Pulse Wave Detonation Engine

They did. They were made to change camps. Lest we forget. Ky.

Made to change camps... like they had no say in the matter? I though some of the guys defected so that way Hitler wouldn't be able to go crazier with their inventions... Or WMD's? or whatever they could be called....

Some, probably. Probably more, though, because they could stay out of the Nurenberg War Trials that way. You know, go to work for the good guys, so the good guys won't shoot you.

Oh, wait, that's just like not having any choice, huh?

That was the fear. That, their great scientists, their ongoing efforts to build a heavy water reactor vessel (to build a bomb with, what else?) and their total lack of moral scruples when it came to killing anyone or anything that even became inconvenient to them (I'm talking here about the Nazis, obviously, but as an American of German descent, whose father was a US WWII vet, and many of my relatives still speak little english, I'd have to point out that even many of those who served the Third Reich were not Nazi party members. They were staying alive. No excuse for lack of scruples, but still understandable) the thought of Germany winning WWII under Hitler's continued leadership STILL scares me.

My wifes grandfather was in WWII and saw Musilini get hanged. He experienced a lot but the one thing that he has always told me (why he felt sorry for having to fight them - read shoot at, kill, injure whatever) is that he felt SO Sorry for a lot of the German soldiers. Not the SS or the Gestapo types, just the everyday soldiers. It seems that if they might have had any thought of not fighting the Gestapo or whoever would threaten their families. You know like, " fight or else we rape and kill your lovely wife and/or daughter(s).

Die Gedanken sind Frei, wer mag sie erraten.

Thoughts are free and no one can guess them. Such is the way inventions are made and picked up by the "Big Boys" to be used at will for the detriment of us all. The Greeks invented democracy and see were that has placed us. Sometimes in a Greek Tavern. At best.

V 2 have our taverns and are brooding and brooding...........

Hope all stays well. Ky.

"V 2 have our taverns and are brooding and brooding..........."

I think I really like your sense of humor...

Me? Humour?

Australian heart pumping German blood. Now that you mention it.

V2 thought that V1.

No body has ever won a war. Not even the war against ailments. In the end V1 was before V2.

I repaired a pressure tank one day for a pommy friend of mine. It was only to last for a few days. In the end I gave it a paint job and put an emblem on it: "V3". It did look like the real thing.

He was not a happy camper and had it installed the other way around. If only for a few days. Weeks later when the "V3" was replaced we did have a laugh. Including the ones giving us a hand. They were the ones that were to fix it in the first place, so the message got there late. A German fixing a pommies stuff up. Unheard of.

Here comes the flak.

Better get to work. Have more of what you wish you could have. Ky.

"No body has ever won a war."

Concur. Many have not lost wars, but even then, they are not winners. Just ask this chap...:

Hi Ky,

The V3 did exist, it was a HUGE cannon, sunk into a hillside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-3_cannon

I have seen pictures of the area after it was destroyed a by massive bombing campaign, the area looked like a moonscape, no vegetation at all, just craters upon craters, and, a river winding through it all.

Yes, Zaphod2Headed

It was nick-named "Big Bertha", fired a shell weighing about a ton, right across the English Channel, and much further.

There is an interesting article about the V3 right here: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/destinations-international/la-forteresse-de-mimoyecques/1042840/

The main problem was the rifling did not survive many firings, and re-barrelling was a slow and expensive exercise.

Kind Regards....

Hi Sparkstation,

Good link! I tried to find some wartime pictures of the area after the bombing raids, but came up empty; its possible I saw them in a book, rather than on the web.

(Does anybody remember a time before the web????)

IPG

Vaguely...

I have a 4-vol. set of A Pictorial History of WWII, it's packed away, but if I can dig it out in the near future, I'll see what I can find for you. In the meanwhile, here's a "big barrel" to tide you over...

I, too, heard that. My father spoke fluent German, and, as a Mennonite, was a conscientious objector. Back then, that meant you went to war, but served in places where you didn't care a projectile weapon (a gun) and served in support work. During one of his assignments, he was a POW guard and watcher, and heard them talking about it, sometimes about how they were now free from the threat to themselves, and others, for those that had family back in Germany, the fear of what might be done to their families, since they were no longer "on the street" to provide a little push-back against what the worst elements might do to their families.

No one ever said war was good, or right, or anything except sad, and dirty and brutal, and inhuman. On the other hand, I understand, both from my father, and as an ex-sailor myself, along with a war historian, that when push comes to shove, we often are not given any other acceptable choice. Not to get political, but I DO notice that since our response after 9-11, no one has tried to bring war to us on any appreciable scale since. And since I live only a few miles from the Pentagon, work for the DOD, and worked at the Pentagon often, having lost a few acquaintances (not close friends, though) I have to appreciate the deterrent fact implicit in a demonstrated willingness to take it right back to them, in much worse force than they themselves even could have mustered to start.

