The Ikara was an Australian anti-submarine missile developed in 1959, over the course of its life it would be used by the Australian, British, Brazilian, New Zealand and Chilean navies. Ikara is an Australian Aboriginal word for “throwing stick”, it was powered by a Bristol Aerojet Murawa two-stage solid-fuel rocket engine and could be controlled…
The D-Day assault is one of the most important military events of the 20th century, the heroism, courage and selflessness displayed by the Allies as they began the mission to retake Europe has few parallels in history. This Paratrooper Jump Knife belonged to Norman Capels of G Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. It isn’t…
In 1942 during some of the heaviest fighting of the Second World War a team of engineers at de Havilland were hard at work developing a jet-powered aircraft that they hoped would help turn the tide of the war and bring an end to the bloodshed. The jet engine had only been invented 5 years…
Project Iceworm was a secret Cold War operation to create subterranean nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet – within close striking distance of the USSR. It was all done under the cover of Camp Century, a pretend US Government operation used as a cover story for the Danish government – who were…
The USS Macon and its sister ship, the USS Akron, were the largest helium-filled airships ever made. They were launched in 1933 and 1931 respectively, and each only had a service life of roughly two years – both were lost in separate severe storms. Macon had a hull made from structured duraluminum with three internal…
In the post-WWII years Winston Churchill once famously said “The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril”, this was largely because of how reliant Britain was on supplies, manpower and equipment from Canada, the USA, Australia and further afield. If Hitler had successfully managed to close off the resupply…
The Kawanishi H6K was a flying boat developed by the Japanese in the years leading up to WWII, it was largely based on European flying boats of the era and boasted remarkable endurance – with many of its wartime flights lasting 24 hours or more. With a crew of 9 and a cruising speed of…
The story of Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown is one of the greatest WWII tales you’re every likely to come across. Many of us have seen dozens, perhaps even hundreds of documentaries about the Second World War, but this one is my favourite and I don’t think it’ll ever be usurped. It’s difficult to condense…
The idea of taking a motorcycle and attaching a machine gun to it seems to have occurred to someone very shortly after the motorcycle was first invented. The benefits of a mobile machine gun are fairly obvious, especially when you throw in the additional capabilities of a motorcycle. The First World War was the first…
Flight Characteristics of the P-51 Airplane is a WWII film designed as a preliminary How To guide for pilots, mechanics and other ground crew. The film has a slightly more upbeat tone than you might expect, with the narrator cracking jokes throughout (at the expense of the Germans of course) and generally keeping it light and…
Men Bet Their Lives on It is a 20 minute Packard-produced documentary from the post-WWII era about their version of the Merlin engine – almost certainly the most famous engine of the Second World War and the only aircraft power unit that even non-aircaft fanatics can reference by name. We’ve been having a bit of…
The Rolls-Royce Merlin Owner’s Workshop Manual is a detailed look into the development, engineering and evolution of the legendary aero-engine that powered the both the British Spitfire and American P-51 Mustang. Rolls-Royce built over 150,000 Merlins by the time production stopped and a significant number of them still exist in museums and private collections around…
