SdKfz 250

The SdKfz 250 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250) was an armored half-track vehicle used by the German Army’s reconnaissance battalions during World War II. It entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1941. It was designed and developed by the firm Demag, which produced it in several versions, with the SdKfz 250/10, 250/2, and 250/3 being the main ones. It first saw combat action in July 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. It was one of the preferred armored vehicles employed by the Grossdeutschland Regiment and the Waffen-SS armored units to carry out reconnaissance missions.

The SdKfz 250/10 was a very effective model as it was also used to provide fire support to infantry units on the front line. This variant was armed with a 37mm anti-tank gun and a 7.92mm MG34/42 machine gun. The 250/2 was the command version and it was purely used in the reconnaissance role; it featured only the 7.92mm MG machine gun as its only weapon. Meanwhile, the 250/3 variant was the radio half-track vehicle, which was used by Rommel in North Africa. At the beginning it had a pair of tall antennas which could be spotted from a distance; then they were replaced by other types which could be folded down.

Specifications

Type: Armored Half-track Vehicle

Length: 4.56 m (15 ft)

Width: 2 m (6 ft 5 in)

Height: 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)

Weight: 5.8 tons

Armor: 14.5-mm on the front, and 8-mm on the sides.

Power Plant: 6 cylinder, water-cooled, gasoline engine, delivering 100 HP.

Crew: 4 (SdKfz 250/10)

Below, the Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250/10 version. You can see its 37mm anti-tank gun

The SdKfz 250/2 on the Eastern Front.

M26 Pershing

The M26 Pershing was an American heavy tank, which entered service in 1944. It saw combat action in Europe in 1945, at the end of World War II, as well as in the Korean War. It was developed between 1942 and 1944, replacing the weak and ineffectual M4 Sherman.

The M26 Pershing was the first US Army tank fitted with a powerful gun, the 90-mm M3, which could match the German 8.8 cm gun. It had a high muzzle velocity (860 m/s); thus, it was capable of piercing the thick armor of the German Tiger I and Panther tanks. To fight against enemy tanks, it used armor piercing ammunition, and high explosive rounds were used when firing at soft targets.

The M26 was manufactured by the Detroit Tank Plant and the Fisher Tank Arsenal between 1944 and 1945, with a total of 2,205 tanks built. During the development process, the prototypes designations were T20, T23, T25, and T26E1/2/3/4/5, which was officially designated by the US Army as the M26 Pershing, in honor of the American General John J. Pershing. This heavy tank would see intense combat action in the Korean War (1950-1953). The M26 was also employed the US Marine Corps. Although it is considered as a heavy tank, with a combat weight of 44 tons, it is much lighter than today’s main battle tank, with the M1 Abrams weighing 60 tons.

M26 Specifications (26E3 version)

Weight: 42 tons

Length: 6.33 m

Width: 3.51 m

Armor: 102mm-thick (glacis and turret front); 200mm (mantlet)

Armament: 90mm M3/M54, with muzzle brake, with 70 rounds; two .30 (7.62mm) M1919 machine guns, one in turret, the other in front hull; one .50 Browning machine gun on top of turret.

Power plant: Ford GAF, 8 cylinder gasoline engine, delivering 500 hp.

Maximum speed: 25 mph on road.

Below, M26 Pershing right out of the factory

T-55 Tank

The T-55 tank was the main battle tank of the Soviet Army during the first part of the Cold War. It had been designed and developed as the T-54 in 1946. It featured a distinctive dome-shaped turret which was located in the center of the hull. Its mechanic was simple, rugged, and less expensive to maintain in comparison with other Western tanks of that time.

The T-55 entered service with the Red Army in 1947. This powerful tank would be involved in many Third World armed conflicts, such as the Six Day War (1967), the 1982 Lebanese Civil War, and the Indian-Pakistani Conflict. More than 100,000 T-55 tanks were produced by the Soviet Union, many of which were exported to Eastern European and Middle East countries.