I was always struck by the Palestinian Command's response to the ferocity with which Israel retaliated after the Palestinians shot the two Israeli guards. And what was it they said? We never expected them to take it THIS seriously.

Stupid miscalculation in the face of a demonstrated willingness. And Israel still doesn't dare trust in peace, but they certainly live more peacefully than if the had tried peace negotiations.

Yes, I understand the idea of the implicit threat. It is like the view of Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee's amalgamation of different arts), which basically states that if you slap me I am going to kick your A$5. If you try and beat me, then I am going to kill you. Plain and simple. Everybody can say what they want about the country, just there is the case of a few thousand nuclear warheads that I am sure are a big enough deterrent for most "sane" hostile nations to think twice about doing anything to crazy. Like dirty bombs and the like....

Benito Mussolini was shot by a sadist, as was his mistress who was traveling with him and the bodies were hung up by the heels in a Petrol Station. Exactly what Benito had been doing to his political opponents up to that time!

The sadist (I have forgotten the name), even publicized the full details at the time!!!! Even Winston was shocked....

Many believed that he was hanged and many books portray it wrongly.

Winston Churchill, History of the 2nd World War Volume 6 tells it as I have written above......there cannot be much doubt I feel as to the exact circumstances.

If anyone wants the exact page number and chapter, let me know and I will publish it here....

Well, as I heard the story, they were beaten to death by a mob and strung up by the heels, but either way, he was dead first... Much as I would like to follow the "thou shalt not kill" Commandment, there will always, I fear be some who insist on being on my better dead list. Inconsiderate bastards that they are!

"...ask first "What would Hitler have done if the position had been reversed?" Of course he would have bombed us if he could have..."

Wasn't the Blitz Hitler's way of demonstrating that he could bomb England? That's how OUR history books describe it anyway... Of course by the time of Dresden, the Allies had pretty well put the kibosh on any more of that nonsense!

"...now that I'm going to be a foreman..."

A promotion?!? Woo-hoo for you! Where's/when's the promo party? I'll chill a few of these...

"Without Hitler, I personally feel that the 2nd WW would have been much shorter..."

I suspect that without Hitler, WWII would not have occurred at all. Or, if you mean with him to start, but then he died, then, yes, likely much shorter. But if he'd been (saner, may not be right, not certain he was insane, certainly unreasonable though) more competent, or let the Generals and Admirals run the war, it would likely have been not only shorter, but have had a far different outcome.

I have a strong feeling that you would have been correct in your assumption. He interfered so much that it was pathetic, he never ever learned the job!

Read the book written by Heinz Guderian, its probably out of print, it can be found in either German or English, its called "the Panzer General" if I remember correctly....a damn good read.....

A German fighter Ace of the second World war was asked what he needed to win by Hitler, he answered that he needed several Squadrons of Spitfires.....Hitler was not amused.....that was also an Adolf, Adolf Galland. His book is also well worth reading.

If Japan had not been so stupid, by pushing the USA into the war prematurely, the outcome might have been quite different too......

Which is one of the reasons I am glad unto tears that so many of our political leaders are (or at least know how to act like) dyed in the wool idiots. If Tojo and Hitler had actually HAD good sense, we'd have been in the soup for sure. I hope the historical perspective of our current crop shows us how much worse things woud've been were they a tad smarter. I'm pretty sure things would be BETTER if any of 'em were a whole lot smarter, but that's asking too much, isn't it?!?

Hey you guys are talking about aircraft carriers and all... What do you think of the fact that on Dec. 7th 1941, the aircraft carriers of the pacific fleet were out of Pearl Harbor. That they did not have any sort of support with them (isn't that the norm?, keeping your carriers surrounded by their support groups?)? Wasn't All of the rest of the Pacific Fleet docked there in the harbor, hung out to dry? Wasn't Hitler going crazy form syphillis or something like that?

Or, what about the Japanese trying to develop a "deathray?" It ended up becoming some sort of micro wave emmiter or something like that...

The Death Ray developed a few years ago by the US Army looks like this:-

US Army Death Ray

It seems to work well, I hope that is getting deployed.

Bad link - no cookie! Or anyway "service unavailable" - was that a secret military website?

It still works for me, but try this:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVxZ9IHTH2E&feature=related

or this, its the same film with a different URL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVxZ9IHTH2E

WAY cool - thanks! Wonder what else it works against - like armor? Aircraft?

I am sure that the military will not tell us all, but I am sure that being in a tank that suddenly jumps 100°C in inside temp will not be much fun either!!

Don't recall hearing that one - a microwave emitter would have been radar, and the Allies already had that...

I don't think any of ours were functional until much later than that. I think England was ahead of the rest of us, and theirs was flaky and land bound until fairly well into the Battle of Britain, which wasn't over till not long before the Normandy landings.

