10 Most Extra Ordinary Weapons of The World

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Inshallah

But First i will go to Swat

It's interesting. My mother and her siblings for precautionary reasons went to Swat during 1965 war, while my grandfather was with the police force in Lahore.

She told me that she was hoping that Pakistani air and infantry battles with indian forces would continue, so that she could remain in peaceful Swat.

I last went to Swat in 2004. And I am dying to go back.


Long life to Swat and Parachinar. Guaranteed to be the Alps and Switzerlands of Pakistan.




Inshallah dear sister, Inshallah. Effective action; faith; hard work; sweat; blood; and unity.


the cruelty of the traitors and sell-outs is hotbed of our fungoid!!!!!

 

[abbasniazi]

@ Abass>

a very nice thread,but after seeing tones of wonderful wepons, its now time to change the name of the thread from10 Most Extra Ordinary Weapons of The World to just
Most Extra Ordinary Weapons of The World.
a humble suggestion
adios.

I agree to you brother, however, i didn't change the title of the thread because if u google for Most extraordinary weapons, the sites which list up at the top are the ones starting with numerics, and this thread of ours appears at the TOP.

This helps alot of people to get introduced to defence.pk, therefore, more and more users register on this website, which is surely beneficial.

I however, agree to you that things have gone far beyond the "10" figure, but again, we know this is what happens on these forums, i am sure the way you guys have participated in this thread, it'd go along way with respect to information for ill-informed people like me.

Hope to see more from you brothers, by the way, I loved the way u took on, on our indian brothers in the LCA Tejas thread, it made me realize that there are other people then "Emo_Girl" who could be so logical and thrashing(Logical ofcourse) for Indian Brothers, Hats off for you Brother...Regards...

 

[DaRk WaVe]

B-52​

General Characteristics
Primary Function: Heavy bomber
Contractor: Boeing Military Airplane Co.
Power plant: Eight Pratt & Whitney engines TF33-P-3/103 turbofan
Thrust: Each engine up to 17,000 pounds
Length: 159 feet, 4 inches (48.5 meters)
Height: 40 feet, 8 inches (12.4 meters)
Wingspan: 185 feet (56.4 meters
Speed: 650 miles per hour (Mach 0.86)
Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,151.5 meters
Weight: Approximately 185,000 pounds empty (83,250 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 488,000 pounds (219,600 kilograms
Range: Unrefueled 8,800 miles (7,652 nautical miles)
Armament: Approximately 70,000 pounds (31,500 kilograms) mixed ordnance -- bombs, mines and missiles. (Modified to carry air-launched cruise missiles, Harpoon anti-ship and Have Nap missiles.
Crew: Five (aircraft commander, pilot, radar navigator, navigator and electronic warfare officer
Accommodations: Six ejection seats
Unit Cost: $53.4 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)
Date Deployed: February 1955
Inventory: Active force, 85; ANG, 0; Reserve, 9

Air Combat Command's B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,166.6 meters). It can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance with worldwide precision navigation capability.
In a conventional conflict, the B-52 can perform strategic attack, air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations. During Desert Storm, B-52s delivered 40 percent of all the weapons dropped by coalition forces. It is highly effective when used for ocean surveillance, and can assist the U.S. Navy in anti-ship and mine-laying operations. Two B-52s, in two hours, can monitor 140,000 square miles (364,000 square kilometers) of ocean surface.
All B-52s are equipped with an electro-optical viewing system that uses platinum silicide forward-looking infrared and high resolution low-light-level television sensors to augment targeting, battle assessment, and flight safety, thus further improving its combat ability and low-level flight capability.
Pilots wear night vision goggles (NVG) to enhance their vision during night operations. Night vision goggles provide greater safety during night operations by increasing the pilot's ability to visually clear terrain, avoid enemy radar and see other aircraft in a covert/lights-out environment.
Starting in 1989, on-going modifications incorporates the global positioning system, heavy stores adapter beams for carrying 2,000 pound munitions, and a full array of advance weapons currently under development.
The use of aerial refueling gives the B-52 a range limited only by crew endurance. It has an unrefueled combat range in excess of 8,800 miles (14,080 kilometers).
The aircraft's flexibility was evident in Operation Desert Storm and again during Operations Allied Force. B-52s struck wide-area troop concentrations, fixed installations and bunkers, and decimated the morale of Iraq's Republican Guard. The Gulf War involved the longest strike mission in the history of aerial warfare when B-52s took off from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., launched conventional air launched cruise missiles and returned to Barksdale -- a 35-hour, non-stop combat mission.
During Operation Allied Force, B-52s opened the conflict with conventional cruise missile attacks and then transitioned to delivering general purpose bombs and cluster bomb units on Serbian army positions and staging areas.

Background
For more than 40 years B-52 Stratofortresses have been the backbone of the manned strategic bomber force for the United States. The B-52 is capable of dropping or launching the widest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory. This includes gravity bombs, cluster bombs, precision guided missiles and joint direct attack munitions. Updated with modern technology the B-52 will be capable of delivering the full complement of joint developed weapons and will continue into the 21st century as an important element of our nation's defenses. Current engineering analyses show the B-52's life span to extend beyond the year 2040.

