Hauksbee

In America, especially California, the 'impossible' is just a starting point.

I've seen a few variations on this idea. I can only find two right now.

OK. That makes sense.

I've never heard of fat-sealed riveting. Tried web search. No go. What is it?

How soon will we be dumping our TrackIRs and projecting a whole multi-airplane furball around ourselves? http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/5/6912979/microsoft-roomalive-research-projector-system .

Sure. 'Sounds so simple when you say it. After all, people do learn to type by touch. But that's a bit more than I (a QC pilot, at that) want to put into it. I couldn't even memorise the few F-keys I needed to switch views, so I bought a second keyboard and modified it with big rhinestones so my eye would go right to them.

Olham: do you have any idea what the white spots are on the hull? They look to be barnacles, but Lake Tangyanika is fresh water. That opening shot is only shown for a half-second in the film and no mention of the spots. I wonder if there could be a fresh water marine growth on her from being scuttled for so long?

Do you think the house sits on the crash site, or simply somewhere on the property?

German colonies in Southwest Africa and elsewhere come under attack Soon after war broke out in Europe, Germany's colonies came under attack as well. This map, published in America in 1916, shows the conquest of German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia) by troops from South Africa, which was then a British colony. South African prime minister Louis Botha began mobilizing forces in September 1914; the Germans surrendered in July 1915. Other German colonies fell into Allied hands, too. The Japanese joined the war on the side of the Allies and captured the German-held port of Tsingtao (now the Chinese city of Qingdao) in November 1914. Germany's East African colony was the only major colony to resist Allied control throughout the war, but the territory was still divided among victorious European powers at the end of the war This, and the next four maps deal primarily with action outside the European Theatre, [Hauksbee]

Where the war stood in 1916 This elegant map illustrates where the battle lines stood on August 1, 1916, exactly two years into the war. Russia fared poorly, losing control of territory in what's now Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltics, while Serbia had been overrun. Fighting in the West and in Italy had accomplished essentially nothing beyond what the Germans had managed to achieve before the Battle of the Marne. The tiny blue line near Salonika in Greece represents a small Allied force that had seized the city to try to maintain a token force in the Balkans. Their presence embroiled Greek politics in crisis, but had little military significance until the Central Powers were on their last legs.

The Battle of Jutland: the biggest naval fight of World War I Great Britain was the world's preeminent naval power in the early 20th century, but in the years before World War I, Germany constructed a formidable navy of its own. On May 31, 1916, the two navies had their biggest clash of the war when about 150 British ships confronted almost 100 German ships in the North Sea off the coast of Jutland, Denmark. The Germans knew the entire British fleet was too powerful to challenge directly, but they hoped to lure a portion of the British fleet commanded by Vice Admiral David Beatty into a battle with a larger number of German ships. When Beatty encountered the German fleet, he turned his ships around and raced toward the rest of the British Grand Fleet commanded by Admiral John Jellicoe with the German ships in hot pursuit. The British wound up losing more ships and sailors from these engagements than the Germans did. But those losses weren't sufficient to break the British Navy's hold over the North Sea. Germany avoided this kind of large-scale naval battle for the rest of the war, keeping its surface fleet in safe ports and focusing instead on submarine attacks.

The high point of the Russian war effort Under the command of General Alexei Brusilov, Russian forces mounted a broad assault against Austria-Hungary in June 1916. Brusilov's innovative tactics — shorter-than-usual artillery bursts, followed by concentrated attacks by specialized shock troops who aimed to break through enemy lines and force a retreat — allowed Russia to retake a substantial amount of territory previously lost. Habsburg casualties were sufficiently severe as to render Austria-Hungary incapable of mounting further offensive operations without German support. These successes inspired Romania to join the war on the Allied side, but that proved counterproductive. The Romanian military crumbled under joint German-Bulgarian attack, and the Russian advance had to be halted in September to safeguard a new frontier composed of overrun Romanian territory. During the subsequent winter the Czarist regime collapsed and with it all discipline in the Russian military

