Some old Photos for your enjoyment
- Thread starter JWFilips
- Start date
oscarflytyer
Well-Known Member
I saw something yesterday on the discovery of Macchu Picchu in 1911!
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
I believe they only took photos. USN is EXTREMELY touchy about any old wrecks, bodies or
not. Usually will NOT allow salvage, even rare aircraft for legit museums. Real PITA.
USAF could not possibly care less. Wrecked, done, whatever, finders keepers. One F-104
rebuilt from dozens of wrecks, literally dug up after crashes. USAF just bulldozed a hole,
pushed it in when wrecked in the middle of nowhere, covered it back up. Done.
A number of Wildcat fighters from WW2 were lost by new aviators trying to land and take
off from great lakes steam sidewheelers converted into very short, slow aircraft carriers. Some of
the Wildcats hit the water. Deep, oxygen free, cold. Folks wanted to salvage some for
museums. USN was initially stuck on , NOPE. Somehow they eventually got permission to
salvage a few, I think if they gave one to the USN Av Museum in P'cola. In any case,
one was in good enough shape that it is now flying, original engine, IIRC. Total teardown,
most parts in fine shape, normal rebuild for elastomers and such, new wiring.
No guesses on the fate of Zeppelin company?
Bill
not. Usually will NOT allow salvage, even rare aircraft for legit museums. Real PITA.
USAF could not possibly care less. Wrecked, done, whatever, finders keepers. One F-104
rebuilt from dozens of wrecks, literally dug up after crashes. USAF just bulldozed a hole,
pushed it in when wrecked in the middle of nowhere, covered it back up. Done.
A number of Wildcat fighters from WW2 were lost by new aviators trying to land and take
off from great lakes steam sidewheelers converted into very short, slow aircraft carriers. Some of
the Wildcats hit the water. Deep, oxygen free, cold. Folks wanted to salvage some for
museums. USN was initially stuck on , NOPE. Somehow they eventually got permission to
salvage a few, I think if they gave one to the USN Av Museum in P'cola. In any case,
one was in good enough shape that it is now flying, original engine, IIRC. Total teardown,
most parts in fine shape, normal rebuild for elastomers and such, new wiring.
No guesses on the fate of Zeppelin company?
Bill
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Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Good guess, but no.
Ever wonder what "ZF" stands for in ZF transmissions? They had tremendous
skills making complex, lightweight gearboxes for the props on the Zeppelins, and the
only part of Zeppelin Flug....something or other that survives is ZF gearboxes. From car transmissions
to industrial gearboxes. I met some of their engineers at a conference years ago. Got a toy
inflatable Zeppelin as a souvenir. Many different car makers have used ZF gearboxes over the years.
https://www.zf.com/mobile/en/homepage/homepage.html
Bill
Ever wonder what "ZF" stands for in ZF transmissions? They had tremendous
skills making complex, lightweight gearboxes for the props on the Zeppelins, and the
only part of Zeppelin Flug....something or other that survives is ZF gearboxes. From car transmissions
to industrial gearboxes. I met some of their engineers at a conference years ago. Got a toy
inflatable Zeppelin as a souvenir. Many different car makers have used ZF gearboxes over the years.
https://www.zf.com/mobile/en/homepage/homepage.html
Bill
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JonB
Halcyon member
No gloves, no safety glasses, no hearing protection...and everyone is so clean.
maybe posed for picture day?
Ian
Notorious member
Interesting trivia, Bill, I flunked bigtime. Funny, because I just got through sourcing a whole set of wet clutch plates, gaskets, and seals for a John Deere backhoe shuttle. JD used five different shuttles and only one of them was produced by ZF. Aftermarket parts available for all the others....but not ZF of course. Almost 10 grand for a box of parts big enough to hold a decent-sized pumpkin. ZF also makes the dreaded 6-speed transmission for Ford light trucks, the transmission which takes a whole bunch of special tools and heat to get apart, and the case must be put back together with anaerobic sealant because silicone won't squeeze out thin enough and screws up the end play measurement. Swiss watch precision in an assembly which requires much, much less. Singer 1911 anyone?
