Rearm the British Infantry for WWII

Peg Leg Pom

Miles didn't ask for permission from the Ministry of Supply before building the prototype. The MoS wasn't impressed at being ignored so ordered something else.
 

fastmongrel

From the Australian War Memorial website a casualty evacuated in New Guinea.
4118476.jpeg
 

Glyndwr01

Banned
phx1138 said:
That's pretty good. Thing is, dealing with trauma, there's a "golden hour" that's ideal for survival: if you can get a patient into OR (with a dedicated trauma team, which any military surgeons are going to be soon enough) that fast, you drastically improve survival. That means lower losses, which eases the strain on recruiting & training in the long run. Putting a *MASH within 30min of the battlefield, with access by liaison a/c (or helo), you save a lot of lives. (Yeah, I'm probably preaching to the choir.)

In ref the Brit "new model" helmet, what about a joint project with the Commonwealth, rather than the U.S.? Or with Canada only? Canada had the auto manufacturing facilities capable of metal stamping to make 'em, & is likely to be willing to adopt common gear. (I don't recall how much was shared OTL, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

One other thing, & again, I'm going outside the norms: fit something like the R-4 (again, with a 600hp R1340) with rocket pods for CAS. (50mm spin-stabilized rockets?) I can just hear people thinking, "You need air superiority." No, you don't. Helos are damn hard to hit with fighters; you might need longer-range rockets, to keep helos out of range of 20mm AA (or at least HMGs).
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"Mad Major" Carpenter Attached 6 Bazookas To His Artillery Spotter Plane And Went Tank Hunting (warhistoryonline.com)
 

phx1138

Glyndwr01 said:
6 Bazookas
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That's doing it the hard way. The tubes are draggy for no good reason, the warheads are less effective, the rockets less accurate, & fitting & launching excessively complicated. Pod a bunch of 2" or 3" arty rockets that are designed from the off for ripple or barrage fire. Why mess around?
 
marathag

marathag

phx1138 said:
That's doing it the hard way. The tubes are draggy for no good reason, the warheads are less effective, the rockets less accurate, & fitting & launching excessively complicated. Pod a bunch of 2" or 3" arty rockets that are designed from the off for ripple or barrage fire. Why mess around?
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Accuracy.
 

phx1138

marathag said:
Accuracy.
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I don't see aircraft-borne bazookas being pinpoint weapons any more than other rockets, & arty rockets are likely to hit harder IMO. I'm not after a '40s TOW, after all (tho if Britain combined the *R-7 & a British X-7 ATGM, I wouldn't oppose it;) ).
 
marathag

marathag

phx1138 said:
I don't see aircraft-borne bazookas being pinpoint weapons any more than other rockets, & arty rockets are likely to hit harder IMO. I'm not after a '40s TOW, after all (tho if Britain combined the *R-7 & a British X-7 ATGM, I wouldn't oppose it;) ).
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Faster burning rocket engine.
By time the bazooka rocket has left the tube, the engine has done burning, its totally a ballistic prediction.
Other rockets were not so fast burning, so after leaving the launch rail, are dependent on the uneven burning of the solid fuel motor that changes to CoG as it burns, altering the trajectory while its heading towards the target.
 

phx1138

marathag said:
after leaving the launch rail
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What launch rail? Pod them.

I'll accept they're generally less accurate. The objective isn't pinpoint accuracy with a single shot, as it was for an individual bazooka, it's beat up the target beyond a range he can hit back effectively, in preparation for stomping him into the curb.

Crowbar Six said:
requiring the import of US machine tools and production methods all of which would need to be paid for with cold, hard cash.
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Allowing money isn't no object, wouldn't giving British workers jobs building rifles (& American workers jobs supplying tools) be a good thing in the middle of a Depression?
 
marathag

marathag

phx1138 said:
I'll accept they're generally less accurate. The objective isn't pinpoint accuracy with a single shot, as it was for an individual bazooka, it's beat up the target beyond a range he can hit back effectively, in preparation for stomping him into the curb
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That's beyond what a Piper Cub could carry, though.
Killing tanks with a liason aircraft is hard.
Give Major 'Bazooka Charlie' Carpenter of 4thAD his due. Did get the Silver Star, after all
 

phx1138

marathag said:
That's beyond what a Piper Cub could carry, though.
Killing tanks with a liason aircraft is hard.
Give Major 'Bazooka Charlie' Carpenter of 4thAD his due. Did get the Silver Star, after all
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Which is why I prefer a modified R-4 with a 600hp (or so) R1340. I just don't think it's likely. If it's impossible (or not done), I'd happily abandon it until the Bell 47 (H-13) comes along, which leads directly to something very like the 207.
McPherson said:
Oh, Canada! Next door to that nation using the weird manufacturing and production tech. It turns out "they" use the same weird manufacturing and production tech, too. Inside the firm so to speak. Do not let the Ross Rifle leave a negative impression.
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Quite right. And in possession of a fairly sophisticated metal stamping capability, if needed. (See McLaughlin & Ford Canada.) The Ross was a dud because it was an inappropriate (high-precision) design in an environment extremely hostile to such things.

If you've got a bundle of Ross rifles handy, though, you could get a cheap LMG out of it.
 
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phx1138

McPherson said:
The Huot looks like an HFE disaster. Anybody use one so we can compare notes?
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In trials, it worked reliably enough. (Not sure why it wasn't adopted in WW1; war ended? Enough Lewis guns?) It was ugly, but not failure-prone.
Rickshaw said:
Requires plastique explosive to make it work. That wasn't invented until after WWI.
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Use molded smokeless?

Returning briefly to PIAT (on the presumption it isn't butterflied), I can see two possible improvements, beyond the Belleville washers for compactness: a larger-diameter warhead from the start, & the possible addition of a sticky layer made from chicle, rather than rubber (saving strategic material).
 
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Peg Leg Pom

Crowbar Six said:
I don't think anyone has ever used the word "better" in relation to a Messenger before. Freddie Laker bought almost all of them after the war and all he managed to do was delay the scrapping date by about 8 years.
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Wooden aircraft eventually rot if they're not properly looked after.
 
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