not support the FET self-funding effort," says GE. Although not unexpected given the Defense Department's termination of the F136 development effort in April, it ends a 15-year effort to mount a competitive challenge to Pratt & Whitney's incumbent F135 engine for the F-35. With almost 80% of the development complete at the time of the Defense Department announcement, and with about $3 billion in federal funding already spent on the effort, GE and Rolls both vowed to continue self-funding the F136 through fiscal year 2012. However, GE says Carter's position "made future progress on the F136 development program difficult. In addition, the status of the federal budget has created greater uncertainty for the overall JSF program."

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Wheels & Tracks No.17

Again we have an intriguing AFV for you to consider. The first photo of it was taken in the 1940s, when it was far from new, the others quite recently. So, it has survived. In the US of A, if it weren't obvious. The other device (following page), which does not look unlike an amphibious bathtub, is also American and we know next to nothing about this one. Going back to earlier issues, the peculiar little tracked vehicle at the bottom of page 10 in W&T 15 did not produce any readers' comments Dating from 1960, it shows a remote-control undersea exploration vehicle, based on an Ontos chassis, developed in the USA in the late 1950s for scientific observations on the ocean bed. It featured a long, jointed manipulator arm to collect samples and specimens and a special underwater television camera which enabled scientists on the shore to observe the sea floor. The machine could operate at depths of 20,000 feet, maintain a speed of three mph and climb obstacles 12 inches high. That's all we know about that one. The antique radio car shown in W&T 14 was a Winton, one of two acquired by the US Army Signal Corps in 1904. Fred Crismon sent us several views of it and we read in his big book that they were powered by a twin-cylinder engine and could carry seven passengers, in addition to the driver.

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Janes Defence Weekly December 07, 2011

On 12 November 2011 Iranian state media reported that an explosion had occurred at a 'rocket storage facility' outside the town of Bid Ganeh, 30 km west of Tehran. The blast, which was said at the time to be due to an accident, reportedly killed 17 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel including General Hassan Moghaddam, who was believed to be a key figure in Iran's ballistic missile programme. The facility, located at35°37'25.85"N 50°52'24.69"E, is secured with a berm and fence perimeter. It consists of seven sophisticated buildings that appear to have been designated for specialised use, as well as several support buildings designated to handle security, administration, equipment storage and maintenance.

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The Chaco War 1932-35

The Chaco War was Latin America's first "modern" conflict; it saw the use of the latest 20th-century military innovations, by armies that had learned some of the lessons - but that repeated some of the mistakes - of World War I. Motor vehicles, tanks, and aircraft were all employed, and some had an effect on the war; however, it was the infantry who bore the brunt of the harsh conditions, not only of combat but also of the extreme environment of the Gran Chaco region. Their experience of this war had an impact in their respective countries in the decades that followed. In a book of this size the scope for detail is obviously limited, but it is hoped that it will serve as a primer for those wishing to learn more about one of Latin America's bloodiest wars, as well as providing a general reference guide for those wanting quick answers on general topics.

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Mykoyan MiG-21

This book is about the most famous fighter in the world. To many who read this book this will seem to be a provocative statement. Others will consider it nonsense. What do we mean by fame? Some dictionaries merely equate the word with renown, and then to define renown bring back the word fame. Most suggest that fame means not just notoriety but good, or generally approved, notoriety. Can we really apply this word to the MiG-21, which to most of us in the West is the arch bad guy? Let's stand back a bit, maybe take a small terrestrial globe in our hand, and reflect for a moment that the Western world is not the same as the world. To be a fighter you do not have to have a number with a capital F prefix. To be a fighter pilot you do not have to wear a NATO uniform. To fly a MiG-21 does not automatically make a pilot an evil aggressor. Indeed, one's opinion of what constitutes an aggressor depends sharply on one's viewpoint. One man's 'terrorist' is another man's 'freedom fighter', both views being sincerely held.

