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Dec 5, 2021 · From wacky inventions such as flying jeeps and bat bombs to elusive secret agents, from wholly bizarre propaganda posters to a dummy whose role as a decoy enabled a daring escape, and from inflatable tanks to painted cows—really—Weird War Two reminds us that human ingenuity is boundless, yet at the same time that usually means that truth ...
- Dummy Tanks
The tracks were non-functional so some were fitted with...
- Dummy Tanks
Jul 8, 2024 · 1. Supermarine Spitfire. The Supermarine Spitfire stands out as one of Britain’s most significant contributions to air combat during World War II. Particularly noted for its role in the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire was a symbol of British resilience and technical ingenuity.
These images are drawn from Weird War Two, a new book from the Imperial War Museums that explores the stranger side of the Second World War. From the squad of apes Churchill...
- 10Blohm & Voss Bv 141
- 9Horten Ho 229
- 8Vought V-173/Xf5u-1
- 7Boulton Paul Defiant
- 6Bell YFM-1 Airacuda
- 5Antonov A-40
- 4Junkers Ju-287
- 3Cornelius XFG-1
- 2Zveno-Spb
- 1Fieseler Fi-103R
Early in World War II, the German Air Ministry requested proposals for a tactical reconnaissance aircraft to give intelligence support to army operations. Two companies responded. Focke-Wulf developed a fairly conventional twin-engine aircraft, while Blohm & Voss somehow dreamed up one of the most unconventional aircraft ever created: the asymmetri...
Another unusual Nazi project, the Horten Ho 229was developed near the end of the war, after German scientists had developed jet technology. By 1943, Luftwaffe commanders realized they had made a huge mistake in choosing not to develop a long-range heavy bomber like the American B-17 or the British Lancaster. To fill this role, Luftwaffe boss Herman...
Starting in the 1930s, Vought engineer Charles H. Zimmerman began experimenting with disk-shaped aircraft. The first flying model was the V-173 (pictured above), which took to the air in 1942. It had problems with the engine gearbox, but overall proved to be a strong, highly maneuverable airframe that was virtually stall-proof. While his company wa...
Of all the aircraft on this list, the Boulton Paul Defiantsaw the most active service. Unfortunately, that resulted in the deaths of many young airmen. The plane was designed due to a 1930s misunderstanding about how air warfare would develop. British commanders believed that bombers attacking Britain would be largely unescorted and undefended. In ...
In the period between World War I and World War II, the various air powers became more and more concerned about the possibility of strategic bombing in the next war. Italian general Giulio Douhet believed that it was impossible to defendagainst mass bombing, and British politician Stanley Baldwin coined the phrase “the bomber will always get throug...
Although a foreign concept in modern warfare, military gliders were a large part of air strategy in World War II. They were designed to be carried aloft by a tow plane and dropped near enemy territory, allowing supplies and troops to be quickly delivered during airborne operations. Out of all the war’s glider designs, the Soviets produced surely th...
As Allied bombing missions undermined the German war effort, Luftwaffe commanders realized that their reluctance to develop any multi-engined heavy bombers had been a huge mistake. As the brass began issuing orders for heavy bombers, most German aircraft manufacturers jumped at the opportunity. This included the Horten Brothers (as mentioned above)...
George Cornelius was an engineer known for a variety of eccentric glider and airplane designs. During the ’30s and ’40s, he tinkered with new types of aircraft layouts, including a number of experiments with forward-swept wings (as on the Ju-287). His gliders had excellent stall characteristics and could be towed at high speeds without causing sign...
The idea of a flying aircraft carrier was first envisioned during World War I and experimented with during the interwar period. At the time, military engineers dreamed of a large airship with small parasite fighters capable of leaving the mothership to defend it against intercepting enemy aircraft. British and American tests ended in disaster, and ...
Most people are familiar with the Japanese kamikaze missions, which used older aircraft laden with explosives as anti-shipping weapons. They even designed a purpose-built kamikaze rocketplane called the MXY-7. Less well known is the German attempt to build a similar weapon by modifying V-1 flying bombs into piloted flying missiles. With the war com...
- Northrop N-9M. Northrop N9MB Flying Wing at Planes of Fame. During the ’30s and ’40s, famous aircraft designer Jack Northrop worked tirelessly on his idea for flying wing airplanes.
- Junkers Ju 390. Although they did not realize it at the time, the Luftwaffe made a serious error when they refused to develop any long-range heavy bombers.
- Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1. BI-1. Most major countries in the world experimented with rocket-powered airplanes during World War II, the most successful being the German Me 163 Komet interceptor.
- Fisher P-75 Eagle. During the early part of World War II, the United States hadn’t yet developed the fighters that would later aid them against the Luftwaffe.
Jun 6, 2023 · When the war is covered and remembered today, there are a few classic pictures that repeatedly reemerge. But, of course, tens of thousands of photographs were taken during the war, and we wanted to find and resurface some lesser-known snapshots from the Big One.
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Feb 21, 2022 · World War II was the most destructive conflict in history. Here's what several infamous war-torn WWII spots look like today.