The B-52A first flew in 1954, and the B model entered service in 1955. A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962. Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and is assigned to Air Combat Command and the Air Force Reserves.
The first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. The H model can carry up to 20 air launched cruise missiles. In addition, it can carry the conventional cruise missile that was launched in several contingencies during the 1990s, starting with Operation Desert Storm and culminating with Operation Allied Force.

 

[Kompromat]

Inshallah

But First i will go to Swat

Good on you aapa , i would go too...

 

[DaRk WaVe]

Myasishchev M4 'Bison' - the forgotten Soviet 'super bomber'

First flying soon after the first flight of the B-52 Stratofortress, the M-4 initially impressed Soviet officials, however, it soon became clear that the bomber had an insufficient range to attack the United States and still return to the Soviet Union. Only a few of the original production M-4s were actually put into service.

The M-4 was first displayed to the public in Red Square, on May Day, 1954.

To remedy this problem, the Myasishchev design bureau introduced the 3M, known to the West as the 'Bison-B', which was considerably more powerful than the previous version. This new model first flew in 1955. Among other things, two of the five original gun barbettes were removed to lighten the aircraft.

This time, it was not the Soviet Air Force (VVS) that wanted the 3M, but rather Naval Aviation (AV-MF). Though it could still not bomb Washington, D.C., the 3M had a sufficient range to fulfill the need for a long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. In 1959, the 3M broke numerous world records, however, it was thought by the West (and would continue to be thought so until 1961) that the 3M was the original M-4, meaning that the capability of the M-4 was vastly overestimated by Western intelligence agencies.

In the early 1960s, the 'Bison-C', with a specialised search radar, was introduced. By this time, many of the original M-4s had been converted to M-4-2 fuel tankers for aerial refueling. Later, 3Ms were converted to 3MS-2 and 3MN-2 tankers as well.

Neither the M-4 nor the 3M ever saw combat, and none were ever converted for low altitude attack, as many American B-52s were, nor were any ever exported to the Soviet Union's allies.

Production of the Bison aircraft stopped in 1963, by which time 93 of them had been built. The last aircraft, an M-4-2 fuel tanker, was withdrawn from service in 1994.

The VM-T heavy lift aircraft is based on the 3MN-2 tanker

 

[marcos98]

COOL THREAD.......
Heres some weapon legends

1. The Urumi
Also known as “chuttuval,” which means “coiled sword,” this flexible weapon is used in the South Indian Martial Art of Kalaripayatt.

The blade (or multiple blades, as in the urumi pictured here) is flexible enough to be rolled up and stored when not used, or even worn as a belt and whipped out on demand.

The blade or blades are typically razor-sharp and bad news for anyone standing in the vicinity of the person wielding the urumi.



2. The Tekko-kagi (”hand claws&#8221
Ninjas would use the tekko-kagi claws to guard against sword attacks, allowing them to swipe and potentially knock the sword from an assailant’s hands.

Or, ninjas could use claws the claws offensively against their opponents with devastating results.

Typically made from aluminum, steel, iron or wood, tekko weapons are believed by martial arts historians to have originated when the Bushi in Okinawa, Japan began wielding the steel shoes of their horses as a means of self-defense against assailants.



3. The Kusari-gama
Kusari-gama is a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of Scythe-like blade,Kama, on a metal chain with a heavy iron weight at the end.

This weapon came from the design of the farmer’s scythe but this was not a weapon that farmers used.

The art of handling the Kusarigama is called Kusarigamajutsu.


4. The Nunchaku
A nunchaku is two sections of wood (or metal in modern incarnations) connected by a cord or chain. Chinese nunchaku tend to be rounded, whereas Japanese are octagonal.

The traditional nunchaku is made from a strong, flexible hardwood such as oak, loquat or pasania. Originally, the wood would be submerged in mud for several years, where lack of oxygen and optimal acidity prevent *******.

The end result is a hardened wood. The rope is made from horsehair, and was traditionally claimed to be able to block a sword. Finally, the wood is very finely sanded and rubbed with an oil or stain for preservation.

 

[marcos98]

5. The Meteor Hammer & Rope Dart
This weapon is comprised of a long rope with twin metal weights, “hammers”, or darts on each end. When used as a weapon, the hammer or dart on the front end is used for attack and the other for protection.

The rope wraps around the neck, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, thigh, foot, or waist. When the hammer or dart is released, it strikes outward with stunning and surprising speed. It is one of Chinese martial arts’ most unique and difficult-to-master weapons

6. San-Jie-Gun (Three Section Staff)
The three sectional staff, is a historical weapon, which appears in the Chinese book “Sangokushi”. Its distinctive feature is three 70 cm sticks chained together making it much longer than a long staff.