Remember, that was a fast-paced war, as modern wars go today. It started (for Britain) in 39, and ended (for us and the Japanese, last two out of the pond) in 45. Only 6 years in which we started out flying late WWI aircraft that were outclassed by everything the Axis had, and we wound up with the best stuff flying (the ME-262 was a jet, sure, but so fast, and so unmaneuverable, in what fighter pilots call a "knife fight" environment, all guns, no missles, that it really wasn't much of a danger yet. Too fast for its day, and now it would be a sitting duck!).

So, the available radar in the beginning was no use as a "death ray", and really, since it had an awesome problem with RF "screen lint" all the way through WWII, not VERY useful as a bogey finder, either! And land bound due to its size, to boot. But by the end of the war, it was carried in select aircraft, more reliable (still likely to be Out To Lunch on a mission, though it started missions in running condition. Vacuum tubes really stink in shaky, violently maneuvering environments).

My point here is just that no one statement about who had what really fills the bill even for a "short" war of only 6 years. Tech has a way of really smoking in development once war starts. But no one had anything like a really promising (or even really suggesting!) death ray, even by the end of WWII. Tojo and Hitler were both smoking dope, if they thought so.

"Tojo and Hitler were both smoking dope, if they thought so." ROFLMAO!!!

Visualizing that pair sharing a doss in a 30's-era Hong Kong opium den!

Got to find humor where you can, no?

Oh, my, YES! Anything so serious you can't find something to laugh at in it, is serious indeed!

The USMC has a saying: "Death smiles at everyone. A Marine smiles back."

You have some errors in your post, the UKs war started in 39 and ended in the Pacific in 45, you should read a good WWII book or two. You forgot to mention China who was a belligerent on the side of the Allies as well!!!!

The UK fought in the far east before the USA and with the USA till the end....start reading!!! Lord Mountbatten was the CINC of the war out in the far east for the UK.....

Until early 1945 the UK and its dominions had more men in the field and on ships etc., than the US did.

Radar was on ships BEFORE it was on aircraft!!! Well before Normandy!!! 1942 saw many ships fitted. When the first one was fitted I cannot say, but before 42!!

I have never read in any of the books about radar in WWII about screen lint, maybe it was not a problem for the UK versions?

The UK also invented the first real computers to decode the Enigma messages that Germany used.....Colossus....

The following quote is from Wikipedia, use the following link to read the original text:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_computer#Advanced_analog_computers

Colossus was the first totally electronic computing device. The Colossus used a large number of valves (vacuum tubes). It had paper-tape input and was capable of being configured to perform a variety of boolean logical operations on its data, but it was not Turing-complete. Nine Mk II Colossi were built (The Mk I was converted to a Mk II making ten machines in total). Details of their existence, design, and use were kept secret well into the 1970s. Winston Churchill personally issued an order for their destruction into pieces no larger than a man's hand. Due to this secrecy the Colossi were not included in many histories of computing. A reconstructed copy of one of the Colossus machines is now on display at Bletchley Park.

I think some of the confusion comes from many people having heard of the Chain Home stations. That all started (as I recall the story) with radio freq. tones beamed out and recievers on bombers picking up the signal. If the aircraft wandered off the proper course, the signal faded (up one side, down the other) and the pilot could correct course.

Germany invented the "Knickebein" (Bent Leg) system, that allowed a bomber to travel along one radio beam, until he crossed another, which meant he had to drop his bombs.

Germany's bombing precision was many times better than the British until quite late in the war. It was recorded several times that British air crews bombed the UK under the false impression of being over Germany!!!

Devices like "Gee" and "H2S" helped British Bombing eventually.....

Here is a link describing Radar & Knickebein better than I can:-

WWII Radar and other Navigational Aids

What you are referring to was directional guidance for bombers, using two different radio beacons.

See this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oboe_%28navigation%29

Ground based radar was also widely used before and during the battle of Britain, see here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Home

It is only because of the warnings of incoming aircraft given by radar that allowed the British to have their planes on station in the air every time the Germans arrived.

For some reason, the Germans only ever attacked these installations once. Had they kept pounding them, the British would have lost their early warning system. They had neither the pilots or the resources to keep planes in the air continually, so without the radar stations, the Battle of Britain might easily have been lost....

Well, yes it sounds like a radar but the premise for it being built was to be a "death ray." I saw this on, mmmmm (sounds of gears grinding....) I think the history channel. Something like the craziest inventions of WWII that did not get built. They had some other inventions that were thought up, like a plane that would have v/tol capabilities but looked similar to a helicopter, etc. . The comment about this ferocious beam of death is that it would not work on people unless they would sit still for something like a minute... Real world genious there. How about this one...? In '86 or so I was taking a recording theory (for studio recording) class and my instructor was telling us about resonant frequency. The discussion turned to how this could be used for crowd control and that if you were to emit a freq that was low enough (something like what an elephant can do) it would loosen up anyones sphincter and they would crap themselves. Cool, huh? Crowd control by making them sh!# their pants!

