TL-191: Featherston's Finest - Uniforms, Weapons, and Vehicles of the CSA and Freedom Party

[cortz#9]

Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever got many interpretations of what the Confederate Mule "Ass Kicker" dive bomber really looks like. I found this picture while browsing some alternatives.

Its made by a Flickr user named Barnstormer4, so credit to that user for this image. Its closer in appearance to what the Stuka looks like, which is fine by me honestly, but other interpretations are welcomed here.


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My own take on the "Ass-Kicker". I was thinking that like Germany and Italy IOTL, the CSA might use radial engines more than inline engines on their bombers and mostly inline engines in their fighters.

I also used a Junkers Ju-87 and added the engine and tail from Aichi (Val) D3A dive bomber and added a 50 cal MG to the wing.

 

[pattontank12]

Something similar to Sourh Africa's Marmon Herrington would be right up the Confederate's alley during the Featherstone era.

Spoiler: "Jug" variant

 

[Alterwright]

My own take on the "Ass-Kicker". I was thinking that like Germany and Italy IOTL, the CSA might use radial engines more than inline engines on their bombers and mostly inline engines in their fighters.

I also used a Junkers Ju-87 and added the engine and tail from Aichi (Val) D3A dive bomber and added a 50 cal MG to the wing.

What's the difference between radial and inline engines? Besides the difference in the design of the nose?

 

[Alterwright]

Something similar to Sourh Africa's Marmon Herrington would be right up the Confederate's alley during the Featherstone era.

You mean like a heavily armed scout car for the Confederates right? Sporting an anti-tank gun in a turret on wheels? I can see that.

In the western theater from Texas to Sonora, I imagine the fighting for these areas would occur int very rocky, very arid desert climate or over vast open prairie. In this theater I imagine scout cars would be the more ideal form of movement but I could be wrong. Tanks would of douse play their own part, but I also imagine that most of those tanks would be transferred over to the eastern theaters, leaving front commanders to economize by using heavily armed scout cars, but the terrain can also be suit for armor, depend on where they are deployed.

 

[Matt Wiser]

A radial engine is usually air-cooled, while an inline engine is usually water-cooled. FYI most OTL carrier aircraft used radial engines, though the Brits used inline engines in the Sea Hurricane, Seafire, and the Fairey Barracuda, and the Japanese used a copy of the German DB 601 engine in the D4Y1/2 Judy dive bomber. Inline engines are more susceptible to battle damage: take a serious hit to the engine in an Me-109, Spitfire, or P-51, and you're going skydiving. Take serious damage to a radial engine like in a P-47, Fw-190, Hellcat, or Corsair, and you had a decent chance of getting back home.

 

[Alterwright]

A radial engine is usually air-cooled, while an inline engine is usually water-cooled. FYI most OTL carrier aircraft used radial engines, though the Brits used inline engines in the Sea Hurricane, Seafire, and the Fairey Barracuda, and the Japanese used a copy of the German DB 601 engine in the D4Y1/2 Judy dive bomber. Inline engines are more susceptible to battle damage: take a serious hit to the engine in an Me-109, Spitfire, or P-51, and you're going skydiving. Take serious damage to a radial engine like in a P-47, Fw-190, Hellcat, or Corsair, and you had a decent chance of getting back home.

Ah I see now. So basically Confederate "Mule", with a radial engine, has the ability to absorb more punishment. Given that its a dive bomber, with the assumption that its going to take a lot of fire flying toward its target, that engine design might be better.

 

[pattontank12]

You mean like a heavily armed scout car for the Confederates right? Sporting an anti-tank gun in a turret on wheels? I can see that.

In the western theater from Texas to Sonora, I imagine the fighting for these areas would occur int very rocky, very arid desert climate or over vast open prairie. In this theater I imagine scout cars would be the more ideal form of movement but I could be wrong. Tanks would of douse play their own part, but I also imagine that most of those tanks would be transferred over to the eastern theaters, leaving front commanders to economize by using heavily armed scout cars, but the terrain can also be suit for armor, depend on where they are deployed.