It can be swung around, or as a staff, using one’s whole body space to fend off an attacker. A Chinese weapon constructed from three pieces of wood connected by metal rings at their ends. Lengths of the sections are roughly equal, each about the length of the practitioner’s arms (with the diameter around one inch).

The three sectional staff can be used as a long range weapon when held at one end and swung freely, or a short-range weapon when two of the sections are held and used to strike or parry.

7. Shurikens (Throwing Star)
One of the most popular weapons of the Ninja, the shuriken was used as more of a distraction than an actual weapon. Although they can hurt they rarely penetrate deep enough to kill. Shurikens come with anywhere from 4 to 12 points traditionally.

8. Tessen (Iron Fan)
Folding fans with outer spokes made of iron which were designed to look like regular, harmless folding fans or solid clubs shaped to look like a closed fan.

Samurai could take these to places where swords or other overt weapons were not allowed, and some swordsmanship schools included training in the use of the tessen as a weapon.

The tessen was also used for fending off arrows and darts, as a throwing weapon, and as an aid in swimming, like hand-flippers.

 

[abbasniazi]

What about this one guys? i am sure u have better cars which may have more spacious weapons bay...

\
A Mix of Old and New...

 

[DaRk WaVe]

T-34 Tank​

The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II.[2] First produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov (Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR), it was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout World War II, and widely exported afterwards. It was the most-produced tank of the war, and the second most-produced tank of all time, after its successor, the T-54/55 series (Harrison 2002). In 1996, the T-34 was still in service with at least twenty-seven countries.

The T-34 was developed from the BT series of fast tanks and was intended to replace both the BT-5 and BT-7 tanks and the T-26 infantry tank in service (Zaloga & Grandsen 1984:66, 111). At its introduction, it was the tank with the best balanced attributes of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness, although initially its battlefield effectiveness suffered from the unsatisfactory ergonomic layout of its crew compartment, scarcity of radios, and poor tactical employment. The two-man turret-crew arrangement required the commander to serve as the gunner, an arrangement common to most Soviet tanks of the day; this proved to be inferior to three-man (commander, gunner and loader) turret crews.

The design and construction of the tank were continuously refined during the war to enhance effectiveness and decrease costs, allowing steadily greater numbers of T-34s to be fielded. In early 1944, the improved T-34-85 was introduced, with a more powerful 85 mm gun and a three-man turret design. By the war's end in 1945, the versatile and cost-effective T-34 had replaced many light and heavy tanks in service, and accounted for the majority of Soviet tank production. Its evolutionary development led directly to the T-54/55 series of tanks, built until 1981 and still operational as of 2009.

 

[Super Falcon]

submarines are too extraordianry

 

[abbasniazi]

Japanese Vengeance Balloon Bombs

To cause mayhem and destruction during the Word War II, Japan came up with an ingenious idea in the form of the Japanese Vengeance Balloon Bombs. The Japanese hoped that the easterly wintertime jet stream winds could carry these explosive balloons to the forested regions of the Pacific Northwest and initiate large forest fires. The idea behind this exercise was to divert the attention of the U.S. military homewards, to tackle forest fires and leave the battle arena. The balloons were fashioned from mulberry paper, glued together with potato flour and filled with expansive hydrogen. This was one of the times in history when the media helped the government by hushing up the matter so that there would be no panic amongst the citizens and the Japanese would abandon the exercise. The balloons were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, as well as Mexico and Canada

The FP-45 Liberator

Another psychological warfare weapon to be used during the troubled times of World War II was the FP-45 Liberator. Manufactured by the Inland Guide Lamp Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation, it was commissioned for the United States military services. The army had designated the weapon as the Flare Projector Caliber .45 hence the name FP-45. This was done to hide the fact that a pistol was being mass-produced. A crude and clumsy weapon, the Liberator was never intended for front-line service, it was intended as an insurgency weapon.

The Goliath tracked mine

After recovering a prototype of a miniature-tracked vehicle developed by the French vehicle designer Adolphe Kégresse, Germany's Wehrmacht's ordnance office instructed the Borgward automotive company to make something similar. The purpose of the vehicle was ro carry a minimum of 50 kg of explosives. Eventually the company developed the SdKfz. 302 ( Sonderkraftfahrzeug, 'special-purpose vehicle'), called the Leichter Ladungsträger ('light demolitions carrier'), or Goliath, which carried 60 kg of explosives. The highlight was that Goliath could be steered remotely via a joystick control box. The control box was attached to the Goliath by a triple-strand telephone cable connected to the rear of the vehicle. Quite a cool RC vehicle.