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
BIG Gun! (From Shorpy.com)
Circa 1917. "Military training. Loading big gun." Harris & Ewing.
That's a coast artillery gun (probably a 12-inch bore) on a disappearing mount. After loading, the gun was pivoted upward by a hydraulic cylinder over the concrete wall for firing. After firing, the recoil compressed the hydraulic cylinder and the gun returned to the loading position. Here's a full view of one in the "down" position:
Circa 1917. "Military training. Loading big gun." Harris & Ewing.
That's a coast artillery gun (probably a 12-inch bore) on a disappearing mount. After loading, the gun was pivoted upward by a hydraulic cylinder over the concrete wall for firing. After firing, the recoil compressed the hydraulic cylinder and the gun returned to the loading position. Here's a full view of one in the "down" position:
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Very impressive gun. We visited Battery Todt at Callais, last summer. Where the Germans could drop
shells on England from the coast of France. THAT is impressive, but the gun itself was scrapped long
ago, too much steel to just leave laying around poor postwar France. 15 inch gun, range of
34+ miles! Yikes! The best news was that they had very poor access to spotters so couldn't make
very effective use of the guns. Wind drift can't be predicted well and without spotters your actual
accuracy that far is "good enough to hit a city" but not a specific target without a spotter to call
for corrections.
en.wikipedia.org
Ian, sounds like "good German engineering".....LOL! The same guys that made the transmission
for the late war Tiger tanks, maybe? Those transmissions were the PRIMARY cause of Tigers being
infinitely less effective than they could have been, otherwise. OK, you have this really impressive
tank, huge gun, good armor, but the trans just sucks, lucky to make 600 miles, total, EVER. So, you move
them around by rail....but they are too damned wide to fit though many of the tunnels and bridges
in Europe. So, you make "transport tracks" which are narrower (can't be used on any but hard surfaces
because your marvelous tank is so damned heavy it needs extra wide treads on any but hard ground). So, the
crew spends a back breaking 8 hour day breaking track, driving off of it, removing the outer eight road
wheel (solid steel, how many hundred pounds each?), rolling up the fighting tracks, lay out the transport tracks
and drive up on them. Then string it over the top, and winch it together, reconnect, then drive up onto a flatcar,
ONE tank per car. At the other end, spend 8 exhausting hours reversing the process before you can go
into battle. Basically, Tigers couldn't get to any battle in less than about 3-4 days from when they were
sent.
I have several really good books on the Tigers (multiple tanks called this) and one of
the common threads is that most of the photos of Tigers show them partially off the road where they
were pushed by their buddies after the transmission crapped out trying to get to a fight. Germany has
made some truly outstanding mechanical devices, but often they tend towards the overly complex
and difficult to service. Germans are just like that. I have owned many VWs and own two Porsches
now.
shells on England from the coast of France. THAT is impressive, but the gun itself was scrapped long
ago, too much steel to just leave laying around poor postwar France. 15 inch gun, range of
34+ miles! Yikes! The best news was that they had very poor access to spotters so couldn't make
very effective use of the guns. Wind drift can't be predicted well and without spotters your actual
accuracy that far is "good enough to hit a city" but not a specific target without a spotter to call
for corrections.
Todt Battery - Wikipedia
Ian, sounds like "good German engineering".....LOL! The same guys that made the transmission
for the late war Tiger tanks, maybe? Those transmissions were the PRIMARY cause of Tigers being
infinitely less effective than they could have been, otherwise. OK, you have this really impressive
tank, huge gun, good armor, but the trans just sucks, lucky to make 600 miles, total, EVER. So, you move
them around by rail....but they are too damned wide to fit though many of the tunnels and bridges
in Europe. So, you make "transport tracks" which are narrower (can't be used on any but hard surfaces
because your marvelous tank is so damned heavy it needs extra wide treads on any but hard ground). So, the
crew spends a back breaking 8 hour day breaking track, driving off of it, removing the outer eight road
wheel (solid steel, how many hundred pounds each?), rolling up the fighting tracks, lay out the transport tracks
and drive up on them. Then string it over the top, and winch it together, reconnect, then drive up onto a flatcar,
ONE tank per car. At the other end, spend 8 exhausting hours reversing the process before you can go
into battle. Basically, Tigers couldn't get to any battle in less than about 3-4 days from when they were
sent.
