I have so many potential projects in mind i sometimes forget “important” stuff, like eating lunch… Some of the things percolating are combining a Merkava 1 hull and the gun/fighting compartment of an M40, another “upgrade” of an M41 Bulldog, and a “proposal” for an eventual IDF Chieftain with a US-sourced Continental powerpack. The IDF actually tested two Chieftains and came very close to a large purchase, which would have happened if the British hadn’t backed out due to political pressure. My model has actually already been started. I just need to find another Tamiya Chieftain.
Also bubbling to the top of the soup are several ideas centered of current tanks if the IDF had purchased and used them instead of the Merkava, and a Merkava in service in the Ukraine.
It’s a good thing I’m mostly retired and don’t have to think too hard at work.
After the Allies failed in their landing attempts at the beaches at Normandy they resorted to their earlier attempts at subduing the Riech through bombing. Production of the ME-262F, HE-162C, JU-126B and the JU-127C was greatly increased to counter this tactic. The jet aircraft had been refined to extreme effectiveness by late 1945 so had all but wiped allied fighters from the European skies.
The Ju-126
As effective as the EF-126 proved to be in early 1946 by the middle of the year the Allies had started to replace their battle weary squadrons of B-17s and Lancaster’s with B-29s and the newly developed Avro Lincoln. These new bombers flew higher and faster than the pulse jet powered EF-126’s effective ceiling so a quick solution was needed. The answer to this was the development of the EF-127 as it’s Walther 509C rocket engine was far more effective than the pulse jet. In order to keep costs low the 127 was designed to be interchangeable for the forward section of the 126. As the ground crews could swap to each variation in under an hour this arraignment allowed for each aircraft to configured for both bomber interception or ground attack roles depending upon the mission parameters.
The Ju-127
