All Articles Tagged 'wwi' (141)

VICTORY!!  At long last this horrible war is over!  The authoritarian powers of Europe are all in collapse and it appears that the flowering of democracy is in bloom, like the Poppies that now sprout over Flanders fields.  With Wilson's new league of nations to shepherd the new peace and freedom, we may soon come to know the 20th Century as the Century of Peace.

 …

Up in the Heavens, daring Devils bring Hell to Earth!  On and under the Seas Men of Iron in Ships of Steel duel for supremacy of the seas.

 Yes, those Gallant Knights of the Air in their Incredible Flying Aeroplanes!  The glory!  The romance!  The excitement!  Oh, and the old "die horribly in a fiery plummet after ripping apart…

Your Saturday Air Mail is here, with a score of forgotten aeroplanes from Bristol.

I decided to re-publish here an article by Alan Webb titled Parnall - Bristol's Other Plane-maker. There's no better source of info on Parnall designs.

The Parnall story is…

What's so special about Macchi? Not only their Schneider Trophy fame and world's speed records but also a large family of flying boat fighters and light bombers.

The first successful indigenous type, the Macchi Type L general-purpose flying boat (1915), was a direct copy of a captured…

Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.

From the moment the flying machine showed signs of military usefulness, navies of the world sought ways to employ airplanes at sea. In a 1910 experiment, American pilot Eugene Ely took off in a Curtiss biplane down a sloping ramp built above the foredeck of the cruiser USS Birmingham. The plane dipped so low that the…

In the world of pistols the .45 ACP still hold sway over all other semi-automatic handgun calibers. Sure there is .357 Desert Eagle. And 10mm from Glock burned a few hundred pages of gun magazines in the 1990s. But outlasting them all is the .45 ACP. Designed in the first decade of the 20th century, the .45 ACP round…

Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.

Their motives were many, and some perhaps naïve: adventure, glory, a simple urge, as one of them said, “to get into the scrap.” But as Edwin Parsons said many years later of his former squadron, the Lafayette Escadrille, “I don’t know a single one of the boys who didn’t have a deep-seated desire to help France.”

The…

It may not look like much to our modern "black rifle" eye, but the Winchester Model 1907 is a carbine with punch and a unique place in small arms history as a favorite of cops, robbers, soldiers and flyers.

The Winchester Model 1907 carbine is a simple direct blowback rifle. Without a gas system to channel…

Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.

In a scene that could have been pulled straight from HG Wells' classic War in the Air, a mighty air and sea battle between German and British forces is imagined in this fanciful 1915 Japanese lithograph.…

I've often written here about firearm "firsts." First semi-automatic pistol, first truly suppressed weapon and the Holy Grail of weapon firsts, the first assault rifle. The Russians and Germans claim ownership to this title. A few other obscure weapons designers from around the world also vie for the title. Yet, in France, at the close of World War I, there was a little rifle that…

On my 16th birthday I was awarded a California Driver's License and my father gave me a 1949 MG Midget. The only things I loved as much as sporty cars were classic firearms.The first place I drove was to a gun shop in Culver City,Ca. It was called Martin B. Retting's "Ye Old Western Hunter." This was 1956 and at…

Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.

Every once in a while, I run across an image so weird I would swear it was Photoshopped (even if the photo pre-dated Photoshop by about 85 years).  Knowing that the early days of photography were full of pranksters, I looked into the…

If you looked at their mustard yellow and vibrant blue pants and chest covered by polished steel breast plate, you would not think the Pontifical Swiss Guard were real soldiers tasked with protecting the Pope. In fact the Swiss Guard are members of the Swiss military, trained not only in ceremonial duties, but…

Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.  This week, we're showcasing a piece from my personal collection.

This French pilot's certificate, typical of the credentials…

This will be my 100th weapons related post here at Dieselpunks, enjoying every minute of it since starting way back in 2010. And judging by the ideas rattling around my head and the stack of reference in my home, there will be many, many more posts to come.

So, to mark my 100th post I wanted…

Hail the minor powers! Their aces probably achieved less than von Richthoffen (or Ball, or Guynemer, or "Billy" Bishop) but their bravery should be remembered.

So why not remember a Belgian ace of the once-famous "Thistle squadron" - Andre de Meulemeester. Meet him and his live…

It never dropped a single pound of incentives in anger. Actually, it never flew. Designed too late to be ready for her maiden flight before the Armistice, it remains a dark enigma even today, 95 years after the Great War.

Those who like to talk about Wunderwaffe and Amerika Bomber all but ignore the Kaiserreich secret projects. The…

I always wondered why the word Wunderwaffe is applied only to the late-WWII German projects.

In the history of WWI there is a whole lot of weird and scary "wonderweapons". And if you think that the DFW giant bomber was the only one with Mercedes inside,…

The guy at the controls was a businessman, a writer and a socialite. First and foremost, he was an aviator.

 But a WWI ace he wasn't - although his contribution to war effort cannot be overlooked.

"Owned one of the first petrol-driven cars in England; toured South Africa;…

Among all WWI bomber designs, German DFW biplanes earn a special mention, thanks to their unusual powertrain.

The first was the R.I (don't forget that "R" index is for Riesenflugzeug, i.e. giant airplane). Developed as a private venture by DFW, it was a…