The DUKW was a pretty darned important war machine. Ugly or not.
The kettenkrad was designed to move small cannons, rather than something as tedious as a MG34/42. The defacto shooting platform for those was often the shoulder of the loader! That little bike/tractor could move a pretty serious piece of artillery, albiet slowly.
The Ekranoplan is a very odd duck indeed, and they are still made in the former USSR. The largest one ever planned rivaled the spruce goose in size and was designed to land tanks and troops from a Soviet Rapid Deplyment Force from 'beyond the horizon'.
As in: Look juan, our nation is free from communist agitators as I see no ships off the beach.
(5 minutes later)
Look Juan I don't see why you continue to hold on to bourgeoise capitalist ideals, show our comrades some respect!
The ekranoplan in its modern form still is used on the black sea, and small civilian models boast amazing speeds.
As for the Flying tank, the Soviets built one called the Sturmavik, the lower half of the plane was made of armor plate!
Those mini GE jets are real, I know a former AF Colonel who flew one as a test pilot. They are based on racing planes from the 1930's as I understand it.
Wierdest military invention I ever saw?
Gas Mask for a Horse at the cavalry Museum in Kansas, the fliters were so heavy the horse could effectively only haul a few pounds of gear. the masks stayed at home when the cavalry went to war in WW1, the horses were used to move cannons and wounded.
The kettenkrad was designed to move small cannons, rather than something as tedious as a MG34/42. The defacto shooting platform for those was often the shoulder of the loader! That little bike/tractor could move a pretty serious piece of artillery, albiet slowly.
The Ekranoplan is a very odd duck indeed, and they are still made in the former USSR. The largest one ever planned rivaled the spruce goose in size and was designed to land tanks and troops from a Soviet Rapid Deplyment Force from 'beyond the horizon'.
As in: Look juan, our nation is free from communist agitators as I see no ships off the beach.
(5 minutes later)
Look Juan I don't see why you continue to hold on to bourgeoise capitalist ideals, show our comrades some respect!
The ekranoplan in its modern form still is used on the black sea, and small civilian models boast amazing speeds.
As for the Flying tank, the Soviets built one called the Sturmavik, the lower half of the plane was made of armor plate!
Those mini GE jets are real, I know a former AF Colonel who flew one as a test pilot. They are based on racing planes from the 1930's as I understand it.
Wierdest military invention I ever saw?
Gas Mask for a Horse at the cavalry Museum in Kansas, the fliters were so heavy the horse could effectively only haul a few pounds of gear. the masks stayed at home when the cavalry went to war in WW1, the horses were used to move cannons and wounded.