… Almost Killed a Dog Instead.
"War has a long history of sparking and accelerating invention. But while many of those ideas change history—the bayonet, aerial combat, the nuclear bomb—there are just as many that flop. The list of failures is long, but must surely be led by a device whose test ended with a dog chasing an errant rocket and generals running for their lives alongside members of the general public.
The Panjandrum has to be one of the craziest, most explosively unsuccessful flops in modern military history. Concocted by the British as a means of breaking through formidable German defenses on the beaches of Normandy, the engineering brief reads like something out of an Acme catalog: Install a bunch of rockets on two huge wheels joined by a drum-like axle packed with explosives. Point it at the Germans, fire the rockets and get the hell out of the way.
In theory, the Panjandrum would shoot across the beach at highway speeds, hit the concrete wall, and blow a hole big enough for a tank to roll through. Everyone thought it would be a quick, efficient way to storm the beach, saving the lives of countless soldiers facing land mines, obstacles and machine-gun fire…"
Full article here
link
Amicalement
Armand
paints up some WWII Soviet aircraft.
