Combat Aircraft Monthly 2012-04

IN PREPARATION FOR A $525-billion budget request, the US Department of Defense announced on 26 January its spending priorities for the upcoming 2013 Fiscal Year. As part of this, the DoD confirmed that while a focus will be maintained on the Middle East, the budget funds an increase in the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. Rather than providing the capability to conduct two major operations, the revised force structure ensures that the US will 'be able to defeat a major adversary in one theatre while denying aggression elsewhere or imposing unacceptable costs' on an aggressor. The spending cuts total $259 billion over the Future Year Defense Plan (FYDP) that runs from 2013-17 and $487 billion over 10 years. Two more rounds of Base Realignments and Closures (BRAC) are likely in 2013 and 2015.

Download from (file4sharing.com) or (depositfiles.com)

Aeroplane Monthly 2012-04

IN JAPAN, AN almost perfectly preserved Tachikawa Ki-54a "Hickory'' twin-engine advanced trainer has been discovered 1,000ft below the surface of Lake Towada, 330 miles north of Tokyo, writes Joe Picarella. Found during a topographical survey conducted by the Windy Network Oceanic Information and Research Division and the University of Tokyo, the machine, one of only two complete survivors of the type, has been at the bottom of one of Japan's deepest freshwater lakes since it was ditched on September 27,1943. The Ki-54 shows little evidence of the ditching, which would have been an interesting procedure in an aircraft that adopted a disconcerting nose-down attitude during normal landings. There are plans to raise the aircraft, but the depth, funding issues and local concerns are complicated by the fact that the lake is part of the Towada National Park.

Download from (file4sharing.com) or (depositfiles.com)

Britain at War 2009-03

The origins of the Liberty Ship can be traced to a design proposed by Britain in 1940. Seeking to replace wartime losses, the British placed contracts with US shipyards for sixty steamers of the Ocean-class. Then, in February 1941, President Roosevelt announced that the US Maritime Commission planned to build 200 'Emergency' type merchant ships to augment America's own ship building programme. The design chosen for these 'Emergency' ships was a modified Ocean-class fitted with water-tube, oil-burning boilers rather than the original coal-fired, Scotch boilers. The first of the 2,751 or so Liberty Ships, as they would be known, to be built (this number often varies) was launched from the Bethlehem Yard, Baltimore, as the SS Patrick Henry on 27 September 1941. The 250,000 parts needed for each ship were pre-fabricated throughout the United States in 250-ton sections which, when brought together, were welded to form the final product - all in an average build time of just forty-two days, (though one Liberty ship, the SS Robert E. Peary was completed in four and a half days!). Each ship cost roughly $2,000,000 to build.

Download from (file4sharing.com) or (depositfiles.com)

An Illustrated Guide to Bombers of World War II

Nearly all the bombers of World War II were of types first flown back in the 1930s, and many had seen action in Spain and other wars of the period. Yet nearly all were monoplanes of all-metal stressed skin construction, notable exceptions being the mixed metal/wood/fabric Italian bombers, and the fabric-covered "geodetic" Wellington. In Spain the new crop of German bombers, such as the Do 17 and He 111, proved very effective when defended by three hand-aimed rifle-calibre machine guns, but this was woefully inadequate over Britain. More guns were hastily added in an ill-planned way, but, though German guns were outstanding, the Germans completely failed to get a really good heavy bomber into service and the poor old He 111 soldiered on to the end. By far the best Luftwaffe all-rounder was the Ju 88, described in a companion volume on fighter and attack aircraft. Its immediate predecessor on the drawing board, the Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber (also in the companion volume), proved effective only when complete mastery of the aid had been gained.

Download from (file4sharing.com) or (depositfiles.com)