The Paris Gun

Though often confused with Big Bertha, the howitzer used by the Germans, The Paris Gun was more known for the terror that it caused rather than the destruction by its mortar shells. The Germans used this gun during the World War I to instill psychological fear amongst the Parisians. The gun was also known as the " Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz" ("Emperor William Gun"), and was destroyed before the Allied forces could capture it. For military combat this gun was so a great success: the payload was very small, the barrel had to be regularly replaced, and the accuracy was only good enough for city-sized targets

Zip Guns

A crude and improvised firearm is termed as a Zip Gun. They usually are improvised handguns. They are almost always single-shot, and may be destroyed by the act of firing. Zip guns are usually smoothbore. However multiple shot zip guns do exist. Sometime in 2000, European police come across a four shot .22 LR zip gun disguised as a cellphone, where different keys on the keypad fire different barrels. Due to this enlightenment cellphones are now x-rayed by airport screeners worldwide. It is believed that such guns are being manufactured in Croatia. Even large bolt screws have been improvised into Zip guns.

The Trebuchet

The Chinese invented the Trebuchet as well as gunpowder. Using the principles of counterweight, it gained popularity as a medieval siege engine. All of them were made of wood but were sturdy enough to fling three hundred pound (140 kg) projectiles at high speeds into enemy fortifications. Used by both Christian and Muslim warriors in the Mediterranean region in the twelfth century, they often used to fling disease-infected corpses into the enemy territory to infect them.

Dolphins as weapons

The Navy explored the possibilities of using marine mammals in the early 1960s, when military researchers noticed how sea mammals' highly developed senses, such as the dolphins' sonar, could be exploited to locate mines and do other underwater tasks. The dolphins were used in the used in the 1970s during the Vietnam War and in the late 1980s; six Navy dolphins patrolled the Bahrain harbor to protect U.S. ships from enemy swimmers and mines. They also were used to escort Kuwaiti oil tankers through potentially dangerous waters. In 1989, the Navy started the Cetacean Intelligence Mission. They fitted the dolphins with harness and electrodes, and teaching them to protect Trident subs in harbor. They were taught to avoid touching the mines, which might cause them to explode.

 

[nightcrawler]

Discovery.Channel.Top.Tens.Bombers
Here is the complete movie; use HJsplit to join all parts
http://www.*************/file/m3goiyzwqdj/Discovery.Channel.Top.Tens.Bombers.avi.001
http://www.*************/file/5zo0mdinkld/Discovery.Channel.Top.Tens.Bombers.avi.002
http://www.*************/file/gjxtkyybyiz/Discovery.Channel.Top.Tens.Bombers.avi.003
http://www.*************/file/ij4zmjdjmdm/Discovery.Channel.Top.Tens.Bombers.avi.004


or you visit the whole folder at
Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

 

[Hari]

Kalinin_K-7

 

[DaRk WaVe]

Why u people have forgotten this legend

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15​

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-15) was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all enemy fighters. The MiG-15 also served as the starting point for development of the more advanced MiG-17 which would oppose American fighters over Vietnam in the 1960s. The MiG-15 is believed to have been one of the most numerous jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. Licensed foreign production perhaps raised the total to over 18,000.The Mig-15 is often mentioned along with the F-86 Sabre in lists of the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War and in comparison with fighters of other eras.
On November 30, 1950, at 0720 hours (local) during a raid on the North Korean Air Base at Namsi, an American B-29 Superfortress was hit by cannon fire from an aircraft that flashed by so fast, the gunners had no chance to return fire. Luckily the damage was confined to the outer port wing of the Superfortress and it immediately turned back toward its base. F-80C "Shooting Stars" which were escorting the B-29's tried to engage the interloper but were left in the dust as the stranger turned northeast toward the Yalu River. The Americans had not even had time to identify the nationality of the craft, and though a couple of F-80 pilots got a fleeting glance at the silhouette, intelligence officers at the debriefing were unable to identify the craft except to say it was jet powered. F-80 pilots estimated the craft was approximately 85 mph (136.8 kph) faster than the Shooting Star. Damage to the B-29 indicated the craft carried at least one 37mm cannon and probably another, smaller cannon. This was the debut of the "MiG-15" and USAF brass viewed the development with what was described as "organized panic", from Korea all the way to the Pentagon.


In 1939, Anushavan Ivanovich ("Artyom") Mikoyan and Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich teamed up to enter a design competition for a new Russian monoplane fighter. They won the competition and their outstanding MiG-1 design was put into production by the TsKB (Central Constructor Bureau) and the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau was formally recognized by the Soviet government in early 1941.

The close of WWII found Russia with an abundance of captured German aircraft technology. There were experiments in high speed and near sonic speed flight, which the German scientists were unable to put to practical use due to allied bombing and the subsequent deterioration of facilities. There were captured Messerschmitt Me-262 and Arado Ar.234 jet aircraft along with many brand new Jumo and BMW jet engines, still in crates. Everything including scientists, experimental data, engines, aircraft, tools and machinery was immediately confiscated, loaded into boxcars and shipped to Russia. This action put the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in possession of mounds of secret German documents and the scientists who had created them.
The introduction of the MiG-15 was a total (nasty) surprise to the NATO air groups, somewhat comparable to the surprise the Allies received when the Japanese A6M Zero-Sen made its appearance a few years before, during WWII. The Mig-15 was developed under the utmost security. The Soviet philosophy was; if another country could achieve military superiority, sooner or later it was bound attack Russia, just as the Nazis had on June 22, 1941. Under Stalin, military weapons research had high priority and the secrecy involved was deadly serious. Anyone even suspected of the slightest security violation was tortured and executed. The KGB was listening. Thus, the MiG-15 - arguably the worlds best fighter aircraft at the time - was produced in near total secrecy.