I have several really good books on the Tigers (multiple tanks called this) and one of
the common threads is that most of the photos of Tigers show them partially off the road where they
were pushed by their buddies after the transmission crapped out trying to get to a fight. Germany has
made some truly outstanding mechanical devices, but often they tend towards the overly complex
and difficult to service. Germans are just like that. I have owned many VWs and own two Porsches
now.
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Pistolero
Well-Known Member
No doubt, Keith. Lots of fine equipment designed by Germans, no question. But sometimes they seem
to fall off the edge, sucked into the vortex of "this is soooo, cool, ....." it would seem.
By comparison, Sherman tanks drove everywhere they went, reliable for literally thousands of miles.
I had the opportunity to drive a Sherman recently. Pretty simple to operate. Could it fight
head to head with a Tiger? Not too well, but it always got there, and no one Sherman ever
fought one Tiger. Shermans fought in bunches. Another serious weakness of the Tiger is
that the turret is manually cranked, VERY slow. So, if you see a Tiger, you go top speed, pretty
fast on a Sherman, cross range, multiple tanks scattering. You are working to cover/concealment
and for a side or rear shot while the poor gunner is furiously cranking that super heavy turret
around trying to see where in the hell you all went.
If tanks are interesting, spend some time watching "Inside the Chieftan's Hatch" on YouTube.
He was a Brit/Irish tanker in the Chieftan, then a USArmy tanker in the Abrams, and besides that,
is a serious history student of tank warfare, tanks and has been in most of them, and does
interesting comparisons of them from a tanker's perspective. Especially interesting is his
normal "Oh, my goodness my tank is on fire!" drill, showing how easy/hard/damn near
impossible it is to get out of a damaged tank in a hurry. The Sherman wins this drill hands down,
thank goodness. Nicholas Moran is an interesting guy. Got me interested in driving tanks.
I can recommend these guys, too.
Bill
to fall off the edge, sucked into the vortex of "this is soooo, cool, ....." it would seem.
By comparison, Sherman tanks drove everywhere they went, reliable for literally thousands of miles.
I had the opportunity to drive a Sherman recently. Pretty simple to operate. Could it fight
head to head with a Tiger? Not too well, but it always got there, and no one Sherman ever
fought one Tiger. Shermans fought in bunches. Another serious weakness of the Tiger is
that the turret is manually cranked, VERY slow. So, if you see a Tiger, you go top speed, pretty
fast on a Sherman, cross range, multiple tanks scattering. You are working to cover/concealment
and for a side or rear shot while the poor gunner is furiously cranking that super heavy turret
around trying to see where in the hell you all went.
If tanks are interesting, spend some time watching "Inside the Chieftan's Hatch" on YouTube.
He was a Brit/Irish tanker in the Chieftan, then a USArmy tanker in the Abrams, and besides that,
is a serious history student of tank warfare, tanks and has been in most of them, and does
interesting comparisons of them from a tanker's perspective. Especially interesting is his
normal "Oh, my goodness my tank is on fire!" drill, showing how easy/hard/damn near
impossible it is to get out of a damaged tank in a hurry. The Sherman wins this drill hands down,
thank goodness. Nicholas Moran is an interesting guy. Got me interested in driving tanks.
I can recommend these guys, too.
Bill
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462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
We visited the old Ft. Warden and its coastal batteries, in Washington state, that guarded the Strait of Juan de Fuca. During WW I, the guns were dismantled to be shipped to France, but the late date and the end looming only a few were actually shipped.
Picture of one of the fort's 12" "disappearing" guns firing a round.
Picture of one of the fort's 12" "disappearing" guns firing a round.
L Ross
Well-Known Member
I remember as a boy my Mom telling me to take my pellet gun and go get a half dozen barn pigeons for pigeon pot pie.