11 Intriguing Ways World War I Could Have Turned Out Differently The First World War may have featured static battlefields and attritional strategies, but that doesn't mean the course of events from 1914 to 1918 couldn't have unfolded differently. Here are 11 events that could have changed the outcome of the Great War. 1. No Russian Mobilization in 1914 Had it not been for the Russian mobilization of July 1914, the Great War might not have ever happened. By rushing to the defense of its Slavic ally, Serbia, Russia set German plans into motion. Earlier, Germany had issued a "blank cheque" to Austria-Hungary, promising to come to its aid should Russia interfere with its efforts to tame Serbia. But after relations between Russia and Germany soured, and as Russian troops scrambled along the Austrian border, Germany believed it had no choice to but to roll out its Schlieffen Plan — a strategy wherein France, an ally of Russia, was to be defeated prior to launching an all-out assault on Russia; the idea was to prevent a war on two fronts, which is precisely what ended up happening anyway. Russia mobilized for several reasons. It was looking to re-assert itself after an embarrassing defeat to Japan in 1905. It was also the era of pan-Slavism, in which dreams of independent slavic states fueled aggressive foreign policies. But from a purely strategic perspective, there was no critical reason for Russia to come to Serbia's defense. The Tsar's actions turned a regional Balkan conflict into a global conflagration. But perhaps intentionally, it thwarted the plans of Austria-Hungary to expand its aging Empire into a tripartite state — the never-achieved Austro-Hungarian-Balkan League. 2. Britain Stays Out of the War As Europe prepared for war during the July Crisis, it was not immediately obvious that Britain was going to join in. But when the million-strong German army ploughed through neutral Belgium, Britain sprang into action, officially entering into the fray. Though it was scarcely ready at the time, Britain's contribution to the Western Front and the ensuing naval blockade on Germany proved to be decisive; France would have very likely fallen without Britain's help. There are two scenarios under which Britain could have stayed out of the war. First, Germany could have avoided provoking Britain by not sending its army through Belgium and invading France directly (though Britain would have likely declared war anyway to protect its ally and critical northern ports). Alternately, Britain could have stayed out of the war simply for the sake of staying out of it. As historian Niall Ferguson argues, the intervention was "the biggest error in modern history." He concedes that Britain would have reneged on its commitments to uphold Belgian neutrality, but that realism in foreign policy has a "long and distinguished tradition, not least of which in Britain." 3. The Schlieffen Plan Results in German Victory This is one of the big "what ifs" of history: What if Helmuth von Moltke and his general staff had succeeded in reaching Paris in September 1914? Indeed, such an assertion is not altogether unreasonable. Some historians contend that the Schlieffen plan would have worked if Moltke had followed Schlieffen's original plan. Had the right flank not been depleted, Germany's 1st Army would not have been forced away from the sea, the British Expeditionary Force would have been overwhelmed, and the French armies would have been trapped between Paris and the French eastern frontier. With France fallen and the British routed, it's difficult to say what would have happened next, but it's safe to assume Germany would have given Russia hell out in the East. Unlike the situation 27 years later, Germany would have likely defeated Russia given the sorry state of its military. Together with Austria-Hungary, the two nations would have ruled over a massive European empire. What's more, a quick victory by the Central powers would have presented a terrible blow to democracy, while reaffirming autocratic political values. Indeed, the First World War was more ideological than many people realize. 4. Italy Joins the Central Powers When war broke out in August 1914, Italy declared a policy of neutrality — this despite its previous alignment with Germany. Over the ensuing months, both the Entente and the Central Powers desperately tried to get Italy on their side, offering sweet rewards for victory. Italy bided its time, waiting for the best offer — and to get a better sense of who might actually win the conflict. Italy decided to join the Entente under the terms of the secret 1915 Treaty of London under which it was promised huge territorial gains at the expense of Austria-Hungary. Unabashedly, the Salandra government admitted that its decision arose from pure self-interest, or "sacred egoism." But let's assume for a moment that the Central Powers were able to make a better offer, or that the Italian government honored its commitment to the Triple Alliance. With Italy on the side of the Central Powers, the war would have unfolded quite differently. Rather than having Italy fight against Austria-Hungary, the two nations could have joined together to clean up the Balkans and then launch coordinated campaigns against Russia on the Eastern Front. Some Italian troops could have also been sent to the Western Front, or help out the Turks. It's difficult to know if the war would have ended differently (probably not); Italian troops were plagued by poor generals, lack of experience, and a dearth of heavy equipment. One thing's for certain, though, the war would have dragged on considerably longer — perhaps long enough for the belligerent countries of Europe to suffer complete social and political collapse. 5. The Allies Invade Normandy — World War II Style In their rush to open a third front and quickly knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war, Allied planners launched a naval campaign in 1915 in the Dardanelles that, after failing to meet its initial objectives, regressed into the catastrophic Gallipoli Campaign, an eight month ordeal that resulted in 252,000 casualties on the Allied side — and for absolutely no gain. It was a military and political disaster that cost Winston Churchill his job as the First Lord of the Admiralty. Historians regard Gallipoli as a precursor to the Normandy Campaign of June 1944. But unlike Operation Overlord, the amphibious landing at Gallipoli was a haphazardly planned and ill-equipped venture. In his book, Gallipoli: The End of the Myth, historian Robin Prior makes the case that the campaign would have failed in any incarnation. But what if they had landed in Normandy instead? Like the invasion rolled out by Allied forces in the subsequent war? It's certainly a plausible suggestion. With the war stalemated along the Western Front, the Entente could have caused the Germans considerable problems by opening up a new theatre of operations in northern France. The British Navy maintained sea dominance during the war, and could have easily transported masses of men to the Normandy (or Callais) coast. The Germans, barring sufficient intelligence, would have been caught completely off guard. Admittedly, this is highly speculative stuff. Given the primitive state of technologies at this point in military history, and given what happened at Gallipoli, it's no guarantee this campaign would have worked. The logistical demands alone would have precluded such an invasion from happening until 1916 or later. Moreover, it would have been very difficult — if not impossible — to justify the diversion of resources away from the main theatre, and for the Allies to contend with Germany's superior internal line of communications (in this war of attrition, Germany would have been able to supply its troops at a considerably quicker rate). 