Picture of the day

Pre war FN version of the BAR, in the colorized photo, from Diopter ?

Grizz

Wiki:

Belgium
FN Mle D featuring a quick-change barrel
A variant known as the FN Mle 1930 was developed in 7.65×53mm Belgian Mauser by FN Herstal and adopted by the Belgian army. The Mle 1930 is basically a licensed copy of the Colt Automatic Machine Rifle, Model 1925 (R 75).[31] The Mle 1930 has a different gas valve and a mechanical rate-reducing fire control mechanism designed by Dieudonné Saive, located in the trigger guard-pistol grip housing.[31] Some of these FN rate reducer mechanisms and pistol grip housings were later purchased by Springfield Armory for evaluation and possible adoption on a replacement for the M1918.[18] The weapon also had a hinged shoulder plate and was adapted for use on a tripod mount. In 1932 Belgium adopted a new version of the FN Mle 1930 allocated the service designation FN Mle D (D—demontable or "removable"), which had a quick-change barrel, shoulder rest and a simplified take-down method for easier cleaning and maintenance.[32] The Mle D was produced even after World War II in versions adapted for .30-06 Springfield (for Belgian service) and 7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition (for Egyptian service).[25] The final variant in Belgian service was the Model DA1 chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge and feeding from the 20-round magazines for the FN FAL battle rifle.[32]

China
The Chinese Nationalist Army used the FN M1930 throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War. 29,550 were bought from Belgium between 1933 and 1939. The Chinese BAR was chambered for the German 7.92×57mm Mauser round, the standard rifle cartridge of the National Revolutionary Army.[35] After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Chinese Expeditionary Army in Burma was equipped with American BARs. Towards the end of the war small quantities of American equipment, including the BAR, made their way into mainland China.
 
"As Ensign Davies climbed up the back of what had been his plane, he was already considering the razzing he would receive from his fellow Intrepid Birdmen, and a little part of him wished the plane would just finish falling off the ship and carry him to somewhere where he wouldn't have to live with the inevitable embarrassing callsign..."

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Ensign William "Birdbreaker" Davies slowly makes his way from the cockpit to the flight deck, 1942.
 
Some engine swaps are more challenging than others.

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I hope the 5 or 6 "flimsies" on the wing are fresh oil to go into a drained and flushed oil tank or they will be doing another engine change shortly! Did the Sunderlands have an APU, possibly a small Pobjoy radial? ( Found out that the Sunderland APU was an ABC flat twin mounted in the right wing root. )
 
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New meaning to "Deep in the Heart of Texas"

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Tom’s descriptions of the inner-workings of USS Texas (BB-35) are too good to pass up.

"Tom Scott
The round manhole cover in the first photo is located in the deck of the relay tank room on the third deck.
Not only is it armored and watertight, it also weighs at least 200lbs! It's a struggle to open, but doing so is worth the effort.
Beneath it is one of the cavernous voids that line the sides of the boiler rooms.
These separate the boiler rooms from three layers of fuel tanks that carry the majority of fuel used by the ship.
The void acts as a cofferdam between the tanks and boiler rooms to protect them from being flooded by oil if there is a leak or battle damage. Zooming to the bottom uncovers another valuable function.
It is the perfect place to run the major fuel lines and valves that can pull oil from any tank on the ship.
Being able to pull oil from any tank and send it to the three boiler rooms results in incredible complexity and a forest of reach rods that connect scores of operators located on the third deck to the valves that they open and close.
You can see two of these rods in the second photo, extending down to the valves in the bottom of the void.
The ability to cross connect or isolate individual tanks is probably common on most large ships, but there is one extra layer of complexity found only on a warship.
Researching this uncovered separate fuel lines running from six large inboard fuel tanks.
The tanks can be found on each side of each of the three boiler room.
Because of their locations, they are protected by two layers of fuel oil tanks outside of them and the torpedo blisters on the outer hull.
Besides the normal fuel line connections, they also have direct line connections to the boiler rooms called "Battle Suction".
Part of going to general quarters was to connect the boilers to only these tanks.
That way, any damage that compromised most fuel tanks and major lines would be isolated and would not affect boiler operation.
There were also cross connections in the boiler rooms could be used to send fuel from any of these tanks to any of the six boilers.
That way, if any of these tanks were damaged, the boilers they served could be switched over to the other undamaged tanks.
If required for an extended period of time, the Oil King could transfer fuel from other tanks into these to top them off. "

I'd hate to be the one using the chain ladder very often, especially if covered in oil.
Surprised there's no roaches. Where's Mike Rowe when you need him?
 
