The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank that had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. At its introduction in 1940, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness. Its 76.2 mm (3 in) high-velocity tank gun provided a substantial increase in firepower over any of its contemporaries; its well-sloped armour was difficult to penetrate by most contemporary anti-tank weapons. When it was first encountered in 1941, German general Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist called it "the finest tank in the world" and Heinz Guderian affirmed the T-34's "vast superiority" over existing German armour of the period. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has often been credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of the Second World War.
Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann is known for his ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division, during the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. While in command of a Tiger I tank, he destroyed up to fourteen tanks and fifteen personnel carriers, along with two anti-tank guns, within the space of fifteen minutes. The news was picked up and disseminated by the Nazi propaganda machine and added to Wittmann's stature in Germany.
The history of the tank began in World War I, when armoured all-terrain fighting vehicles were first deployed as a response to the problems of trench warfare, ushering in a new era of mechanized warfare. Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies. By World War II, tank design had advanced significantly, and tanks were used in quantity in all land theatres of the war. The Cold War saw the rise of modern tank doctrine and the rise of the general-purpose main battle tank. The tank still provides the backbone to land combat operations in the 21st century.
The Renault FT was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to have its armament within a fully rotating turret. The Renault FT's configuration – crew compartment at the front, engine compartment at the back, and main armament in a revolving turret – became and remains the standard tank layout. Consequently, some historians of armoured warfare have called the Renault FT the world's first modern tank.
In aviation, a drop tank is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often jettisonable. External tanks are commonplace on modern military aircraft and occasionally found in civilian ones, although the latter are less likely to be discarded except in the event of emergency.
The Boeing XPBB-1 Sea Ranger was a prototype twin-engined flying boat patrol bomber built for the United States Navy. The order for this aircraft was canceled, to free production capacity to build the Boeing B-29, and only a single prototype was completed.
The M2 light tank, officially Light Tank, M2, was an American pre-World War II light tank which saw limited use during World War II. The most common model, the M2A4, was equipped with one 37 mm (1.5 in) M5 gun and five .30 cal M1919 Browning machine guns.
"Rhino tank" was the American nickname for Allied tanks fitted with "tusks", or hedgerow cutting devices, during World War II. The British designation for the modifications was Prongs.
Patrick Wright is a British writer, broadcaster and academic in the fields of cultural studies and cultural history. He was educated at the University of Kent and Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
The Monument to Soviet Tank Crews was a World War II memorial located in Prague. It is also known as the Pink Tank because, in 1991, it was controversially painted pink, first by installation artist David Černý and a second time by members of parliament in protest at his arrest.
Patrick or Pat Wright may refer to:
The Allies of World War II cooperated extensively in the development and manufacture of new and existing technologies to support military operations and intelligence gathering during the Second World War. There are various ways in which the allies cooperated, including the American Lend-Lease scheme and hybrid weapons such as the Sherman Firefly as well as the British Tube Alloys nuclear weapons research project which was absorbed into the American-led Manhattan Project. Several technologies invented in Britain proved critical to the military and were widely manufactured by the Allies during the Second World War.
Martin C. Windrow is a British historian, editor and author of several hundred books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, and the history of the post-war French Foreign Legion. His most notable works include The Last Valley, an account of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War, which was published in 2004 to "critical acclaim", and Our Friends beneath the Sands published in 2010.
The Wright R-975 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of about 975 in3 (16.0 L) and power ratings of 300-450 hp (225-335 kW). They were the largest members of the Wright Whirlwind engine family to be produced commercially, and they were also the most numerous.
The Leichter Kampfwagen II or LK II was a German light tank of World War I. A development of the LK I it incorporated a fixed rear superstructure and was armed with a 37mm Krupp or 57mm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun. Its armor was 8 to 14 mm thick, which increased its total weight to 8.75 tons. Power was provided by a Daimler-Benz Model 1910 4-cylinder 55-60 hp gasoline engine, giving a maximum speed of 14 to 18 km/h with range of 65–70 km.
Bruce Quarrie was an English writer on wargaming and militaria topics.
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Dragonfly Squadron is an American Korean War war film by Lesley Selander from 1954. The film is set in the period shortly before and during the invasion of South Korea by North Korean troops.
Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War is a 2014 World War II-era third-person shooter video game developed by Gameloft and published by Gameloft. It was released on December 17, 2014 for the iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The game serves as a sequel to Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes and Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front and it is still set during World War II, a war between Allies and Axis. It is part of the Brothers in Arms series.