The first step toward producing the first MiG jet was known as the model I-250. It featured the odd installation of a 1,400 hp (1045 kW) piston engine in the front and a small, 650 pound static thrust (2.89 kN) jet located in the rear. The craft itself was vaguely reminiscent of the sleek MiG-1 with a rather sharp nose, and cockpit set into the back half of a bullet-shaped fuselage. It was said this oddball craft had a top speed of well over 500 miles per hour (805 kph) in level flight, placing it in the elite group of the fastest prop driven planes in the world.

Though the goal was to produce a pure jet aircraft, Russia simply did not have the engineering expertise to build a jet engine capable of enough power to better the speed of a prop driven plane. Like the US a few years before, the Soviets in 1944 were working with technology acquired from building turbochargers for piston engines. It is (very roughly) a similar problem designing a jet engine as designing a turbocharger; extremely hot exhaust gases under pressure are used to power a turbine. In front of this turbine (connected the same shaft) is a compressor which packs fresh air and fuel into a combustion chamber. Upon ignition, the hot gasses are produced which power the turbine, thus producing a self sustaining reaction and (in the case of the jet engine) the thrust needed to power the aircraft. The first practical Soviet jet powered aircraft was the Mig-9 which flew on April 9, 1946. It had a top speed of 560 mph (901.23 kph) which was much faster than the prop driven aircraft of the time, but not faster than the American P-80A Shooting Star (the designation "P" for "Pursuit" was changed in 1948 to "F" for "Fighter").
While the Soviets were having their developmental problems, the British on the other hand seemed to be years ahead of everyone. The Jumo and BMW engines the Russians had captured in Germany were rather primitive when compared to England's Rolls-Royce jet engines in the late part of 1945. And just as it appeared the rest of the world was about to leave the Soviets far behind in the race for a more practical jet engine, fortune truly smiled on the Reds.


In Britain, Clement R. Attlee of the socialist Labor Party was elected Prime Minister in 1945. Attlee, being somewhat naive about the Russian brand of socialism, immediately set about improving relations between Britain and Russia. At the invitation of Attlee, Joseph Stalin sent a team of scientists and engineers to the Rolls-Royce factory to study the design of the superb "Nene" jet engine. Arrangements were made for the Soviets to manufacture the engine in Russia under license from Rolls-Royce. They also took several Nenes with them when they returned to Russia. The Russians wasted little time in copying every detail of the engine and appropriating the design as their own, calling it the "Klimov RD-45" with no regard at all being given to the licensing agreement with Rolls-Royce. However, due to the quality of the Russian materials used in construction of the RD-45, performance of the engine left much to be desired. Turbine blade failures were common, and average time between overhauls was on the order of a very few hours. Fuel consumption bordered on the intolerable. The dogmatic approach of the Soviet aircraft industry solved these problems one-by-one and eventually produced an engine of nearly equal quality to the original Nene. It was called the Klimov VK-1 - still almost an exact copy of the Nene.
Now in possession of a powerful and reliable jet engine, work was resumed on the design of a suitable airframe. The "I-310", as the super secret Mikoyan-Gurevich craft became known, was first flown in late 1947 and it was immediately obvious to the Russians that they had a "world beater" on their hands. There were still some flaws to be eliminated, but it possessed dazzling performance.


Throughout the late forties, development proceeded on the I-310. Different combinations of cannon were tried, The final arrangement being two 23mm NK23 cannon slung under the left side of the nose and a 37mm NS37 under the right, with 80 rounds for each of the 23mm and 40 rounds for the 37mm. This assemblage provided a devastating punch for the little fighter, although not without compromise. The rate of fire was very slow when compared to the US .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine gun. The target was harder to hit, but it took only 1 round from the 37mm or between 2 and 3 rounds from the 23mm to destroy an enemy fighter.

It was found the aircraft had an alarming yaw at speeds above Mach 0.9 and it also had a tendency to flip itself out of a high speed turn. This latter problem was common to most early, high speed jet fighters. The yaw problem was never satisfactorily resolved. The craft was simply fitted with speed brakes on each side of the rear fuselage which automatically opened at Mach 0.9. The Soviets were fond of simple, crude fixes such as the speed brakes. When it was found that production standards were being ignored and a resulting problem of unequal lift from the wings occurred, the Russians simply improvised a trim tab to one of the wings to increase or decrease the lift of that wing. However, the trim tab could only be adjusted while the craft was on the ground..

