Vehicle 3 – Schneider CA (CA1)

Vehicle 3 – Schneider CA (CA1)


(I hate to admit it, but I have had very little luck in finding a positive quote about the French army. And I don't really want to make one up again.)

Nationality: French
Year of Production: 1916-1918
Number built: 400
Weight: 12.3 or 13.6 tons
Length: 6.32 metres
Width: 2.05 metres
Height: 2.30 metres
Crew: 6 or 7
Engine: 1x Schneider 4-cylinder engine, developing 55-70 hp, for a speed of 8 kph
Armament: 1x 75mm howitzer, 2x 8mm machine guns (1x 15mm machine gun as well?)

Background: World War One. A time where the defender had many new weapons, like machine guns, poison shells, and deep trenches, not to forget the barbed wire and land mines. And conventional weapons that the attackers would normally use, like aircraft, and tanks, were still either in basic stages of being used, or not actually been invented yet.

The attackers would be ripped apart by shells or machine guns, or to be trapped on the barbed wire, and left to suffer. Obviously, this had to stop. Progress had to be made before the civilian populace back home grew tired and started to demand an end. The solution was a weapon that could crush the wire, that could shrug off bullets of rifles, and rip back with it's own weapons, and cross trenches, as the infantry follow behind.

This new weapon was the tank, but, back then, tanks were weird, unwieldy beasts designed only to protect the infantry from being blown up, and to get the war moving again.

As such, in 1915, the company of Schneider and Co, in France, set out to fulfil the wishes of the French government, to build “heavy artillery tractors”, of which I'll probably touch more on later. As such, their chief designer was sent to England, to check on what an American company called Holt was showing over there, and on his return, convinced his superiors to work on an armed and armoured tractor.

Some of the experiments were shown in front of the French president, Raymond Poincare, who ordered 10 more vehicles for further testing, of which shortly after was combined with a government program for a armoured wire cutter, the Breton-Pretot machine, for further experiments, including one at Souain.

As a result of the prototype tank going over the trenches of the former battlefield, the production order for 400 CA1s were authorised in February 1916.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

(As above, no quotes, sorry. I'll try to find some, but if you have any suggestions, please let me know. No jokes about the quality of the French army, either.)

This... weird... thing... had a 75mm petard mortar, which is a pretty decent sized weapon for blowing up anything it wants to. It crashed through wire with the overhang part of the chassis, unless the tank got stuck.

The crew had the dubious pleasure of lying on their bellies in a space between the roof and the engine, and more then likely in the dark as well. The armour was poor, and often lead to the two fuel tanks, situated high up on the tank, to be punctured, and the crew would get a petrol shower, which would be kinda bad if someone lit a match, or if the tank was in a battle, and it was cramped and... but I digress.

It was first used on at Berry-au-Bac, where the 120-130 tanks stormed out, engines screaming at the top speed of 8 kph, under cover of daylight.

In sight of German artillery.

81 tanks were crippled, with 56 of them being destroyed beyond repair. As the modifications rolled out, to damn near everything with the tank, armour, fuel tanks, doors, guns, probably the little dangling pine tree air freshener as well.

Most of the remaining tanks were converted to unarmed supply tanks, which would still have sucked for the crew, driving at a top speed of 8 kph, hauling things around.

To rub salt into the wound, the Italian army tested the CA1, with plans to build 1500 of them, but Italia didn't really leap at the opportunity.

Six tanks were sold to Spain, of which after fighting in Morocco, the surviving four were used in the Spanish Civil War fighting on the side of the Republicans.

The CA1 was a good try by the French, given that this was a brand new weapon of war, but the few minor (alright, major) defects, and I didn't even mention the limited range of fire it had, by either the machine guns or the mortar, and it has the honour of being the world's oldest tank that is still in running condition, at the Musee des Blindes in Saumur.

The running tank is a modified one, with the repositioned petrol tanks, if you are ever interested in looking it up.

I daresay I'll be told off for not including the accented characters for the various French names as well.

Sources used:
Walkaround and photographs of the Schneider CA1 by Eric Gallaud
Wikipedia : Schneider CA1
Tanks.net : Schneider CA1 Heavy Tank

Aircraft 2: Supermarine (Sea Spitfire) 'Seafire'

Aircraft 2: Supermarine (Sea Spitfire) 'Seafire'

“To affirm that the aeroplane is going to 'revolutionize' navel warfare of the future is to be guilty of the wildest exaggeration.” - Scientific American, July 1910.

Nationality: English
Year of Production: 1938 (proposed), 1941 (produced)
Number built: 2669
Weight (empty): 3.9 tons
Wingspan: 11.2 metres
Length: 10.4 metres
Height: 3.9 metres
Speed: 578 kph (Merlin engine), 727 kph (Griffon engine)
Engine: Rolls Royce Merlin 55M V12, developing 1585 hp. Later, the Griffon 88 V12 would be used, developing 2350 hp.
Armament: 2x 20mm cannon, 4x 0.303 machine guns, later on, 4x 20mm cannon. (The Seafire F. Mk 47 had up to 8x rocket launchers, firing RP-3 air to ground rockets. They all could carry bombs, from 110 kg to 250 kg.)

