Model Airplanes

By the summer of 1944, the German Luftwaffe had a lot of problems. Huge Allied four-engine strategic bombers were pummeling Germany’s industrial base daily, escorted by long-range fighters that were frittering away the German flying arm’s elite cadres of combat pilots nurtured since the 1930s.

While the bombing campaign failed to prevent German industrial output from increasing in 1944, due to increased mobilization and use of slave labor, attacks targeting petroleum production proved extremely effective. By the end of the year, the advanced new tanks and warplanes coming out of German factories were often grounded for lack of fuel.

Such was the Luftwaffe’s decline that Allied fighter bombers were frequently able to roam over the front lines unopposed as they wreaked havoc on German troops.

The Nazi leadership had hoped that Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel (“Storm Bird”) jet fighter — the first fighter jet to see combat in the summer of 1944 — would swing the air war back in their favor. But despite the Sturmvogel’s 100-mile-per-hour speed advantage and powerful armament, the twin-engine jets were expensive to produce and consumed tons of fuel.

Furthermore, pilots required extensive training to master the advanced jets — but the Luftwaffe’s situation had grown so desperate that trainees were being thrown into combat after minimal instruction, with predictable results.

Above — the Me 262. U.S. Air Force photo. At top — the He 162. San Diego Air and Space Museum archives

These crushing realities led Luftwaffe

Article source: https://warisboring.com/the-wooden-nazi-jet-designed-to-be-flown-by-teenagers/

As we approach the end of 2017 and prepare for a new year of watch releases in 2018, we wanted to take a look back at some of the most noteworthy timepieces that came out this year. Check back each day of this week for a new list focused on everything that 2017 had to offer. — The WatchTime editors

The holiday season is synonymous with travel. Whether it’s driving across town or around the world, pretty much everyone is headed somewhere. One way to make the burden of travel easier? A world timer or pilot’s watch on your wrist. After all, you can only watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles so many times.

First up, a modern re-issue of a chronograph that Longines produced in the 1930s, the Avigation BigEye (“Avigation” is a portmanteau of “aviation” and “navigation,” which are the two functions the original watch was engineered to serve). The modern watch is distinguished by its extra-legible, semi-glossy black dial with big luminous Arabic numerals and an extra-large 30-minute chronograph counter at 3 o’clock (presumably, the “big eye” referred to in the model name). The dial, protected under a domed sapphire crystal with several layers of nonreflective coating, also has a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock and a subdial for running seconds at 9 o’clock; a central hand counts the chronograph seconds; the hour and minute hands, like the hour numerals, are coated with Super-LumiNova. The 41-mm stainless steel case is water-resistant to 30 meters and features two prominent chronograph pushers

Article source: https://www.watchtime.com/featured/2017-pilots-watches-worldtimers-year-in-review-top-best-notable/