Though engine problems, airframe problems and even weapons problems continued, the craft was rushed into production . The first production MiG-15 flew on the last day of December 1948. Continuous improvements were made and in early 1950, the MiG-15bis debuted. By this time, most of the problems with the engine and flight characteristics were alleviated (though "flicking" out of tight turns would dog the fighter throughout its life). With the Klimov VK-1 engine, fuel consumption was still somewhat of a problem but external fuel tanks gave the "bis" an acceptable combat range. Later, the production MiG-15bis would be fitted with an improved Klimov which somewhat alleviated the fuel consumption problem.

The MiG-15bis would go on to equip almost every communist nation in the world, and was manufactured in many. It was also sold to quite a few non-communists. Most of the countries of Africa bought them as well as most middle eastern countries and countries which were not members of NATO.

Included amongst the communist states equipped with the MiG-15bis was North Korea and China. By the time the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, Chinese pilots (some of which were veterans of WWII) had been quickly trained in the bis and on November 26, 1950, when Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung ) sent ground troops to assist the beleaguered North Korean army he also sent the MiG-15bis and its trained pilots.

The later production MiG-15bis was powered by a Klimov VK-1A engine with a static thrust of 5,900 pounds (26.24 kN) and the speed was 668 mph (1075.04 kph). It had the same armament of a 37mm cannon and dual 23mm cannon but contained in a unique removable pod. This gun-pack was drawn up into the fuselage by means of a cable winch located just behind the nose wheel compartment. The 37mm NS-37 Nudelman-Suranov cannon was on the right side of the nose wheel and the NK-23s (the later production dash 15bis had NS-23s with a faster rate of fire) were on the left. The use of spare gun-packs meant the turn-around time between sorties was very short.

As experience revealed, having the best military tools and winning the battle do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. In the case of the MiG-15 a superb fighter aircraft was flown by pilots who had received inferior training. Unlike their US counterparts, Chinese pilots of WWII were not taken out of combat and used to train new pilots. Thus, the skill level of the Chinese pilots on average was far below that of the UN pilots. This was very apparent in the US vs. Chinese kill ratio of better than 8:1 during the Korean War. And this was done with the slightly inferior F-86 which had neither the speed, maneuverability nor the altitude of the MiG. The difference was the higher quality training received by the American pilots and NATO pilots in general.

So many variants and sub-variants of the MiG-15 were produced that it would take a very heavy book to list them all. The Soviets were very fond of modifying this aircraft to fit every task from target towing to night fighter interception and ground support . However, the most important variant was the MiG-15UTI which was a two seat (tandem) model used for training new pilots. The MiG-15UTI was produced in greater numbers than the bis and was still in use in the late 1980s by communist and non-communist countries around the world.

The Mikoyan Design Bureau continues to produce aircraft of outstanding performance including the MiG-29 "Fulcrum". In the right hands, the Fulcrum is more than a match for any aircraft in the world.

Role---- Fighter
Manufacturer---- Mikoyan-Gurevich
First flight------- 30 December 1947
Introduced------ 1947
Primary users----Soviet Air Force
PLA Air Force
North Korean Air Force
41 others
Number built---12,000 +
Variants --------- MiG-17

 

[abbasniazi]

Project Habakkuk



Project Habakkuk or Habbakuk (spelling varies; see below) was a plan by the British in World War II to construct an aircraft carrier out of pykrete (a mixture of wood pulp and ice), for use against German U-boats in the mid-Atlantic, which was out of range of land-based planes.

Initial concept
Geoffrey Pyke was an old friend of J.D. Bernal, and had originally been recommended to Lord Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, by the Cabinet minister Leopold Amery. Pyke worked at Combined Operations Headquarters (COHQ), alongside Bernal, and was regarded as a genius by Mountbatten.[1]

Pyke conceived the idea of Habbakuk while in the US organising the production of M29 Weasels for Project Plough, a scheme to assemble an elite unit for winter operations in Norway, Romania, and the Italian Alps.[1] He had been considering the problem of how to protect seaborne landings and Atlantic convoys out of reach of aircraft cover. The problem was that steel and aluminium were in short supply and required for other purposes. Pyke realized that the answer was ice, which could be manufactured for only 1% of the energy needed to make an equivalent mass of steel and proposed that an iceberg, natural or artificial, be levelled to provide a runway and hollowed out to shelter aircraft. From New York, Pyke sent the proposal he had composed on Habbakuk via diplomatic bag to COHQ with a label forbidding anyone apart from Mountbatten from opening the package. Mountbatten in turn told Churchill about Pyke's proposal, who was enthusiastic about it.[2]

Pyke was not the first to suggest a floating mid-ocean stopping point for aircraft, nor even the first to suggest that such a floating island could be made of ice: German scientist Dr. Gerke of Waldenberg proposed the idea and carried out some preliminary experiments in Lake Zurich in 1930.[3] The idea was a recurring one: in 1940 an idea for an ice island was circulated round The Admiralty but was treated as a joke by officers, including Nevil Shute, who circulated a memorandum that gathered ever more caustic comments. The document had to be retrieved just before it reached the Sea Lord's inbox.[4]