Background: I daresay most people know about the beautiful little Spitfire, the aircraft that flew during the Battle of Britain, and during World War Two as a whole.

This story relates to the Seafire, trust me. Or not. Anyway, in 1931, the British Air Ministry was calling out for a new fighter plane capable of going at 404 kph. A man called Reginald Joseph Mitchell, of the Supermarine Aviation Works responded, with the Supermarine Type 224, which was rejected, as well as the later Supermarine Type 300, but eventually got accepted with the F7/30.

In 1936, the first prototype Spitfire flew, causing the RAF to squeal like schoolgirls and immediately order 310 of them, before the trials had been completed. Over 20,000 Spitfires, and the variants, would be built.

Unfortunately, while the RAF was enjoying their brand spanking new toy, the Fleet Air Arm were stuck with Blackburn Rocs and Gloster Sea Gladiators, of which, although they were decent aircraft... weren't quite as magnificent as the Spitfire.

The FAA got turned away from having their own Spitfires by Winston Churchill, but that's sort of understandable since that was during the Battle of Britain, and your own country's defense is more important then anything else, in my view.

However, in 1941, the Admiralty had a look at the Spitfire again, and 48 Spitfire Mark Vb aircraft were converted to have hooks on them, since a plane's not much good if it can't actually land. The new Seafires were used to get the Navy used to using their new toys, with modifications being constantly made, to make them more useful for general defense and attack purposes.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“The air fleet of an enemy will never get within striking distance of our coast as long as our aircraft carriers are able to carry the preponderance of air power to sea.” - Rear Admiral W. A. Mofflet, Chief of US Bureau of Aeronautics.

It's role was to hang around aircraft carriers, and to teach anything that isn't on it's side that the Royal Navy only wants pretty pictures and words taken when it damn well wants you to, and not whenever you want to.

The Seafire mainly operated in the Far East campaign against Japan, on the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable (R10), where they took on the kamikaze attacks, at one point taking out eight aircraft for the loss of only one of their own.

Post-World War Two, the Seafire was upgraded to the Mk47, and served in the Korean War, helping to blunt North Korean offenses in the skies and on the ground, with only two lost, one to friendly fire, and the other when the grappling hook failed to extend. Unfortunately, by the end of it, all but 3 of the Seafires in the 800 squadron were declared unservicable.

The Canadians and the French also used Seafires, the latter on the Arromanches (formerly HMS Colossus), which fought against the Viet Minh in the First Indochina War, before being withdrawn in 1949.

The Irish used the Seafire as well, but they didn't really seem to do anything much with them.

Ultimately, the Seafire, while in some ways a strong aircraft, was also a fragile thing, however, by all accounts it served magnificently. Then again, when you come from the same stock as the Supermarine Spitfire, how could you not?

Sources used:
Supermarine Seafire: Wikipedia
Fleet Air Arm Archive: Supermarine Seafire
Supermarine Seafire: Classic Warbirds
Supermarine Spitfire variants: specifications, performance and armament: Wikipedia

Aircraft 1: Sukhoi Su-5 (I-107)

Aircraft 1: Sukhoi Su-5 (I-107)

“The first time ever I saw a jet, I shot it down.” - Chuck Yeager

Nationality: Soviet Union (Russia)
Year of Production: 1944 (concept), 1945 (produced)
Number built: 1
Weight (empty): 2.95 tons
Wingspan: 10.5 metres
Length: 8.5 metres
Height: 3.5 metres
Speed: 810 kph (including boost of 90-110 kph)
Engine: VK-107A petrol engine, developing 1650 hp. VRDK motorjet as 3-10 minute boost.
Armament: 1x 23 mm cannon, 2x 12.7 mm machine guns

Background: Alright, I'll admit that I forgot about VE Day, but I'll try to make up for it with this stubby little beauty. Anyway, moving on from myself being an idiot.

Near the end of World War 2 in Europe, strange new aircraft had begun to appear in the skies. Instead of using propellers, they had flame coming out the engines, and flew vastly faster then normal aircraft.

Yes, German technology had advanced far enough, from the V1 Buzz Bomb, from the V2 rockets, to the jet-engined aircraft, like the Messerschmitt Me 262 to be used on the front line. Clearly, this had to be stopped, and new aircraft built that could speed up, and catch these new planes, and shoot them down, lest they have unforeseen consequences on the war's progression.

Now, the nations of the world had their own types of rockets, from the Russian Katyusha, to the tank-busting English Typhoon, when equipped with rockets. But, surely, no propeller aircraft could be produced in time to even think of matching the speed of a jet that goes at 900 kph?

Not even by the Russians, that were marching towards their foe's lands, as part of the Great Patriotic War (The Russian term for World War 2)?

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“Up there the world is divided into bastards and suckers. Make your choice.” - Derek Robinson, author of Piece of Cake.

It was designed to take on enemy jet fighters as a short term solution. That, by itself, is impressive.

This aircraft was conceived by a Russian company, O.P Sukhoi, as a single seat fighter, with a propeller as the main power source, and a jet engine to act as a booster, like when you press the inevitable button in a game to get a short term boost of speed.