LOL! Well, I guess if it came to a choice of "they shot me, or I shat myself" it's better to not be shot. Probably as effective as tear gas too - you'd still need gas masks on the shooting side though!

Now, was he speaking theoretically, or from knowledge/experience? Has this actually been tried...

I would have to say that he was talking about a test of some sort that was conducted by a sadist...

Let us define our terms. Here's how I understand it:

A masochist is someone who says "Hurt me, please hurt me."

A sadist is someone who replies "No."

But now, I might be mistaken...

No.

Mythbusters tried this, and just could not make it work (The 'Brown Note' I believe it was called).

A chicken Vindaloo has always been far more effective at this in my personal experience

Bad chicken! Bad...no biscuit for YOU!

What I think is that:

a) dang good deal that all the carriers were out on maneuvers, they saved our bacon later,

b) carrier support groups would be de riguer on all ops today, but may not have been then, and

c) the rest of the fleet was docked and dried, but not necessarily hung out - depends on whether you believe the conspiracy theories or not, and which ones appeal to you. Me, I don't.

As for Hitler, he may or not have had a venereal disease, but there's some evidence he suffered from Parkinson's or something like it. Crazy is as crazy does - he was at least power-mad...

"Smarter" does not mean (nor even imply!) "wiser". I think little of any politician (with the exception of President Ronald Reagan, whom I admire immensely!) who has appeared in my lifetime (for voting purposes, in the US, since 1972!) nor any of those I know of since I was born in 1954, because of a distinct lack of wisdom AND guts AND the demonstrated moral courage AND self-control, to do what had to be done, but not more (Again, exception, President Ronald Reagan, who had, and demonstrated, all of these.)

I suspect that if we only had "smarter" Presidential candidates in America, we'd have a lot more of "Hello, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to HELP you", which is the singular most fearsome sentence I know of (And I WORK for the US Government, God forgive me!). I would be MUCH happier if our leadership took seriously the first tenet of the Hippocratic Oath, which I read as "First, Do NO Harm", and applied that to the question "should the government involve itself in this"? That question would lead to the only job I know of where I would be happy to pay the US Senate, US House Of Representatives, the US President, US Cabinet Secretaries, etc., a higher personal salary, to do less.

But they, Ingrates that they are, insist on doing more for what we pay them. The problem is, they are continually doing more of what we patently DO NOT WANT THEM TO DO, and less of what we patently NEED THEM TO DO.

And there is the demonstrated lack of WISDOM! Smarter doesnt' seem to enter into it!

Micah

Hey Michad the big thing about politicians in this century, and last, is that they are CAREER minded people. No More, No Less. Being in office is not supposed to be a lifelong thing, or commitment, you really are not supposed to make millions after you leave office when you get to go out on the circuit talking at universities and wherever anyone wants to listen to their blather. Why do we, as a nation, continue to pay for their continued protection by the secret service (which is a life time thing ending with Clinton [I think , cannnnnn't remember.... oh well not important anyways]!!!) It is all about what big business wants. Big business wants the United States of America to pay their workers less so that the profit margin can go WAY up? Let's come up with a lil' something called nafta, oh and we will also start sending more and more of our jobs overseas (where of course we don't pay a hundred workers in a month what an employee might make in a day here in the states.

Revolution Calling ?????? I do not think so. I hope not. I pray not. But in my blogs on my myspace I usually end my political comments with the saying that I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK. Not much but it speaks a lot when you see more and more people here in Sandy Eggo with stickers like this on the back of their vehicle. Maybe they just want to listen to the country station , after all there is only 2 forms of music right country and western (hahahahahahahahaaaa, chuckle )

Thanks, Sparky. I read about that one, when I was doing some research on building my own pulse-jet engine. In fact, it was the noise level that convinced me to shelve the ideal until some day when (big, big, big IF) I ever have enough room to do that without causing the neighbors to a)shoot me, or b)call the police to shoot me.

Hasn't happened yet. So now my sons and I are working over the idea of buying a mil-surplus jet turbine engine and putting it in a pickup truck, just for road-legal fun. Lot of engineering issues there, though, even AFTER acquiring the engine. So still working it over.

"...buying a mil-surplus jet turbine engine and putting it in a pickup truck, just for road-legal fun..."

OK, the second 2 underlined terms can clearly be used in the same sentence, and the 1st and 2nd are marginal, but the 1st and 3rd appear mutually exclusive, and all 3 in one sentence are right out!

Your neighbors won't have to call the police to shoot you - the turbine whine on start-up should summon them quite nicely...

Yeah. It all tends to be a bit off-putting.