[edit] Code name and spelling
The project's code name seems to have been consistently (mis-)spelled Habbakuk in the Admiralty and Government documents at the time. This may in fact have been Pyke's own error, as at least one early document apparently written by him (though unsigned) spells it that way. (However, post-war publications by people concerned with the project, e.g. Perutz and Goodeve, all restore the proper (one 'B' and three 'K's) spelling.) The name is a biblical reference to the project's ambitious goal: "...be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." (Habakkuk 1:5, NIV)

David Lampe in his book, Pyke, the Unknown Genius, states that the name was derived from Voltaire's Candide and was misspelt by his Canadian secretary. The name stuck and was never corrected. The reference to Bible appears to have come after the war when journalists were told about part of the project and they connected the Biblical text with the name.

[edit] Pykrete
In early 1942 Pyke and Bernal called in Max Perutz to determine whether an ice floe large enough to withstand Atlantic conditions could be built up fast enough. He pointed out that natural icebergs have too small a surface above water for an airstrip, and are prone to suddenly rolling over. The project would have been abandoned, except for the invention of Pykrete, a mixture of water and woodpulp which frozen together was stronger than plain ice, was slower melting, and of course would not sink. It has been suggested that Pyke was inspired by Inuit sleds reinforced with moss.[1] This is probably apocryphal, as the material was originally described in a paper by Mark and Hohenstein in Brooklyn, NY.[2]

Pykrete could be machined like wood and cast into shapes like metal, and when immersed in water formed an insulating shell of wet wood pulp on its surface which protected its interior from further melting. However, Perutz found a problem: ice slowly flows, in what is known as plastic flow, and his tests showed that a Pykrete ship would slowly sag unless it was cooled to −16 °C (3.2 °F). To accomplish this, the ship's surface would have to be protected by insulation and it would need a refrigeration plant and a complicated system of ducts.[2]

Experiments on the viability of Pykrete and the optimum composition of it were conducted by Perutz in a secret location underneath Smithfield Meat Market in the City of London.[5][6] The research took place in a refrigerated meat locker behind a protective screen of frozen animal carcasses.[7]


A block of Pykrete[edit] Scale model
The decision was made to build a large scale model at Jasper National Park in Canada to examine insulation and refrigeration techniques, and to see how it would stand up to artillery and explosives. At Lake Louise, Alberta, large ice blocks were constructed, and a small prototype was constructed at Patricia Lake, Alberta, measuring only 60 by 30 feet (18 by 9 m), weighing in at 1,000 tons and kept frozen by a one-horsepower motor.[7] The work was done by conscientious objectors who did alternative service of various kinds instead of military service. They were never told what they were building.[citation needed] Bernal informed COHQ that the Canadians were building a 1,000 ton model, and that it was expected to take 8 men 14 days to build it. The Chief of Combined Operations (CCO) responded that Churchill had invited the Chiefs of Staff Committee to arrange for an order to be placed for one complete ship at once with the highest priority, with further ships to be ordered immediately if it appeared the scheme was certain of success.

The Canadians were confident about constructing a vessel for 1944. The necessary materials were available to them in the form of 300,000 tons of wood pulp, 25,000 tons of fibreboard insulation, 35,000 tons of timber and 10,000 tons of steel. The cost was estimated at £700,000.[8]

Meanwhile, Perutz had determined via his experiments at Smithfield Market that the optimum structural properties were given by a mixture of 14% wood pulp and 86% water. He wrote to Pyke in early April 1943 and pointed out that if certain tests were not completed in May, there would be no chance of delivering a completed ship in 1944.

By May the problem of plastic flow had become serious and it was obvious that more steel reinforcement would be needed as well as a more effective insulating skin around the vessel's hull. This caused the cost estimate to increase to £2.5 million. In addition, the Canadians had decided that it was impractical to attempt the project "this coming season", and Bernal and Pyke were forced to conclude that no Habbakuk vessel would be ready in 1944.[8]

Pyke was excluded from the planning for Habbakuk in an effort to secure American participation, a decision which Bernal supported. Pyke's earlier disagreements with American personnel on Project Plough, which ultimately caused his removal from that project, were the main factor in this decision.[9]

In the early summer of 1943, naval architects and engineers continued to work on Habbakuk with Bernal and Perutz. The requirements for the vessel became more demanding: it had to have a range of 7,000 miles (11,000 km) and be able to withstand the largest waves recorded, while the Admiralty wanted it to be torpedo-proof, which meant that the hull had to be at least 40 ft (12 m) thick. The Fleet Air Arm decided that heavy bombers should be able to take off from it, which meant that the deck had to be 2,000 ft (610 m) long. Steering also raised problems; it was initially projected that the ship be steered by varying the speed of the motors on either side, but the Royal Navy decided that a rudder was essential. However, the problem of mounting and controlling a rudder over 100 ft (30 m) high was never solved.[8]

