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The beautiful Chance-Vought Corsair is one of the most iconic planes of the second world war. But it has a lot of designations, and that can get confusing. There’s the F4U, the FG, the F2G, the F3A to name a few. The British flew the Corsair Mk I, II, III, and IV. There’s also an AU-1 Corsair, used by the Marines during the Korean War. Let’s break it down. Beginning in 1922 the Navy classified fighter aircraft as “F.” Each manufacturer was assigned a code letter, and Vought’s was “U.” So in 1927 Vought developed the FU biplane. 1929 was...

Pictures not loading when I post to FreeRepublic, but they are at the linked site.Curtiss SC Seahawk The Seahawk served as a scout for U.S. warships at the tail end of World War II. It featured two M2 Browning .50-cal. machineguns and could carry bombs, depth charges, or even radar on external pylons. If needed, this versatile scout could even rescue aviators or sailors. Entering combat service in 1945, the Seahawk saw the end of scout planes and was phased out for helicopters in 1949. Consolidated Vultee XP-81 Had we not captured Saipan and Guam, negating the need for long-range,...

USS Jimmy Carter, A History – There are currently nine aircraft carriers named for former presidents of the United States, while a tenth is now under construction. However, President Jimmy Carter isn’t included in the list of former commanders-in-chief to be so honored – rather Carter has the distinction of being recognized for his service as a United States Navy submariner with a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered, fast attack submarine (SSN) named for him. Carter was the only submarine-qualified sailor to go on to become the nation’s chief executive. He was the nuclear engineer officer on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Seawolf (SSN 575)...

Today's front page features an interesting story about the Detroit Lions hurting so badly for talent that they signed the equipment manager. Steve Belichick may have been handing out towels in October but back in January he scored the winning touchdown for Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio) as they defeated Arizona State University in the 1941 Sun Bowl. His coach was Bill Edwards, who is now the Lions’ skipper. Belichick reportedly told Edwards that he could do better than the guys on the Lions roster and Edwards took him up on it. In six...

The "Europe and Back" bomberThe monstrous XB-19 made its maiden flight today at Santa Monica, Calif.. Douglas' long-range bomber prototype had a 212-foot wingspan, longer than today's B-52 Stratofortress (185') or a Boeing 747 (195'). Designers boasted it had a 5,000-mile combat range -- meaning it could take off from the United States, bomb targets in occupied Europe, then return to the U.S.. Ferry trips could cover well over 7,000 miles (New York City to Moscow is less than 5,000) and the plane could remain aloft for 55 hours. The world's largest and most powerful aircraft of its time was...

Boudicca (d. 61 CE) was the Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe of modern-day East Anglia, Britain, who led a revolt against Rome in 60/61 CE. The Iceni king, Prasutagus, an independent ally of Rome, divided his estate between his daughters and the Roman emperor Nero (r. 54-68 CE). When Prasutagus died, however, his lands were taken by Rome and the Iceni lost their status as allies. When his wife, Boudicca, objected to this action she was flogged and her two daughters raped. She mounted a revolt against Rome which left the ancient Roman cities of Camulodunum, Londinium, and Verulamium...

Republican Rome was pushed to the brink of collapse on August 2, 216 B.C., when the Carthaginian general Hannibal annihilated at least 50,000 of its legionaries at the Second Punic War’s Battle of Cannae.

Most of us alive today can’t even begin to imagine the nightmare that our young men endured on Iwo Jima 76 years ago. Feb. 25, 1945 was two days after the Marines famously raised the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, but the Japanese defenders would throw everything they had at the Americans until they have nothing left, and 160 Marines lost their lives on this date. Most of these men are teenagers, fresh from high school — if they even stayed long enough to graduate. 36 lived long enough to leave behind widows. In addition to those listed as “missing-killed...

[...] The Cloudbusters consisted of several former Major Leaguers-turned aviation cadets -- most notably Ted Williams. During a charity game in 1943, the Cloudbusters beat a handpicked team of New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, managed by Babe Ruth (who also pinch-hit), a game which we will certainly cover in the future. Other players include Hassett, his former teammate Buddy Gremp, who played 113 games as a backup first baseman for the Bees/Braves before his time in uniform. Johnny Sain was a rookie pitcher for the Braves in 1942 and after serving as a flight instructor at Corpus Christy, Texas,...

On the front page we see rows of Lockheed Hudson twin-engine bombers awaiting installation of their wing tips at Lockheed’s Burbank, Calif. plant (which is now the site of a water treatment facility). You may not have heard much about this plane, but it recorded several “firsts” of World War II: on Oct. 8, 1939 over Denmark, a Royal Air Force Hudson accounted for the first kill of an Axis warplane from a plane based in the United Kingdom. An hour before Pearl Harbor is attacked, a Royal Australian Air Force Hudson sinks a Japanese transport off Malaya for the...

