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  1. WI there was a invasion of Japan

    Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both held out from the general targeting list, however it is not true that they were no signficant military targets. Hiroshima, in addition to being a major supply depot was also the Headquarters for the Army assigned to defend Kyushu from invasion. The attack on the...
  2. WI there was a invasion of Japan

    Would these people have been any less dead if the cities had been hit by 200 B-29's carrying firebombs? To quote the USSBS (Pacific) The entire "200,000 died for nothing" argument ignores reality. The United states killed more Japanese civilians when it bombed Tokyo on March 9-10 of 1945...
  3. WI there was a invasion of Japan

    ???? The Japanese and Russians had been killing eath other for 3/4 of forever. The Japanese were reflexively anti-Communist. They were the last country to leave the USSR in the post WW I occupation. The Red Army was going to be a cruel taskmaster and EVERY Japanese soldier knew it (and had had...
  4. United States uses more bombers in the Korean War

    Actually it would have been a lousy call, but it was the only place that wasn't already being pounded into jelly thrice a week. The point was that more bombers would have meant nothing.
  5. Best/Worst Fighter aircraft of WW2?

    That was Bob Johnson's 'Bolt. He would have bailed out several times but a 20mm shell had wrecked the canopy track and he couldn't get out of the plane. The -109 pilot apparently tore the plane up, pulled up along side Johnson, maybe waiting for him to bail out, saluted him, pulled back in...
  6. WI there was a invasion of Japan

    The estimate of TOTAL CASUALTIES was one million dead. That included Japanese losses. That being said it would have been a bloodbath of epic proportions. Japan would still be in early recovery stages today. Figure the utter destruction of the southern third of Kyushu's civilian population...
  7. United States uses more bombers in the Korean War

    Based on what? Bombing China? By the end of the war there wasn't a worthwhile target on the Peninsula that was being bombed on a regular basis.
  8. What if HMCS Rainbow had faced down SMS Leipzig

    How far off San Francisco did this near encounter take place?
  9. WI: Japanese Victory After 1944?

    Japan was a light infantry force, with a very small armor and artillery tail. Even at its most tank heavy it wasn't up to the standards of a poorly equipped Indian Division. The debacle in Malaya was the result of surprise, stunningly poor leadership, and, it is oft forgotten, a spy in the...
  10. WI: Japanese Victory After 1944?

    As has been noted in the past, Japan was utterly incapable of fighting a successful set piece battle against Western style forces, this definitely included the Indian Army. First they would have had to pushed enough troops through Burma to even confront the Indian Army on a reasonable basis...
  11. WI: Japanese Victory After 1944?

    As to # 1, that sniper would have saved more lives than any other individual soldier in WW II. MacArthur's fixation on the Philippines, combined with his ham-handed effort in planning the invasion (Yea, let's land on Leyte to build airfieds for the attack on Luzon. :rolleyes: Only problem: The...
  12. WI: Japanese Victory After 1944?

    More like fantasy on the scale of Lord of the Rings. Even with ASB assistance; by 1944 the Japanese were already dead, they just hadn't fallen over yet.
  13. Best tanks of WII

    Not even close to the greatest overall. The Tiger was a great tank for the day it arrived, but that was a short day. The T-34/85 and the Panther were both better overall tanks that the questionably reliable Tiger. Heavy armor and an 88 doesn't mean much it it won't flippin' move. In actual...
  14. Worst Bomber of WW2.

    Pretty sure it was in Playboy. Only read it for the articles of course.
  15. Worst Bomber of WW2.

    The problem was that they kept building the damned thing. A good, perhaps even excellent aircraft in 1936, but they were still building it in mass in 1941. What would you be saying if the United States build six THOUSAND B-10 (slower than the TB, but with almost double the bombload), B-18...
  16. Best/Worst Fighter aircraft of WW2?

    A Corsair F4U
  17. Best/Worst Fighter aircraft of WW2?

    Coulda' warned you about the wrath of a Buffalo defender. They are few, but they make up for numbers with passion. :D Best single: P-51 Fast, manueverable, insane range for the era. Serious kudo's to the Spitfire as well, just kept getting better as the war progressed. Worst single: Ki-43 A...
  18. Worst Bomber of WW2.

    Ground attack: Ba.65. Looked odd, flew worse. Light Bomber: Tupolev SB. Obsolete the day it first rolled off the production line. That was bad; the fact that the Soviets built 6,500 of the damned things is WAY worse. Dishonorable mention to the Breda BA.88, terrific aircraft until you tried to...
  19. Best Bomber Aircraft WW2

    Dive bomber Purpose built: SB2C Defacto: F4U Torpedo bomber The world changed a LOT over the war years 1939-mid 40 Swordfish or TBD mid 1940-mid 43 B5N Kate or B6N Kate Jill mid 1943-45 TBF (the TBF would be the best from mid 1942 except for the problems with the Mk 13 torpedo...
  20. Best Bomber Aircraft WW2

    Hmmm... Bomber that could Carry heavier payload Carry it farther Carry it faster carry it higher then any of its contemporaries. Seems like a winner to me. The Lancaster was a fine aircraft, for its generation. The B-29 was the next generation. Hardly surprising that it would have...
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