[edit] Variants
Naval architects had produced three alternative versions of Pyke's original concept, which were discussed at a meeting with the Chiefs of Staff in August 1943:

Habbakuk I (soon discarded) would have been made of wood.
Habbakuk II was closest to the COHQ model and would be a very large, slow, self-propelled vessel made of Pykrete with steel reinforcement.
Habbakuk III was a smaller, faster version of Habbakuk II.
Air Chief Marshal Portal asked about potential bomb damage to Habbakuk III, and Bernal suggested that a certain amount of deck covering might be ripped off but could be repaired by some kind of flexible matting. It would be more difficult to deal with bomb holes in the centre portion, though the roof over the aircraft hangars would be made proof against 1,000 kg bombs. Bernal considered that no one could say whether the larger Habbakuk II was a practical proposition until a large scale model could be completed and tested in Canada in the spring of 1944. He had no doubts about the suitability of Pykrete as a material, but said that constructional and navigational difficulties remained to be overcome.[8]

The final design of Habbakuk II gave the bergship (as it was referred to) a displacement of 2.2 million tons. Steam turbogenerators were to supply 33,000 hp (25,000 kW) for 26 electric motors mounted in separate external nacelles (normal, internal ship engines would have generated too much heat for an ice craft). Its armament would have included 40 dual-barrelled 4.5" DP (dual-purpose) turrets and numerous light anti-aircraft guns, and it would have housed an airstrip and up to 150 twin-engined bombers or fighters.[2]

[edit] Shooting incident
According to some accounts, at the Quebec Conference of 1943 Lord Mountbatten brought a block of Pykrete along to demonstrate its potential to the bevy of admirals and generals who had come along with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mountbatten entered the project meeting with two blocks and placed them on the ground. One was a normal ice block and the other was Pykrete. He then drew his service pistol and shot at the first block. It shattered and splintered. Next, he fired at the Pykrete to give an idea of the resistance of that kind of ice to projectiles. The bullet ricocheted off the block, grazing the trouser leg of Admiral Ernest King and ended up in the wall.

Sir Alan Brooke's diaries[10] support this account, telling how Mountbatten brought two blocks, one of ice and one of Pykrete. After first shooting at the ice, with a warning to beware of splinters, Mountbatten said "I shall fire at the block on the right to show you the difference". Brooke reports, "the bullet rebounded out of the block and buzzed round our legs like an angry bee." The meeting in question was in the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, Quebec, at a high-level summit with a US delegation.

Max Perutz gives an account of a similar incident in his book, I Wish I Made You Angry Earlier: a demonstration of Pykrete was given at Combined Operations Headquarters (COHQ) by a naval officer, Lieutenant Commander Douglas Grant, who was provided by Perutz with rods of ice and Pykrete packed with dry ice in thermos flasks and large blocks of ice and Pykrete. Grant demonstrated the comparative strength of ice and Pykrete by firing bullets into both blocks; the ice shattered, but the bullet rebounded from the Pykrete and hit the Chief of the Imperial Staff (Sir Alan Brooke) in the shoulder. Brooke was unhurt.[11]

[edit] End of project
Later that year Habbakuk began to lose priority. Mountbatten listed several reasons:

The great demand for steel.
Permission had been received from Portugal to use airfields in the Azores which facilitated the hunting of U-boats in the Atlantic, and closed the Atlantic Gap.
The introduction of long-range fuel tanks that allowed British aircraft extra combat time over France.
The American preference for conventional aircraft carriers.
In addition, Mountbatten himself had withdrawn from the project. The final Habbakuk Board meeting took place in December 1943 and it was announced that "The large Habbakuk II made of Pykrete has been found to be impractical because of the enormous production resources required and technical difficulties involved".

The use of ice had actually been falling out of favour before that, with other ideas for "floating islands" being considered, such as welding Liberty Ships or landing craft together (Project TENTACLE).[12] It took three hot summers to completely melt the prototype constructed in Canada.

Perutz, in his account, writes that he sojourned in Washington D.C. while U.S. Navy engineers evaluated the viability of Habbakuk. He concludes: "The U.S. Navy finally decided that Habakkuk was a false prophet. One reason was the enormous amount of steel needed for the refrigeration plant that was to freeze the pykrete was greater than that needed to build the entire carrier of steel, but the crucial argument was that the rapidly increasing range of land-based aircraft rendered floating islands unnecessary."[13]

[edit] Criticism
The Habakkuk design received criticism, notably from Sir Charles Goodeve, Assistant Controller of Research and Development for the Admiralty during World War II.[14] In an article published after the war Goodeve pointed out the large amount of wood pulp that would be required, enough to affect paper production significantly. He also claimed that each ship would require 40,000 tons of cork insulation, thousands of miles of steel tubing for brine circulation, and four power stations, but that for all those resources (some of which could be used to manufacture conventional ships of more effective fighting power) Habakkuk would only be capable of six knots of speed. Much of his article also contained extensive derisive comments about the properties of ice as used for ship construction.