​

 

Absolfuckinglutey, my late brother was an electricians mate on an LST, took it from Sandusky, Ohio, through the St. Lawrence, down the Atlantic coast, through the Panama Canal, to Pearl Harbor. Then took it to the Japanese outer islands where they cleaned up for two years. Then back to San Diego where he mustered out.

He said he was one of the few who wasn't constantly sick, even the skipper was green around the gills.

 

The famed Messerschmitt Me 109 was the first fighter used by the Israeli Air Force. Following the war Czechoslovakia began producing both Me 109s and Me 262s using plans from former German factories in the country. They the called the plane the Avria S-199 but it was the Messerschmitt Me 109. They then covertly sold 25 planes to Israel. These planes arrived six day after Israel declared its independence and five days after the commencement of hostilities by Egypt forming Israel's first fighter squadrons. While not directly about WW2 it is one of the great historical ironies that a weapon developed by Nazi Germany would be used to defend the Jewish state of Israel.
Pictures are of a German Me 109 and a Israeli Avria S-199 on display in Israel.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_S-199

 

Any Idea what this is?

 

No clue as to what it is, other than it appears to be used for crossing frozen water. I did a 'Bing" search for the thing and went through the photos; got to admit, it is a curious bugger.

 

It's an Aeroani propeller driven snowmobile. The article also says they were called aerosleads . I will keep looking to see if I can find this model.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosan

 

First I must apologize I misspelled aerosled. I did a Google image search for German aerosled and got your picture. Unfortunately the site it led to had all of the pictures pulled. But from what was still up I believe this is a Soviet model the Germans captured and pressed into service. Which was common for them to do to supplement vehicle deficiencies. I found out they did try to develop their own aerosleds but the design the Tetra V855 did not meet expectations. Thank you for the challenge I hope I was able to answer your question I just wish I could of been able to tell you the exact make.

 

No discussion about WW2 is complete without mentioning the many groups that preserve the machines used during the war. One of the biggest is the Commemorative Airforce based out of Midland International Airport in Midland Texas.
The group was founded by Lloyd Nolan and four friends in 1957 after they purchased their first plane a North American P 51 Mustang they named Red Nose. In 1958 the group made their second purchase of two Grumman F8F Bearcats. Since then the group has spread throughout the US and Canada. The group's purpose is the preservation of World War 2 warplanes. The group displays these aircraft at Airshows throughout the country.
The pictures below are of several aircraft in the group's collection.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commemorative_Air_Force

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airpower_Heritage_Museum

 

.......you know which ship?

And they do finally have a museum, LST 325; it's in Evansville and is definitely worth the trip to see it.

 

I heard of this one via the History Channel program "Strange Planes of WW2" (I believe that was the name for the show)

The Vough V-173 "Flying Pancake" or "Flying Flapjack"



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_V-173

 

I think that it could be a captured Soviet ANT-IV. It looks similar to the picture of it.

 

Wikipedia only had a short reference in regards to the Soviet ANT-IV aerosled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANT-IV

I have found two images of design drawings, and one that appears to be a variation of the basic ANT-IV







On this last image, I cannot confirm that it is even a custom variation of the ANT - IV, other than the image poster claiming it to have been of a 'Russian ANT aero-sled.' Until yesterday I never had heard of an 'aerosled.' Interesting to see and hear of them.

 

I read that the Japanese had developed a form of biological weapon...plague infested fleas they were going to drop on parts of the US:

It's a cracked article [edited to remove links to some of their other articles], so I'm not sure of the validity of it...I just wanted to join in *bloik*

Full article can be found here


Edit: Apols for the black text...oOo *goes to forum bugs to report this happenstance*
​

 

'bout time you showed up Girl! Where ya been???

 

Checking myself for fleas :shock:

 

An interesting extension of the Japanese bio-weapon research was that after the war, the United States used much of the information, and some of the captured scientists themselves, to work on our own bio-weaponry.

 

SMC - as the post mentions Unit 731, people need to understand they were involved in more than just development of biological weaponry.

Here is more of their tale from their home-base in then-occupied Manchuria...they apparently had two other affiliated groups - Unit 100, and Unit 1644.

While a number of the scientists were not put on trial for crimes against humanity and the like, the Soviet Union appears to have done so with a handful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731


In addition here is an article on the 'flea-bomb' to be employed in America:
http://www.damninteresting.com/ww2-japans-secret-biological-weapons-program/

I have to wonder if any of the balloon bombs sent towards the United States did indeed have the 'flea-bombs' attached to them? Could such a device survive the trip and have its cargo of fleas remain viable?

 

For anyone interested in the aircraft-carrying submarine I-400 cited in the previous post of mine, here is the wiki link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_class_submarine

Imagine the engineering difficulties involved in building the things?

 

So is that how you guys came up with flea collars? Nasty form of toture that be.