Two of the warships actually began construction – with Schlachtschiff H laid down by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg on June 15, 1939; while the Schlachtschiff J was laid down by AG Weser in Bremen on August 15, 1939, just two weeks before Germany invaded Poland. Construction was halted in October as the war effort focused on the construction of U-boats rather than battleships. By 1940, the material used in the early construction of the two super battleships was scrapped and then directed to other uses.

The aircraft is actually an example of trying to focus too much on proven designs and common parts. While it incorporated the most powerful inline engine available at the time – an Allison V-3420, which provided 2,885 horsepower – and featured a design that utilized many components from other aircraft to help expedite production, flight tests revealed unsatisfactory performance.

One of the lesser-known tanks of the Second World War is the M22 Locust, a small, three-man tank that was intended to fly with airborne troops and augment their firepower on the ground. M22 Locust: A History In order to keep up with troops in the air, it was assumed that a small tank should be towed behind an airplane inside a glider. And while technically feasible, it required an especially small tank to be designed that would have both light armor and a decidedly light main gun.

A single Israeli armored brigade with less than 100 tanks held out for four days against a Syrian infantry division equipped with more than 1,400 tanks including some 400 T-62s, the most modern Soviet tank in the field at that time. Unable to call in effective air support, the Israelis dug in and fought like the future of their country depended on it. Nearly the entire Israeli tank force was destroyed and the defenders were on the verge of collapse but as reinforcements finally arrived, the Syrians withdrew – not knowing how close they came to victory. Instead, they suffered...

Today's edition of the World War II Chronicle (daily commentary on World War II, accompanying this day's newspaper from 80 years ago) features boxing and baseball legends Joe Louis, Hank Greenberg, and Bob Feller, pulled from their games at the top of their career, to pick up where they left off after the war. Greenberg finished 1940 batting .340 for the Detroit Tigers, leading the league in homeruns, doubles, and runs batted in and earning American League MVP. The American League’s first player to register for the draft squeezed in 19 games before reporting for duty at Fort Custer, Mich....

In actuality, the shells were fired from 75 miles away from what has become known as the “Paris Gun” or “Emperor William Gun.” It had the longest range of any artillery weapon in history, but unlike the modern American platform that even on its first shot was within 300 feet of the intended target, the massive German weapon was only really useful against city-sized targets. As such it was more of a psychological weapon, but it did little to cause fear in Paris when it was employed.

There are numerous debates that will likely never be resolved – Coke vs. Pepsi, rock vs. country – but when it comes to firearms, the debate goes deeper than mere opinion, especially when it is the AK-47 vs. M16. Both were developed during the Cold War, and while Soviet soldiers and Americans never actually met (fortunately) on the battlefield, the weapons have been used against one another in countless other conflicts. Unlike ongoing debates over whether a Glock is better than a SIG Sauer or if 9mm is superior to .45 APC, the assault weapon debate is one where soldiers...

Though the M16 rifle had a rocky start, it addressed a crucial need in the United States military: a fully automatic rifle that was both lightweight and controllable. Origins After the conclusion of the Second World War, drawbacks to the iconic M1 Garand design became apparent. Though the rifle benefitted from the powerful .30-06 cartridge, it was hindered by its low 8-round capacity and could fire in semi-automatic only. Though the rifle also served on the Korean Peninsula, its shortcomings were affirmed. What the United States needed was a new, fully-automatic rifle.

On this date 50 years ago a small Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observation Group (MACV-SOG) reconnaissance team found themselves outnumbered and surrounded by the North Vietnamese Army units in Laos, just ten miles or so west of the infamous A-Shau Valley. Staff Sgt. David A. "Baby-san" Davidson led the joint American-Vietnamese reconnaissance team, codenamed RT Fer-De-Lance. Davidson had earned a tremendous amount of respect during his three years with SOG, and before that, was among the first U.S. combat troops in South Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division in 1965. His assistant team leader was Sgt. Fred...

Most Americans alive today were born in a time where American naval supremacy was essentially a birthright. Other than the occasional intercept of a Cold War-throwback Russian bomber, we take the security of our coastlines -- maybe even our hemisphere -- for granted. That wasn't the case in January 1942. Enemy submarines prowled our Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, and newspapers featured near-daily stories of Americans lost at sea. The featured image above tells the story of the crew of the Prusa, a cargo ship torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-172 south of Hawaii on 19 December 1941....