Seems the Chinese are busy, getting involved in all kinds of things. They seem to be our biggest competitor these days. Russia seems to be rather preoccupied with Ukraine, but they are still messing about in Africa, though I don't know how effective that is. On the other hand, we are doing something about Iran, or at least I thought we were. I still think Iran needs to be pounded flat until the clerics lose their hold over the country. I mean Iran is basically a boil on civilization and it needs to be popped. Remember, they killed 30,000 protestors less than a year ago. I guess Russia and China don't mind dealing with Iran as they are familiar with mass murder as well.
In January 1942, during the state funeral for Ernst Udet, World War I fighter ace and Generalluftzeugmeister (Director General of the Luftwaffe) Hermann Goring spoke eloquently about the fallen hero’s deeds. He praised his accomplishments in the Great War, his sixty-two air victories—second only to Baron von Richthofen—and his total dedication in helping to build Hitler’s air force. Yet Goring’s highest praise was bestowed on his former comrade’s support for and development of a specific type of aircraft, the offensive weapon without which the Blitzkrieg tactics used in Poland, France, and later Russia during the first years of the war would have been impossible.
This new plane was dubbed a Sturzkampfflugzeug, literally a “diving fighting plane,” a designation originally used by the Germans for any aircraft used as a dive- bomber. Only later was it specifically applied to the Junkers Ju-87. In the military jargon of the day, the longer Sturzkampfflugzeug was shortened to Stuka, the aircraft that has become synonymous with German aggression in World War II.
Both the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka as well as the technique of dropping bombs while plunging earthward at speeds often in excess of 350 mph had an unusual, highly controversial developmental history. More than once the entire project was nearly scrapped. German prewar propaganda and secrecy have clouded so much of this interesting phase of aviation history that even now, nearly fifty years after the beginning of World War II, new facts regarding the Stuka and its development are coming to light.
Ju 87 Stuka — Dive Bomber in Action: Cockpit War Footage
Enhanced Warfare
Note - ran into a funny dash in the story I pasted above. Looks like a dash in Blogger's compose mode, but a red dot in html mode. Tried to highlight the whole paragraph to indent it, and it wouldn't highlight. Change to html mode, replace the red dot with a dash, then realizing this is probably just marking a place where the word can be hyphenated, so I put it back. Now I can highlight the whole paragraph. Then I realize Blogger has it's own method of wrapping text, which is to not break any words at all, so it doesn't worry about hyphenation. But this story is from 1987 which is like 40 (!) years ago. Probably wasn't online then, so somebody went to the trouble to digitize it. I dunno, was anybody using computers to enter text back then?
I was at Intel and we had computers. What the heck did I have on my desk? I think we were using terminals hooked to Intel 310s. I was writing up short pieces about technical problems I dealt with. Not much different from what I do now with this blog, though now I mostly write about other people's technical problems.
In the pleasant little town of Van Wert, Ohio near the Ohio-Indiana border, there’s an enterprise called the Eisenhauer Manufacturing Company with a tradition of thinking outside the box. The company got its start during World War II supplying the military with bogie wheels for army tanks, while today it manufactures specialized precision stampings of all kinds for the auto industry. And between 1946 and 1957, the family-owned firm developed a most unusual prototype truck it called the Eisenhauer Freighter, featuring twin engines, eight-wheel drive, and three steering axles.
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