6. Germany Doesn't Declare Unrestricted Submarine Warfare Yes, it was the Zimmerman Telegram that ultimately pushed the United States into the First World War — but a strong case can be made that, if it wasn't for Germany's U-boat campaign against its merchant shipping fleet, the U.S. might not have entered into the fray. Things were looking very bleak for Germany in 1917. With victory on land doubtful, Kaiser Wilhelm renewed his push for unrestricted submarine warfare — an effort to crush the flow of merchant shipping to its enemies. As it retained a defensive posture on the Western Front, the supreme army command endorsed the German navy's opinion that unrestricted U-boat warfare against the British and Americans at sea could result in a German victory on land by the fall of 1917. Germany's prime minister, Bethmann Hollweg, feared that such action would antagonize the United States. He was right. If the U.S. hadn't joined the war, it would have dragged on for at least another year or two — or even more. There would have been no Michael campaign in 1918 — a last ditch effort by Germany to end the war before U.S. troops could make a difference — thus preserving Germany's fighting power. 7. Peace is Negotiated Peace could have happened at virtually any time during the war. In fact, it would have been prudent for Germany to push for peace terms after the First Battle of the Marne in 1914 — a truly decisive battle that ultimately set the stage for Germany's defeat. Molke himself knew Germany was finished even at this early stage, telling the Kaiser, "Your Majesty, we have lost the war." 1917 would have been another good year to call it quits. With no end in sight, with no prescription for ending the war, and with widespread social unrest, it would have made complete sense for any of the belligerent nations to say enough is enough and end the war. With the battle lines drawn, Germany would have extended its territory along the 440 mile long front. It would have retained its possession of Alsace-Lorraine, and become the permanent occupants of much of Belgium. In the East, Poland would have remained partitioned between Russia and the Central powers. A cold war would have settled in among the previously warring nations. But none of these scenarios ever unfolded. Germany's militaristic leaders found the prospect of a negotiated settlement appalling, as did many of France's leaders. Far too much had been lost at that point to simply call it quits. Victory was deemed necessary to justify and and avenge the sacrifices, regardless of the cost. Moreover, once the United States entered the war, victory for the Allies was all but assured. But that's not to say some didn't try to seek peace. After the death of Franz Josef, the new emperor of Austria-Hungary, Charles I, secretly approached France to negotiate peace, but nothing came of it. Germany's Ludendorff, when he learned of it, was so angry he actually considered declaring war on his ally. 8. Germany Attacks During the French Army Mutinies Unbeknownst to Germany, masses of French troops, fed up with how the war was going, conducted a large scale mutiny from April to May 1917. Imagine what would have happened if they launched an all-out assault during that small window of opportunity. It all started after the failure of the Nivelle Offensives, and the catastrophe at Chemin de Dames in particular. French soldiers had been promised a breakthrough, but instead suffered a humiliating defeat. Weary from war, the soldiers left their posts one by one, demanding better rations and extended leaves. It wasn't a full-on refusal to fight; rather, it was a kind of work-to-rule action. At its height (and historians only learned this about this in 1967 thanks to the work of Guy Pedroncini), nearly 50 French divisions were affected. Of its 113 infantry divisions, 43% were experiencing mutinous behavior of varying degrees. But the French government suppressed the news so as to not alert the Germans, or exacerbate the situation any further. General Petain managed to appease and calm his troops, and the situation was resolved. Had he not done so, a similar situation could have arisen in France that did in Russia, leading to widespread social unrest and revolution. 9. Lenin Isn't Sent to Russia by the Germans Not only would this have changed the course of the Great War, it would have dramatically changed the complexion of the 20th century. Exhausted and demoralized from war, the Tsarist autocracy was overthrown in February 1917. A provisional government was set up under Alexander Kerensky, a moderate socialist who insisted that Russia would uphold its commitment to the war. But in an astounding stroke of genius, Erich Ludendorff transported Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and his acolytes from Switzerland to Russia in a sealed train. Knowing full well that Lenin was opposed to the war, Ludendorff's hope was that he would find a way to assume power — and assume power he did by virtue of a coup in October 1917. Platforming on the slogans, "Peace, bread, land," Lenin ended Russia's involvement in the Great War. It was an astounding German victory, one that knocked Russia out of the war. Had Lenin not been sent to Petrograd, it's safe to assume that Kerensky would have continued the war, though under very difficult conditions. This would have forced the Germans to maintain sufficient forces on the Eastern Front — troops that were badly needed in the West. Ironically, it would be Adolf Hitler's Third Reich that, a quarter of a century later, would fall to defeat at the hands of the Soviet behemoth his forebearers created during the Great War. 10. Revolution in France, Revolution In Germany After the fall of Tsarist Russia, a sense of dread emerged across Europe. No nation was left untouched by the specter of socialist revolution, France and Germany included. Had the war been more poorly managed, and had soldiers and workers been pushed ever more so to the brink, these countries could have very well fallen to socialist — or even communist — revolution. This would have resulted in a vastly different outcome to the war and very different post-war Europe, indeed. 11. Germany Refuses to Surrender in 1918 Such is the fantasy of the "Stab in the Back" conspiracists who followed in the wake of the war. Confused and surprised by the "sudden" surrender, some Germans believed the country still had considerable fight left in them. It was earlier in the year, after all, that Operation Michael produced some of the most significant gains recorded by the Germans during the war. But it was only after much stubborn deliberation that Ludendorff and Hindenburg finally decided to call it quits in November 1918. With Germany stripped bare of its resources, and its population starving, exhausted, and entering into the early stages of an Influenza epidemic, the hawkish leaders finally — and reluctantly — surrendered. But what would have happened if they hadn't? What if they insisted on a Nazi-esque Götterdämmerung in a desperate fight to the finish? First, the war probably wouldn't have ended in 1918 (the campaigning season was coming to a close), but it would have most certainly ended in early 1919. Allied troops, who were utilizing new combined operational tactics, were pushing steadily forwards. Eventually, they would have reached the German border, taking each town one by one until they took Berlin. It would have been a terrible mess, with mass soldier and civilian casualties on both sides — and for absolutely nothing. Yet it would be this myth — that the war was still winnable for Germany — that fueled the subsequent rise of the Nazi party.