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Model Airplane International 2009-12

I have to say that I like the new packaging style - bold red branding, a small colour profile on the box top and one of the nicest computer-rendered 3D illustrations I've seen for the main image. The kit itself is moulded in light grey, and has a subtle textured feel to it, not quite pebbly, but slightly frosted. The panel lines are sharp, but very deep, perhaps the heaviest I've seen on a 1:72 kit. Clear parts are provided for the three camera ports, and the canopy is commendably clear. Decals for a Swedish and a postwar RAF variant are provided, and a full-colour painting guide shows their positioning as well as Humbrol paint references. The cockpit is fairly well furnished with some rudimentary sidewall detail, bulkheads, seat and joystick. Simplified rudder pedals are included on the floor, which locates neatly onto the instrument panel/forward bulkhead. There's also a pilot with separate arms as Airfix supply alternative undercarriage parts to represent an aircraft in flight, a nice touch for those who prefer to model aircraft in their natural environment. The cockpit was painted Xtracrylix RAF Interior Green, and the various details on the sidewalls picked out in black.

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Cots Journal November 2011

The U.S. really needs to face facts and once and for all tackle the issues surrounding how we acquire things for the military. It's time to initiate a plan that accommodates changing Administrations and Congresses and their ever changing vision for the military's mission. The military has three basic procurement environments: immediate, short term and long term. The problem is all three of these environments have a range to them. Immediate can range from acquiring software or technology to halt an immediate cyber attack to finding a stop gap solution for IEDs. At the other end we have large items ranging from a new tactical vehicle for the Army and Marines, to the next tactical aircraft for the Air Force to the next generation aircraft carrier for the Navy.

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Hitler's Armies - A History of the German War Machine 1939-1945

Hitler's Wehkmacht (literally 'defensive power') was horn out of the most unpromising circumstances. When the dust and arguments settled after World War I, the victorious Allies imposed a series of restrictions on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. Among other things, the treaty stated that by 31 March 1920, the German Army was to consist of no more than 100,000 men, of whom just 4,000 were to be officers. The treaty conditions also specified the structure and organization of this army: there were to be 21 three-battalion infantry regiments (with 21 training battalions attached), and each regiment was to have one mortar company. There were to be proportionally larger numbers of cavalry, plus seven artillery regiments of three battalions, and seven field engineer, signals, motorized and medical battalions, a total of seven divisions in all.

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Wheels & Tracks No.07

Canadians do not seem to boast about their country. It is an unusual phenomenon, developed apparently through a combination of colonial tradition and 'not wanting to sound like Americans'. The reasons are probably as complex as those that establish any cultural identity. Canadian reticence is mentioned here in an attempt to explain how it is that the design and production of nearly 900,000 military vehicles and a vast array of other war material by eleven million Canadians during the Second World War, largely 'given away1 to the Allies, remains an unsung aspect of Canada's contribution to the prosecution of the war and would seem to be passed over in Canadian schools. Personally we have long been intrigued by the apparent lack of Canadian interest in those rather peculiar but distinctive right-hand drive Canadian Military Pattern trucks and assorted armoured vehicles so familiar to Europeans (and Australians for that matter). Was it a case of 'hats off to the past but sleeves up for the future'? Perhaps.

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TORA! TORA! TORA! - Pearl Harbor 1941

As early as 1914 the Japanese and Americans were thinking of each other as possible future enemies. This potential came more sharply into focus when in the 1930s Japan openly embarked on a path of aggression. Beginning in 1931, Japanese actions clearly indicated that their goal was to dominate East Asia. The central issue between Japan and the United States in the period leading up to war was Japanese aggression in China. Not only did this aggression threaten China's integrity, but it jeopardized American trade interests. Despite the fact that it was not one of its primary national security interests, the United States remained committed to Chinese sovereignty. As the Japanese pressed deeper into China and prosecuted the war with increasing brutality, the Americans began to translate Japanese dependence on resources from the United States into economic pressure. Throughout 1940 the US ratcheted up the economic pressure on Japan in an attempt to curb Japan's imperial ambitions without war.

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