Yeah I picture the western front of the North American theater being dominated by armored cars, outdated vehicles & equipment from the interwar era and even cavalry in some places. While the both sides use the real good stuff out on the Eastern Front.

Kinda picture it actually being similar to the African Theater of OTL in some ways in terms of gear and uniforms.

 

[Alterwright]

Yeah I picture the western front of the North American theater being dominated by armored cars, outdated vehicles & equipment from the interwar era and even cavalry in some places. While the both sides use the real good stuff out on the Eastern Front.

Kinda picture it actually being similar to the African Theater of OTL in some ways in terms of gear and uniforms.

In certain areas, yeah, it would be dry and rocky desert terrain or flat prairie. Chihuahua, Sonora, Baja, New Mexico, Sequoyah, and West Texas would be the battleground for the Western Theater.

 

[pattontank12]

Would it have been possible for the Confederate's to have failed a fighter squadron of native americans during the First Great War?

 

[Alterwright]

Would it have been possible for the Confederate's to have failed a fighter squadron of native americans during the First Great War?

What do you mean?

 

[pattontank12]

Sorry I meant fielded, stupid auto correct.

 

[Alterwright]

Sorry I meant fielded, stupid auto correct.

So you think the Confederates would allow Native Americans from the state of Sequoyah to fly biplanes then? Interesting thought. I think in TL-191 the tribes there are kind of... semi-autonomous? I have to look again.

 

[pattontank12]

So you think the Confederates would allow Native Americans from the state of Sequoyah to fly biplanes then? Interesting thought. I think in TL-191 the tribes there are kind of... semi-autonomous? I have to look again.

I could see them fielding their own forces when the US comes nocking.

 

[cortz#9]

Would it have been possible for the Confederate's to have failed a fighter squadron of native americans during the First Great War?

I think it may have been possible.

 

[Kuamong]

I could see them fielding their own forces when the US comes nocking.

IIRC the Natives in Seyuoyah did field regiment-sized units in the Great War as semi-independent state guards. That would set the precedent for the Confederacy to field all-Native American air units.

 

[Alterwright]

IIRC the Natives in Seyuoyah did field regiment-sized units in the Great War as semi-independent state guards. That would set the precedent for the Confederacy to field all-Native American air units.

Yup, and of course there were ground units engaged in heavy fighting in the state itself. I remember reading in the Great War series from Turtledove that some Native Americans by the late-war period were integrated with the Confederate Army, fighting over a state that had oil fields burning as if they were images straight out of the Gulf War of 1991.

^^^ --- And aside from a few alternations they may have been issued with kit and uniform virtually identical to what the rest of the Confederate Army was wearing during the Great War.

 

[cortz#9]

Yup, and of course there were ground units engaged in heavy fighting in the state itself. I remember reading in the Great War series from Turtledove that some Native Americans by the late-war period were integrated with the Confederate Army, fighting over a state that had oil fields burning as if they were images straight out of the Gulf War of 1991.

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^^^ --- And aside from a few alternations they may have been issued with kit and uniform virtually identical to what the rest of the Confederate Army was wearing during the Great War.

I remember one book where Confederates, Mexicans and Native Americans were fighting together in the First Great War.

 

[Alterwright]

I remember one book where Confederates, Mexicans and Native Americans were fighting together in the First Great War.

Yup! That's "Breakthroughs" I believe. Gosh, just imagine that though. All of them fighting in a hellish, oil soaked landscape akin to a muddy Gulf War, with oil fields set on fire, trenches dug into into a oily ground with a thick black sky above. They'd be wearing gas masks just to filter out the toxins in the air.

 

[cortz#9]

Yup! That's "Breakthroughs" I believe. Gosh, just imagine that though. All of them fighting in a hellish, oil soaked landscape akin to a muddy Gulf War, with oil fields set on fire, trenches dug into into a oily ground with a thick black sky above. They'd be wearing gas masks just to filter out the toxins in the air.

Hell on Earth.

 

[Alterwright]

Hell on Earth.

Indeed. We may actually get that again in the Second Great War in Texas and Sequoyah. Despite the perplexingly low priority the region would get, we'd probably be seeing a return to that kind of tactic.