Inspirations Thread

[major]

I had a thought, what about Irish involvement in the BoB?  The question is, which side?

I can't say I know much about Irish politics of the period except that things were still very frosty with the UK.  But had Ireland decided not to pursue neutrality, it's not clear cut as to which way they would have turned and might be a interesting exercise in alternative history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality_during_World_War_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(Ireland)

Great selection of Luftwaffe pics.



I was wondering about Ireland. The Airfix Gladiator has those lovely decals......

Funnily enough, was only thinking about this last week, prompted by a conversation with a mate of mine about U-Boats landing over in the West! (Apparently photographic evidence exists, hanging on a wall in the 'snug' of a remote pub!)

Anyhow, things could have been different in Ireland if Eoin O'Duffy had defied the ban.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshirts


Had thought the Hs 123 would look good in IAC bosses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_123

[NARSES2]

Dad's ship pulled into Cork after suffering damage whilst on convoy duty and during their 48 hours (all that was permitted under neutrality laws ?) he used to swear they had bumped into a U-Boat crew in a bar 

I know he'd have had a good drink but he believed that until the day he died. Lots of rumours to the effect but I've not seen proof

[RAFF-35]

http://hushkit.net/2012/10/21/how-the-zero-won-the-battle-of-britain/

Might generate an idea or two  

[Weaver]

Stupid question  but they've gone to lots of trouble to camouflage  a large slowish relatively defenceless Ju 52 then painted parts of it high visibility  yellow.

They're "theatre markings" intended to allow easy ID of German aircraft, roughly equivalent to the D-Day or Suez stripes or the yellow trianges seen on Israeli Mirages in the Yom Kippur war. You see similar markings on most of the Bf109s.

[Weaver]

Re the bombers, what if He 111 development had kept the conventional nose shape of the early versions? I think Roden(?) do a kit: you could dress up an early one with later engines and guns.

Another idea: what if the Luftwaffe had had the same idea as the USAF re bomber protection, and produced an "escort" bomber that traded it's bomb load for guns in the same manner as the YB-40? The He 111's flush cockpit would be ideal for this because it doesn't block the arcs of a dorsal turret. You might imagine an He 111 with a power-operated multi-gun dorsal turret, twin nose guns (no need for a bomb-aimer) and an elaborate periscope-operated ventral turret. The latter probably wouldn't be very effective, but that didn't stop other air forces from trying such things.

[NARSES2]

That Roden kit is one of the only ones I have ever given up on  You really do need to WANT an early III to complete the build

[zenrat]

i have a SMER LeO 451 which might make a good escort bomber given that it already has a 20mm cannon in the back.

[perttime]

Why did Rolls Royce develop the Merlin, instead of starting to turn the "R" into the Griffon some years earlier?

[PR19_Kit]

Why did Rolls Royce develop the Merlin, instead of starting to turn the "R" into the Griffon some years earlier?

At a guess because the RAF didn't ask for an engine around that time as powerful as the Griffon ended up. IIRC they wanted 1000 hp engines and a lighter and smaller (and cheaper....) Merlin could do that.

[RAFF-35]

It's a shame that nothing has been done with a Bugatti 100p yet, would make a great captured fighter, I reckon 

[zenrat]

http://nflmamatv.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/bugatti-100p-images.html


http://www.aviarmor.net/aww2/aircraft_exp/france/bugatti100.htm

[Librarian]

That Roden kit is one of the only ones I have ever given up on  You really do need to WANT an early III to complete the build

Hence my 'moan' on the Airfix thread...WANT an early He111, also a nice twin engined SM79 too .

[RAFF-35]

[URL=http://imageshack.com/f/pb6AdrDRj]

Could always do a version as if one escaped to Britain and had a merlin installed or if the Germans managed to find it hidden in that out building and put it into production

[zenrat]

From my reading it appears that all the German air attacks on Channel convoys were carried out by conventional or dive bombers.  Did the Luftwaffe not have any torpedo bombers in 1940?
What if they did?
Quickly passing over the SM 79, the Bf 110 springs to mind.
Oh look...

http://modelcave.thescalereview.com/phpBB3//viewtopic.php?f=9&t=435
I'm pretty sure its been posted here before but it is rather nice isn't it.

Also this, posted here;

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=35220.0

And these;


http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1558&start=30


http://www.germanaircraftwwii.org/2015/04/luftwaffe-torpedoes.html


http://www.aikensairplanes.com/ju-87-stuka-d-luftwaffe-torpedo-flieger-1-48-franklin-mint-fm-b11b261/

However, those are all existing aircraft onto which they slung torps.  What if (lets say) Henschel has designed a purpose built torpedo bomber?
I'm thinking twin engine, tricycle undercarriage, two or three crew, two torpedoes...

[Captain Canada]

Love the 3 engine 110 and the Stuka looks great in overall grey like that ! Your idea sounds interesting as well.