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  1. WI: John Wayne lived longer?

    Relatively few. He was 72 when he died and was as seriously typecast as any starlet, in his case as a Western star. In the last 10 years of his career he was, excepting cameos, in 15 movies. Four of them were not Westerns, two of which, McQ and Brannigan, were lackluster attempts to capture...
  2. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    The other side of the coin regarding a NATO/WP war is that the U.S. very much operated at a reduced capability. Jamming aircraft were limited in frequencies, tactics were limited, and EW was conducted at the "just enough" level. The U.S. was well aware that the Soviets, and to a lesser extent...
  3. Plausibility check: ASW and AEW airships.

    Zeppelins/Dirigibles capped out at around 85 MPH (USS Macon 75 MPH, Hindenburg 85 MPH) roughly 55 at cruise. This assumes no head winds or serious cross winds (tail winds would, of course, increase speed). Macon also had an operational ceiling of 3,000 feet, although it could go higher at the...
  4. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    Again, the claim might be completely accurate, top Soviet pilots were just as experienced as top U.S. pilots, and the MiG-15 had some advantages, as did the F-86. The Soviets could also always break off and run for the border if things went sideways, something USAF pilots couldn't do. That being...
  5. Photos from Alternate Worlds

    Don't link to pirate sites. Thanks.
  6. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    Propaganda almost certainly. The PRC/USSR claimed 650 U.S. aircraft shot down, the U.S. admitted to 78. I don't doubt for a half a second that the U.S. would try to go low, but trying to hide 572 losses just isn't going to work, not in an open society where people talk to each other and...
  7. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    If the USN/USMC only managed 17 kills, eleven of them were by just two men. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Bolt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Bordelon Bordelon made his kills in a F4U night fighter. a total of 12 aircraft, including one seriously unlucky MiG-15, were shot down...
  8. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    You're mistaking military reality with political will. They are a very different thing. The U.S. could have quite literally bombed North Vietnam flat, every city, town, and village. Doesn't matter. End result would have been the same. The U.S. lost the propaganda war almost from the get-go...
  9. How long could the Paficic War in WWII last?

    The Japanese lost the war the second the first bomb came off the shackle over Pearl Harbor. Everything after that was details. Even the people planning it knew they couldn't win a long war. Imperial Japan had one chance, a flash knockdown, and the U.S. being unwilling to accept the cost of...
  10. AHC: Total US Air Superiority In North Vietnam

    The U.S. had total air superiority. In fact it had actual air supremacy. A few fighter kills or SAMs does not contested or equal airspace make. The U.S. could go anywhere it wanted, anytime it wanted, with few, if any losses. U.S. loss rates, including helicopters and non-combat losses came...
  11. How long could the Paficic War in WWII last?

    The only real variable is in the end game. Japan wins at Midway? Immaterial. Guadalcanal? No difference. The U.S. was going to be in position to destroy Imperial Japan from the air by mid 1944 and obliterate the IJN not too long after. Its more or less a math problem. Even that...
  12. Could Nazi Germany Have Been Worse?

    Could they have been worse? Of course. They had concrete plans for it. Not plans to achieve a goal, however idiotic (Collectivization anyone?) that resulted in famine and mass death as a screamingly obvious result, or even political repression, but actual, written plans to kill huge segments of...
  13. Could Switzerland be Conquered?

    Its more a matter of ROI than anything else. The Swiss will make any invader bleed, a lot. The features that make Switzerland attractive as a target, namely wealth and some specialist manufacturing, are also the items that any invasion is the most likely to destroy simply as a side effect of...
  14. Post WW2 - punish Germany more harshly

    Yes & no. All the players, at least until the U.S. came in, were more concerned with Empire than anything else (American motivations were both reactive and economic). The Central Powers, however, had much more blood on their hands once the war started. The Turks with the Armenian Genocide stand...
  15. Lack AIM-9L and much more Exocet in Falklands war

    Chill. If you have an issue, use the report button.
  16. Modern Military vs WWII military

    Not to mention that, at least in the case of the U.S., and elements of other NATO & Russian forces the number of combat vets is fairly high. E-5s and higher in the U.S. Army or Marines probably have more actual combat time than any soldiers in recent history. Many have 7-8 tours into the...
  17. Modern Military vs WWII military

    Actually, you ninja'd me, but since I had typed it up I posted anyway. :D
  18. Modern Military vs WWII military

    Uh... No. Doesn't work that way. For one thing you don't drop chaff when you are half an hour from the possible target, not if the target is in motion, since the cloud, assuming it was effective (which it wouldn't be, sensor designers have learned a couple things in the last 70 years), would...
  19. Modern Military vs WWII military

    Well the DDG-51 does sort of feature: AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar The sensors would detect a sub three hours before it could reach engagement range. The Flight 1 ships would then have the option of leaving the area at 30+ knots, maintain 40 NM distance...
  20. Modern Military vs WWII military

    Careful....
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