Self-Propelled Guns. Part-One.

Mobile Battlefield Artillery.

In someways the early development of the tank was the idea to have armoured artillery on the battlefield, but it was not until the 1930s that the United States produced the first SPG as a over armed MBT known as the Lee-Grant.

During World War-II (1939-45) Nazi-Germany became reliant more on their developments of SPG's that they had more of them than actual tanks. The idea of mobile artillery was good as long as that was their primary role, but as the war progressed Hitler in his madness and interference used them for the wrong role.

In Soviet Russia they easily became prey to the light T-34 tanks and in France and Italy to the American Sherman's. After the war Russia and America, along with many other nations saw the value of such a plat form in infantry support and even to this day they are still being developed.

U.S.A. M109 155mm, M109 105mm, SP 122, 
Russia, 2S19 152mm, 2S3 152mm.
U.K. AS90.
Sweden Bofors 155mm.
Germany Wegmann 155mm.
Japan Type 75. 

France GIAT 155mm.
Italy Palmeria 155mm. 

Israel Soltam 155mm.

Blade Runners. Part-One.

An Introduction to the Hydrofoil.

This is perhaps the most prolific ship design that has ever been conceived, to lift up a weight on a blade. today we associate blade running with athletics and that is an amazing feat of engineering in its own right.

The era of the Hydrofoils were the 1950's and it seems there was great competition across the globe to build and have one. Italy, Russia and the United State of America, took full opportunity to build them in all sizes and sleekness of design. 

Bolivian Arrow, 14-ton, 40 seater, Russian Burevestnik, 41-67-tom 130-150 seat river ferry, Italian RHS 70, 32-ton, 71 seat passenger ferry and the U.S Flagstaff 1 (PHG-1) US Coastguard 67.5-ton, with a 40knot speed.

Today they are not as popular, as they once were but they remain in operation in several countries as a novelty design concept.

The Biz Jets. Part-Two.

Enter the Jet Age.

With the end of World-War II (1939-45), the development of the jet engine was going to change aviation for ever. It was the United States of America, Britain, France and the Soviet Union that were going to lead the way in fighter jet development, but this also lead to jet airliners such as the De Havilland Comet and Sud-Est S.E.210 Caravelle.

The very rich stilt wanted to enjoy the flying experiences of the years prior to the second world war and the comfort and private factor. It was the Americans who where the first to cotton on to this market, with the Lockheed (C-140) Jetstar and the North American T-39 Sabreliner. 

A private jet was for 4 to 20 people, but most have since favoured 4, 8 and 12 seats.

France had developed a 4 seat touring version of its two seat military trainer the Morane-Saulnier M.S.760 Paris, which could be said to be the first private jet in 1956.

Caravaning.

(Please note update on space on the space page this week).

The Caravan.

The caravan is essentially just a wagon that is towed behind a automobile/car or truck and has no real motive power of its own. Yet it is one of the biggest business pullers across the globe both in N-America and Europe.

Caravaning took off in the United Kingdom in the 1920's and up to 1960, one could park anywhere and enjoy the view. But today we have Caravan sites and trailer parks, unless you are part of the travelling showman circut. 

The temporay home on wheels has progressed from a wooden box with basic facilities to the present state of the art mobile homes. With everything now from power shower to sat nav, microwave cooking to solar panel powered.

Even comforts that are better than we have in our houses and heating systems. But despite all these wonderful things, accidents in towing from A to Z remain a problem.

Town Planning. Part-One.

If you had the chance to plan out a new town and had to decide on the best transportation system for it, what would you go for? 

In the light of hurricane Sandy and its effects on the NE region of America, the Subway/Metro has ended up being flooded along with road tunnels. Meanwhile many trees and power lines were overturned blocking roads and highways. 

There is much to consider in the planning of any town or city.

Drill Rigs.

The oil and gas rigs at sea are perhaps some of most impressive structures that the human mind has conceived. Many rigs are towed from construction/ship building yards to the point of drill work. But now dedicated ships have been built to perform this type of work off the coast of South-America (Brazil).

The future looks more interesting, if this type of vessel could replace the standard platforms. Meaning that during severe weather it could be moved?

ISS.

(International Space Station).

Today the world has the ISS a space station with many space partners. Predominately the U.S., Europe (ESA), Russia, Japan. We can observe this object very easily from earth and millions of people look at it each night as it flies over some part of our planet.

The craft is the largest object yet put into space by humanity, but its roots came out of the cold war period space race between the former Soviet Union and the United states of America. Leaving aside that race we just want to concentrate on the history of space stations and it was the Russians who first launched a series of Soyuz ships. They were small and cramped, but the Russians started to build up manned flight hours from them. Even after they did not achieve the moon landings, they continued on with this plan.

The U.S. launched their Space Lab, but the U.S. did not seem to move on from there for some time. Eventually they had a link up between a Soyuz and the Skylab. The Russians moved on to develop a much bigger Soyuz, known as the Mir. This was technically the end for the Russians in space station building.

The ISS now replaces both previous systems, which were probably used for spying on each other. This new platform has improved on both countries technologies and has become a laboratory for various scientific experimentation and discovery.