Picture of the day

The Finns developed a twin 20mm Aa gun from the L39. It was in service during the Continuation War. Apparently it was considered one of the few 20mm aa guns of WWII worth keeping in svc. for Finland after 1945. This was from Jaeger Platoon website. Take it for what it is worth. I thought the Finns kept a lot of stuff post 45 in careful storage at least.
 
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Someone having a bad day. The caption says it is an F105 shot down with an SA2 missile. Possibly true as statistically half the F105 fleet was used up in combat.

To me it it has a bit of the look of an F111 with the exception of the rudder. Apparently six F111 a/c were destroyed in combat overseas. I do not know if they were destroyed by ground attack or in the air.
 
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CV32 said:
The 'golden BB', while rare, is also real.
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Sharps '74 said:
A Canadian Bren Gunner brought down a low flying FW 190 while on a route march, the first enemy aircraft brought down by the Canadian Army in WWII. A section of riflemen can put a lot of bullets in the air and it just takes one to be lucky.

An Aussie MG is thought to be by many what brought down the 'Red Baron'.
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Throw enough lead in the right general direction, sooner or later, some of it's going to connect.

Otto Carius' gunner, Unteroffizier Kramer, is claimed to have shot down a Soviet fighter on the eastern front - with the main gun of a Tiger Tank. I say "claimed" - because the only source for this comes from Carius and his memoir (Tigers in the Mud - a great read, BTW). It's often repeated as fact, but I can't find any corroborating documents.

I tend to believe that it happened - maybe it's just the romantic in me. Fluke shot, for sure. But stranger things have happened.
 
While I hold Herr Carius in substantial regard, I have to think he was "misremembering" that one. However, the 88 was, at its heart, an anti-aircraft gun. Sure, massive diffences in mounting, sights, and application between tanks and AA guns, but still...

Here's a better candidate for "Most likely to down aircraft" - the musically named "8.8cm Flak 37 Selbstfahrlafette auf 18 ton Zugkraftwagen".

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grelmar said:
Throw enough lead in the right general direction, sooner or later, some of it's going to connect.

Otto Carius' gunner, Unteroffizier Kramer, is claimed to have shot down a Soviet fighter on the eastern front - with the main gun of a Tiger Tank. I say "claimed" - because the only source for this comes from Carius and his memoir (Tigers in the Mud - a great read, BTW). It's often repeated as fact, but I can't find any corroborating documents.

I tend to believe that it happened - maybe it's just the romantic in me. Fluke shot, for sure. But stranger things have happened.
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So many guys were wasting rifle ammunition on low flying planes, that the american army instituted a 25. fine for anyone caught doing so.

Grizz
 
Before Battle:
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After:
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German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz, the ship that refused to sink, taking 21 large caliber hits and a torpedo at Jutland, and still managing to limp back home by her own power.

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She took a surprising amount of punishment for a battlecruiser and survived, unlike many of the Royal Navy battlecruisers at the same battle, Jutland.

Ships losses at Jutland. Rest in peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_sunk_at_the_Battle_of_Jutland
 
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Tough ship, that one. The shot of her low in the bow and listing hard-ish to port is scary just to look at. Keeping it afloat must have taken heroic effort from the damage control guys.

According to Wikipedia, Seydlitz was repaired at Wilhelmshaven in about four months and subsequently rejoined the fleet. That's feckin' German engineering for you. Scuttled, refloated three times, and finally scrapped.

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Sad end.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Tough ship, that one. The shot of her low in the bow and listing hard-ish to port is scary just to look at. Keeping it afloat must have taken heroic effort from the damage control guys.

According to Wikipedia, Seydlitz was repaired at Wilhelmshaven in about four months and subsequently rejoined the fleet. That's feckin' German engineering for you. Scuttled, refloated three times, and finally scrapped.

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Sad end.
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Tough old gal for sure and a sad end indeed ! But this picture has my mind going, I mean to be able to flip the old bugger and shim her up for repair (my guess) is a feat in itself !!
Cheers
Joe
 
I clicked on the link to "list of ships lost at the Battle of Jutland". It is an interesting piece of trivia that many of the mountains in Kananaskis Provincial Park west of Calgary are named after British ships that were sunk in the Battle of Jutland. Mt. shark, Mt. Black Prince, Mt. Indefatigable, and Mt. Sparrowhawk immediately come to mind. Kananaskis Park is a great area for hiking and skiing and for immortalizing a WWI naval battle.
 
Out there in footage land is a short clip showing a female NVA soldier manning a Mosin Nagant rifle in the light AAA role. Not sure but it could have been in Hanoi. In this old clip it showed the rifle in a pintle mount. Could it have been propaganda or a legitimate field improvisation? There is a scene from the film Flight of the Intruder which might allude to this. All it takes is one bullet.
 
jwhc said:
Tough old gal for sure and a sad end indeed ! But this picture has my mind going, I mean to be able to flip the old bugger and shim her up for repair (my guess) is a feat in itself !!

Joe
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That was the salvage/breaking up operation.
Interesting link with other pictures of the breakup of the other German fleet ships scuttle at Scapa Flow.
http://www.patriotfiles.com/archive/navalhistory/WW1z12aCox.htm

An intersting one is this picture where they made airlocks that look like funnels to gain access into the hull of the overturned battleship Kaiser.
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The 24,000-ton upturned battleship Kaiser shortly after breaking the surface in March 1929. Men had to gain access to the sunken warships' hulls through airlocks. The four airlocks needed to enter and prepare the Kaiser can be clearly seen here, looking more like ships' funnels. In order to reach a sunken ship, some of Cox's crudely built airlocks were 60ft high.

I like the chap at the prop.

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The German Imperial High Seas Fleet interned in Scapa after the armistice in November 1918. Vice Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered their crews to scuttle all seventy-four vessels rather than hand them over to the Royal Navy. Here a Royal Navy guard threatens a destroyer captain at gunpoint to stop him from sinking his vessel. Altogether nine unarmed German sailors were killed and fourteen injured when the Royal Navy shot them, making these victims the last casualties of the First World War.
 
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I cannot make out the sights well enough to tell if it is a IIIB or a III. If it is III, it could have been one of the rifles exchanged by the CEF for SMLEs.
 
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