Emp_Palpatine: I tender my apologies. I seem to have butchered your post above. This has happened on one other occasion (a few days ago) It seems that in replying to your post, I clicked on "Edit" rather than on the "Quote" button. Being a Moderator I seem to have the ability to edit/alter threads here at Combat Ace. I had not realized that. Again: my apologies. I will be more careful in the future.

Bloody battle at Verdun Verdun was one of the longest and costliest battles of the Western Front, raging from February to December of 1916. About 300,000 people were killed for the sake of moving the front line about 5 miles. At the outset of the battle, German military officials had concluded that they had no way of puncturing Franco-British defenses and winning the war. Their plan, instead, was to take advantage of the fact that the battle lines were on French soil to trick the Allies into defeating themselves. As Western fighting degenerated into a stalemate, the French front lines in the vicinity of Verdun poked awkwardly into German-held territory. The plan was to seize some high ground on the Eastern bank of the Meuse from which Verdun could be shelled. German commanders hoped that rather than retreat from the town, the French would counterattack furiously in a way that allowed German defenses to inflict massive casualties. And, indeed, about 156,000 French soldiers were killed during the fighting. But so were 143,000 German soldiers. It's a cliche' of long standing to accuse the military of bone-headed thinking. But in the case of Verdun, they earned every accusation hurled at them. It is said that 'attrition is not a strategy', but in WWI it was. It seemed to be a case of they-will-be-blown-to-bits-but-we-will-only-lose-both-legs-and-an-arm. I once read an account of how 'Blitzkreig' was invented in WWI, tho' without enough time to implement it. The account concerned a German Lieutenant who saw his trench position overrun by massive infantry supported by tanks and aircraft. He never forgot it. His name was Heinz Guderian. [Hauksbee]