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On September 15, 1942, Japanese submarine I-19 on picket patrol South of the Solomon Islands fired six torpedoes at the U.S. carrier WASP. Three struck their target causing such damage that she eventually sank.
However two of three others that missed their initial target found another. One hit the destroyer USS O'Brien the other found the battleship North Carolina.
The torpedo that struck NC hit on the port side just abaft No 1 turret, blowing a hole 32x18 ft in the side of the ship allowing practically a thousand tons of water in. Armour above the hole cracked, and the second and third decks buckled. A list developed of 5 degrees, this was quickly corrected with counter-flooding on the starboard side.
In the detailed report that you'll find in the comments section ( A MUST READ, MANY DETAILED PHOTO'S ALSO) it says in part....
5 Only one explosion was noted. It produced a quick sharp detonation and a sharp cracking noise. A flash of flame was reported in Turret I handling room, the access trunk leading from the handling room to the third deck and A-317T. A yellowish-brown smoke (reported by some observers to be light gray) filled every open compartment between frames 37 and 71.
A first hand account reads as follows.....
"The Showboat took a torpedo (September 15, 1942) on the port side forward of amidships. I was knocked ass over teakettle over and through a gun blister, but was able to make it to my battle station. The torpedo punctured some fuel tanks and started a fire, which got into the lower handling room of Turret II. The fuel was actually burning on the floor of the projectile room. The sprinklers were activated and the turret crew came streaming out the hatch with the smoke in swift pursuit. The word was passed ‘Stand by to abandon ship’ because if Turret II went, the whole ship would explode like a Chinese firecracker, right down the middle where all the 5-inch magazines were. It so happened that we were one lifejacket short, for some reason, so I didn’t have one. My phone talker, assessing the situation, said, ‘Here Mr. Gallagher, take my lifejacket, I’m a good swimmer.’ Fortunately, the situation improved so abandoning the ship wasn’t necessary, but I’ll always remember that young sailor and his thoughtfulness.”
-Lieutenant Edward Gallagher
NC was able to initialy increase speed to 24knts to maintain her position screening USS Hornet, but had to drop to 18 to avoid strain on shoring around the gaping hole. The shock had also disabled her main search radar.
Five men were killed and 23 were wounded in this incident sadly.....
Killed in Action:
Albert Geary, Seaman 1/c
Ingwald Nelson, Ship Fitter 2/c
Leonard Pone, Gunner’s Mate 3/c
William Skelton, Seaman 2/c
Oscar Stone, Ship Fitter 3/c..............RIP.
Due to the heavy structural damage after temp repairs NC sailed for Pearl for a permanent fix along with a small refit to enhance her AA, and a walkway constructed around the superstructure that Washington never got, named "Strikers Bridge"
There was considerable interest back home over this torpedo strike and subsequent damage, as it was the first on a modern US capital ship during ww2. Some felt that it showed that too much had been sacrificed in design, since the torpedo protection system had come close to failure in a crucial area, abeam magazine spaces.
The General Board wanted the last two Iowa's redesigned, blistered abeam their magazines.
BuShips argued that it's system had performed much as designed, and no major changes were actually made.
Photo source www,battleshipnc.com

https://www.history.navy.mil/resear...U91No0rjlgEV5WD8T1WYwWpuwIehBt5Wi8-PL9sl5xDgI
 
I'm about to start building a model of Vickers Wellesley and when researching pictures I found this one.Looks a lot like a catwalk on a dirigible,doesn't it? That bomber was made the same way (so were 2 other Vickers bombers).

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The Japanese torpedo, if memory serves, was very large with a big warhead. It was well designed and well made. (Unlike the American torpedo of the day.) I believe it ran on a diesel engine that used an air bottle filled with oxygen, not air. This gave the torpedo much more range.
 
The Japanese torpedo, if memory serves, was very large with a big warhead. It was well designed and well made. (Unlike the American torpedo of the day.) I believe it ran on a diesel engine that used an air bottle filled with oxygen, not air. This gave the torpedo much more range.


American torpedoes were hit and miss , the first year or so of the war. Defective, not tested and reports from the field were written off. :(

Grizz
 
The Japanese torpedo, if memory serves, was very large with a big warhead. It was well designed and well made. (Unlike the American torpedo of the day.) I believe it ran on a diesel engine that used an air bottle filled with oxygen, not air. This gave the torpedo much more range.

Their torpedoes were also more accurate. Right up until the end of WWII, the Japanese torpedoes were considered to be the best of WWII.
 
More like the big three shot themselves in the foot thinking they could get away with making gas guzzlers when availability and price of gas went in different directions making small Japanese and European cars more attractive.
 
More like the big three shot themselves in the foot thinking they could get away with making gas guzzlers when availability and price of gas went in different directions making small Japanese and European cars more attractive.

Well, gas never really went wild till about 1970's as I recall. However, the quality of NA made vehicles certainly got surpassed, and the consumer sure noticed that.
If fuel price is a deal breaker, I have to wonder at all the monster pickup truck that people drive... and mostly like race cars.
 
More like the big three shot themselves in the foot thinking they could get away with making gas guzzlers when availability and price of gas went in different directions making small Japanese and European cars more attractive.

One thing that often gets overlooked in the "why Japanese vehicles" took on and surpassed N. American vehicles produced post war is the market the Japanese catered to initially post war during their rebuilding efforts. Japanese vehicles where marketed in the the far east and Africa, without extensive after market support in place and with fuel being expensive the Japanese aimed for reliable and economic vehicles. When the 1970s fuel embargo arrived consumers realized the small, efficient, Japanese cars (and the iconic VW Beetle) was what was needed instead of a heavy, gas guzzling car of crappy design and quality.
 
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