Meccanica Mekaniikka Mecanică

Drive it like you stole it!

Yep, still on an armor kick LOL!

I never knew New Zealand produced approximately 1,300 Universal Carriers (aka Bren Gun Carriers) until I ran across Antipodean Armor.  I also never knew Universal Carriers were powered by a Ford Flathead either.  I wonder if these guys smuggled a SCoT blower into the workshop one night…

Bren Gun Carrier demonstration at the General Motors plant, Petone,…

Shoot and scoot – vecchia scuola edition

AS-42 of the 103rd Compagnie Arditi Camionettisti equipped with Breda Model 35 anti-aircraft gun in North Africa, March 1943 AS.42 Cannone da 47/32 M35 AS-42 on the Eastern Front AS-42 North Africa “Italian – German resistance” Bah, voi ragazzi e la vostra fantasia, armatura SP completamente armata e HMMWV armati! Perché indietro ai miei tempi … I have a fascination with wheeled and half-track…

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6 The Most Valuable Wood in the History of Mankind  

76 years ago today – Wake Island

The first landing attempt by the Japanese on 11DEC was driven off by the Marines manning the coastal batteries (6 – 5″/51 cal naval rifles removed from the USS Texas during a refit in the mid-1920s) and the F4F-3 Wildcats of VMF-211 and cost the IJN 2 destroyers. The Hayate was hit in the magazine by 1 or 2 shells from Battery L on Peale Islet at a range of approximately 4,000 yds.  She broke in…

Thank a Veteran today

Happy Veteran’s Day to my fellow Vets and as @laststandonzombieisland says: Remember, today is not about how much you can save on bedding When I see Dad today, I’ll ask him if Valley Forge was as cold as the books claimed… American troops preparing to sail home from Russia after World War I. Credit via the Library of Congress   M4 Sherman tank fitted with a bulldozer blade supporting US Marine…

9 Photos of Dogs in the Pacific Theater during World War II

I meant to reblog this when IHRA first posted it earlier in the year but I got sidetracked and forg…oh look!  A butterfly just went by!  Wait, what was I talking about? Anyway, I remembered it after I posted this the other day, so here ’tis. Source: 9 Photos of Dogs in the Pacific Theater during World War II We thought we’d do something a little different this week and show you some of the furry,…

Shoot and scoot – old school edition

Six-pounder en portee in 1942 Australian Army 2 pounder portee during an exercise in 1942 Bah, you kids and your fancy schmancy fully armored SP guns and up armored HMMWVs!  Why back in my day…

70 years ago today

Then Capt. Chuck Yeager achieved a speed of Mach 1.06 over the Mojave desert in the Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis”.  Bell engineers used the .50 BMG bullet as the basis for the shape of the X-1.

How the Soviets picked up a Sidewinder for under $80

And Deutsche Bundespost almost lost it… The full story: War is Boring That the Soviet-made R-3S air-to-air missile — better known in the West by its NATO-designation AA-2 Atoll — is a copy of the AIM-9B Sidewinder, originally developed and manufactured in the USA, is relatively well-known. How it came to be … isn’t so well-known. It involved the mail.…

Missing since September 3rd 1942

Via: Missing since September 3rd 1942 and Les souvenirs de guerre de Gérard Pelletier Missing but never forgotten Source https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=1535 Missing while on air to sea firing practice. Fl/Sgt. Joseph Pelletier was classed as ‘missing, believed killed’ along with his pilot on the 03rd September 1942. Defiant N1804 had been on an air to sea firing practice which…