One assumes that the document hit every single branch of the ugly tree on the way to Moscow, but that's alright. It probably isn't as ugly from the cockpit.

Anyway, the document was approved by the PCAI, which I have no idea what it stands for, probably something in Russian, and incorporated in the 1944 prototype development plan, where it got approved in May 1944.

By then, the aircraft was called the I-107, but was subsequently renamed to Su-5.

After some minor problems getting the bits delivered, the flights began in April 1945, and continued until the middle of June, where a minor problem, that being the engine breaking up, occurred while it was being flown. During the wait for a new engine, the aircraft was fitted with a new wing.

The engine arrived at the beginning of July, and as testing went on, the aircraft reached a speed of 793 kph at 4350 metres, 25 kph faster then estimated.

Testing continuing until mid-October, where the engine reached the end of it's service life, and no further engines incoming, with the ones being produced diverted to aircraft that were being produced.

In 1946, work was terminated on aircraft that had lost the edge, with the Su-5 being named one of them. By then, Russia was working on turbojets.

Unfortunately, even though it would have been interesting to see in action, especially with it's booster, the aircraft never got a chance to fire a shot in anger, nor to take on what it had been planned for, the early jet fighters.

Sources used:
Sukhoi Company – Airplanes – Museum – Su-5
Aviastar – Su-5 experimental interceptor
Sukhoi Su-5 – Wikipedia

Vehicle 2 – T-35 multi-turreted heavy tank

Vehicle 2 – T-35 multi-turreted heavy tank

“If the tanks succeed, then victory follows.” - Heinz Guderian, German general, author of Achtung – Panzer!

Nationality: Soviet Union (Russia)
Year of Production: 1933 to 1938
Number built: 61
Weight: 45 tons
Length: 9.72 m
Width: 3.20 m
Height: 3.43 m
Crew: 11
Engine: 1x Mikulin M-17M petrol engine, developing 500 hp, for a speed of 30 kph.
Armament: 1x 76.2 mm gun, 2x 45 mm guns, 5 to 6 7.62 mm machine guns

Background: After World War 1, many things had changed. A wide variety of these strange new, almost alien, weapons, called tanks were becoming more and more popular. Crushing wire, preventing infantry from being shot, causing enemy troops to run from these invulnerable new weapons, that spat death and ignored bullets.

Tsarist Russia, under Tsar Nicholas II, had fallen during 1917, with the Bolsheviks having taken over, after fighting against the White Russia movement, and becoming the Soviet Union in 1922, under Lenin.

Stalin took over in 1924, after a power struggle, and Russia began to advance (ish), under the First Five Year-Plan and Second Five-Year Plan, and started to develop new weapons, like this cute little toy.

This weapon was developed by the OKMO design bureau of the Bolshevik Factory, as two teams began to work on two different designs of multi-turreted tank, the other tank being the TG-5, which weighed in at 100 tons and had a 107 mm naval gun, which was soon cancelled. In July 1932, a 35 ton prototype was rolled out with a 76.2 mm gun and was given four smaller turrets, for 37 mm guns, and machine guns.

It was too complex and expensive for mass production, so a simpler prototype was built, with a new engine, gearbox and new turrets, as used on the T-28, which had 3 turrets. Production began in 1933 at a locomotive factory, and two batches of ten vehicles were built, with 35 being built by 1938, with some examples reported to have flamethrowers instead of one of the 45 mm guns. Probably to try to set fire to snow or something.

Anyway, the final batch was six more T-35s, putting the total at 61, since it was fairly expensive.

Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?

“Tanks come in two forms: the dangerous, deadly kind and the 'liberating' kind.” - Robert Fisk, journalist.

This tank immediately showed how it could crush and annihilate it's enemies by serving in parades in Moscow until 1940. Oh yes.

After Operation Barbarossa, the decision was made to use the T-35 in combat, instead of repurposing them as heavy artillery, of which 90% were lost due to mechanical problems or by being abandoned and blown up.

The last recorded action of the T-35 was during the Battle of Moscow, although I have not been able to find how it fared.

Some sources state that it did not fight in Talvisota, the Winter War, against Finland, instead, the tank was a SMK prototype, which was disabled by a landmine, and was believed to be another variant of the T-35, but other sources say that it did see action there, so yeah.

Despite the lackluster combat record and the fact that if you cut out some of the turrets, you could put more normal tanks on the battlefield, you have to admit that they look impressive, and that the idea of machine guns blazing as cannons roar from a single tank would look magnificent on TV.

For a reason to be afraid of it, the SU-7 tank, not to be confused with the SU-7 jet fighter, was planned to have a 254 mm gun, a 305 mm howitzer and a 400 mm mortar while clocking in at over 106 tons.

And finally, the T-35 tank has it's own Facebook page, but only 4 people like it so far. Pity.

Sources used:
Wikipedia: T-35
Soviet Empire.com: The Soviet T-35 tank
Heavy Soviet Tanks - Tank Museum
WWII Vehicles - Soviet Union's T-35 Heavy Tanks