Armament and Armor

The T-55 tank was armed with a 100mm D-10T rifled gun, which fired anti-tank rounds and had an effective range of up to 1,600 m (1.6km). This powerful cannon had a larger bore than its Western counterparts, which was a great advantage in the battlefield, lasting until the development of the US M60 tank.

When it rolled out of the Soviet factories, the T-55 had the best armor protection in the world that had ever been manufactured until then: 203mm-thick steel plate on the turret, and 100mm on the hull glacis plate. In those days, steel was the only kind of armor employed in those days, which was rudimentary for today’s standard, but highly protected if we compare it with World War II‘s tanks.

Power Plant and Sensors

The T-55 was powered by a Model V-55 12-cylinder 38.88-l diesel engine, generating 581 horsepower. This allowed this armored vehicle to reach a maximum speed of 51 km per hour (32 m/h), with a 500-km range.

The three main variants of this Soviet tank were the T-55A, T-55B, T-55AK, and the T-55K, which was equipped with an additional R-112 radio set, an AB-1-P/30 fuel powered accumulator charging unit and TPN-1-22-11 night vision sight. In the beginning of the 1960s a T-55K was experimentally fitted with a “Uran” TV relay apparatus for battlefield observation.

Specifications

Type: main battle tank
Weight: 40 tons
Width: 3.37 m (10ft)
Length: 6.45 m (19.5ft)
Height: 2.40 m (7ft)
Crew: 4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Engine: one 581hp, Model V-55 12-cylinder 38.88-l diesel engine
Maximum speed: 55 km/h (34mph)
Range: 600 km (373mi)
Weapons: one 100mm D-10T rifled gun with 40 rounds; one 7.62mm SGMT machine gun; one 12.7mm DShK heavy machine gun

The T-55 in Czechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion of that country

Below, an Indian Army’s armored unit advancing into Eastern Pakistan, with their T-55s

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range strategic bomber, which first saw combat action during the Vietnam War (1964-1975). Its prototype, the XB-52, flew for the first time on April 15, 1952. It had been designed as a high-altitude bomber replacement for the Consolidated B-36. More than 700 B-52 aircraft were made in different variants; today only 72 remain in service in the B-52H version.

After many test flights, which also involved the second prototype, the YB-52, it finally entered service with the US Air Force on February 20, 1955. In 1965, it went to war in Southeast Asia and it did not leave until the last American ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. Although at the beginning the Stratofortress proved to be exceptionally effective as a conventional bomber, it would suffer many losses when the North Vietnamese Army began operating the Soviet-made SAM defense system.

The Boeing B-52 flew 126,615 sorties in Vietnam. It carried out the first combat mission on June 18, 1965, during Operation Arc Light, attacking the Viet Cong positions near Ben Cat District in South Vietnam. This bomber would also take part in Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Linebacker I and II. It would take part in the 1991 Gulf War, as well as the in American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Technical Characteristics

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a large, subsonic aircraft, which is powered by eight Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3-103 turbofan jet engines. Its wings are mounted high, on shoulder of fuselage. They are swept at 35 degrees; the tail horizontal stabilizer is also swept back at the same angle. It has an all-metal fuselage and a bicycle landing gear.

The flight deck of the B-52 has two levels. The upper deck houses the two pilots, with the electronic warfare officer and tail gunner sitting right behind them. Meanwhile the lower deck houses the two navigators that handle the route navigation and the radar and weapon control system.

Specifications

Type: high-altitude strategic bomber

Length: 49.05 m (160 ft, 11 in)

Wingspan: 56.39 m (185 ft)

Wing Area: 271.60 square meters (2,932 sq. ft)

Height: 12.40 m (40 ft, 8 in)

Maximum Speed: 958 km/h (595 mph)

Range: 16,000 km (10,000 miles)

Armament: one 20mm A61A cannon in tail; bomb-load: 31,500 kg, which include smart bombs, air-to-ground cruise missiles, air-to-air missiles, and nuclear bombs.

Below, the Boeing B-52B in flight in 1958

The B-52A in 1956 flying over the US west coast