Wow! This is an old thread! I think it pre-dates me at Combat Ace. Howe're, I too, got the itch for a Officer/Pilot's tunic. (tho' I don't have a medals collection like RAF_Lou's) Rather than go through the painstaking craftsmanship of modifying another jacket that closely resembles the one I wanted, I went on-line and found a company in India that makes replica uniforms for just about nation on earth. I can't remember the company name now, but they were somewhere around Delhi. 'Shouldn't be too hard to track them down. I started with the visored Officer's hat, then got the soft Feldmutze, then the tunic. As I recall, the tunic was about $60.00..and fit great.

The issue of Alsace-Lorraine was an emotional football kept alive by French and German nationalism. France wanted to have its national borders defined by "natural boundaries", i.e., the Pyrenees in the south, the Alps to the east, and the Rhine in the north. Whenever nationalism flared, tempers ran hot. Barbara Tuchman relates that French officers would take their units on secret midnight marches in order to look down on the Meuse River in the moonlight. Otherwise, as Emp_Palpatine indicates, when tempers were cooled, it was a non-issue. No matter which side held the territory, it was regarded as being a cultural and geographic backwater: too Frenchified to be part of the Reich, and too Germanic to be France.

The Gallipoli campaign: the Allies try to invade Turkey British forces, with assistance from the French navy, hatched a daring plan for an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Had they succeeded in capturing the peninsula, Allied naval forces could have sailed through the Dardanelles Strait up into the Sea of Marmara and supported an attack on the Ottoman Empire's capital of Istanbul. That would have opened the door to direct Allied communication between the Western and Eastern Fronts. Instead, Turkey kept the Allied troops bottled up and after months of fighting, they retreated. Heavy participation of volunteers from Australia and New Zealand in the campaign makes it an iconic moment in those nations' military histories even as the Turkish victory is celebrated in that country

Yeah, Occulus Rift (great name!) looks good, but the problem is, when flying OFF/WOFF is that you have to be able to see the keyboard...at least occasionally.

