It's time for another WW2 quiz!

Character is what you do when no one is looking.

 

Since the sniper is still up for debate I'll let you two bicker back and forth. As for heavy tanks that didn't see combat the Tortoise is an impressive 71 metric tons, but the German Panzer VIII Maus tips the scales at 188 metric tons.

 

Since no one seems to know what Hobart's Funnies were.

They were a bunch of "funny" tanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart's_funnies


Ok, new question.

Early model Panther tanks had a shot trap on the gun mantle. This was fixed in the Panther ausf. G. What is a shot trap?

 

I vaguely recall Hobart's Funnies now. Sounded familiar but I didn't want to google it and I wanted to give someone else a chance to try.

As for a shot trap it was a weaker spot of armor that could be penetrated by a shell that deflected from somewhere else.

 

Close. Meh, I'll give it to you. It's actually the other way around but I'm sure that's what you meant. A spot of armour that deflects shells onto a weaker part of armour.

 

Yeah pretty much that. Don't have a question of my own so go ahead and ask another one.

 

Always love these even if I am late to the show.

By the way- without jumping into who was the best sniper- I will give credit to the Soviets for having a cadre of fiersome snipers.

 

Why was the Bf-109 called the Bf and not the Me like other aircraft, such as the Me-262, which were made by the same company?

 

Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe are my weak points in German war tech. In the US we used the B prefix for a bomber and F for fighter so by any chance was it used as a light bomber as well as a fighter?

 

Nope, it's not a role designation.

 

Messerschmitt didn't become Messerschmitt until 1938. Before that, when the designs for the Bf-109 were submitted, it was "Bayerische Flugzeugwerke" (Bavarian Aircraft Factory). Hence the Bf.

Hmm, question.

Okay. Which German armored vehicle scored the most kills of enemy armored vehicles?

 

Just a guess: STGIII

 

That is the answer I was looking for. I haven't seen it formally declared anywhere, but it does seem to be consensus, that the around 20k kills of the STG III (or StuG III) puts it on top. The sheer number of them made up for the lower performance compared to later vehicles.

 

I'll just confirm that your answer was correct since I was asleep when you answered it.

 

Okay- First strafing attack over the Japanese Islands by an allied aircraft.

Probably too easy.

 

The Doolittle Raid

 

It might have been aircraft from Admiral Marc Mitscher's Fast Attack Carriers in March or April 1945 in the aftermath of the Battle of Okinawa. Later on P-51s repeatedly attacked Japanese airfields in order to suppress Kamikaze in anticipation of the Invasion of Kyushu. After raiding airfields and the Mustangs strafed industrial and other targets.

Here's some video. It is a thing of terrible beauty:

[video=youtube;2uhpoLJHTTc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uhpoLJHTTc[/video]

 

Just to keep the ball rolling I'll ask another question.

Why was the P-51 considered mediocre when it was first produced?

 

Correct- at least one B-25 crew strafed a Japanese fishing vessel after dropping its bombs in Japan.

Other than the B-25's and B-26's set up for strafing and anti-shipping I hadn't heard of any strafing attacks by large or medium bombers.

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I believe it was the engine- didn't they swap it out for the Rolls Royce Merlin and that improved the performance- or was it the super charger- either way I believe it was an underperforming engine.

 

Because it was larger and more prone to injure an infantryman if he fell on it. The P-38 was smaller and easier to use.

 

Those of us old enough to get that joke....the era of canned rations.

 

I don't even...........

 

The P-51 needed Rolls Royce engines which were more powerful than the original American engines.

 

Yep, the original engine (Allison) provided mediocre performance.

Your turn.

 

Bad engine... It came into its own with the brits merlin engine