The 12 battles of the Isonzo Italy did not join the war in its first year, and had been allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary during the pre-war years. But Italian nationalists had designs on some Italian-speaking lands still ruled by the Habsburgs as well as elements of the Adriatic coast that had historically been ruled by the Republic of Venice. In the 1915 Treaty of London, the Allies succeeded in tempting Italy to enter the war on their side, promising them healthy slices of Austro-Hungarian territory. The actual fighting on the Italian Front was even more static and futile than the Western Front. So much so that there were 12 different Battles of the Isonzo, fought near a river in contemporary Slovenia. These 12 battles together accounted for half of Italy's total casualties during the war and as illustrated on the map scarcely moved the frontier at all. In essence, Italy's war dead served as a massive diversionary tactic, occupying Austro-Hungarian and German troops who otherwise could have been fighting in Russia or France.

Germany routs Russia in the Battle of Tannenberg The German war plan committed the bulk of the Empire's forces to the Western Front, leaving just one German army in the East to face Russia's First and Second Armies. Combined with the defeat at the battle of the Marne, a victory by the numerically superior Russian forces could have crushed the German war effort in its crib. Instead, the Germans were victorious. The Russians scored a tactical victory at Gumbinnen, but instead of pressing the advantage, they waited for the Second Army to arrive. The Germans audaciously moved south to face the Second Army before it could combine its strength with the First. German forces were aided by exceedingly poor Russian communication security — Russian troops hadn't mastered even basic cryptography, so German intelligence was aware of how poorly coordinated the two Russian armies were. Victory at Tannenberg set the stage for a subsequent German victory over the First Army at the Battle of Mausurian Lakes. Those two wins prevented the Russians from taking strategic initiative against Germany in the East. .

Austria-Hungary conquers Serbia The nominal cause of the war was Austria-Hungary's effort to punish Serbia for its sponsorship of anti-Austrian terrorism, and in 1915 the Habsburgs succeeded. The entire grand web of alliances neither deterred an Austrian attack on Serbia nor prevented the Austrians from winning. By the end of the year, the remnants of the Serbian army had retreated into Albania and been evacuated by sea. Allied forces would eventually liberate Serbia in 1918, moving through Greece and Bulgaria. The Serbian state enlarged to incorporate Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia after the war and became known as Yugoslovia until 1991. . (Sorry for the lapse in the maps postings. I had to move to new digs...from a house to a one bedroom apartment. It's not easy to pack ten pounds in a three pound bag. Then there was other problems getting on line again. 'Had to go with a whole new ISP. But...I think things are getting sorted out. . This map is not one of the more satisfactory ones. In fact, it doesn't seem to make much sense at all. Better luck tommorow. [Hauksbee])

That's what we want to hear!!

I have no idea.

German submarine warfare, 1915 Germany's surface fleet was largely unable to stand in battle against the vastly superior British Royal Navy. But the new technology of the submarine gave Germany the means to harass Allied shipping despite its weakness on the surface. In 1915, they initiated a kind of underwater blockade — attacking ships bound for Britain as a countermeasure to the near-total Allied knockout of Germany's transatlantic trade. But Germany didn't have nearly sufficient submarine strength to cut off all Allied shipping. What's more, unlike surface ships, submarines couldn't really threaten ships and board them. They could only attack with stealth. That led to the sinking of several ships with Americans aboard, which badly damaged US-German relations. Seeking to appease President Wilson, Germany halted unrestricted submarine warfare. But in February 1917, the Germans changed their minds again — setting themselves on a course that would drag the United States into the war. (For an account of how America got dragged into WWI, you can't do better than read Barbara Tuchman's "The Zimmerman Telegram. [Hauksbee])