We are all sick, and twisted people, in are own special ways. 😉

Great minds truly do think alike!!!!!! 😀

Yes I am. My personal favorite is the Tiger, and it’s many variants, but my all time favorite armored vehicle is the 70 tonne King Tiger with it’s thick, sloped armor, and massive long barreled 88mm gun of doom. basically the Germans took the best features of the Tiger, such as it’s thick armor, and massive gun, and the Panther with it’s sloped armor, and extra long barreled gun, to create what was arguably the finest tank of WWII. Essentially, they took the Tiger, and Panther threw both tanks in a giant blender, and put the setting on overkill. There are many myths surrounding German armored vehicles of WWII, but most of them are centered around the Tiger series. contrary to what most people believe, the King Tiger was not especially slow, or mechanically unreliable. At 25mph, it was only 5mph slower than the American Sherman, or Russian t34, and easily superior to both with regards to off road mobility. The often criticized interleaved road wheels when combined with the excellent German torsion bar suspension, gave German crews superior comfort, and made the vehicle a more stable gun platform. And the notion that these type of road wheels were more prone to getting clogged with mud, than conventional types, is false. If these road wheels were getting clogged with mud, it was not a fault of the design, but rather due to the terrain being inhospitable to tanks in general. As for reliability, The King Tiger was admittedly unreliable during it’s first few months of it’s service, but by the end of the war it was more reliable, and maintenance friendly, than the American Pershing, which still had reliability issues during the Korean war, to the point where it was decided to simply replace it with the M46 Patton. Also the British chieftain was unreliable for most of it’s carrier, but towards the end of it’s service life, it was an extremely reliable vehicle. Contrary to popular believe, German armored vehicles were no more unreliable than any other tank that has been rushed into service. They simply had to go through a teething process, that all new weapons have to go through. Another myth surrounding The King Tiger, is that it was especially vulnerable to air attack. What people don’t understand, is that air support during WWII was not nearly as accurate as it’s made out to be in the movies. Pilots from both sides would frequently attack their own ground forces by mistake, even when smoke was used to identify them. Yes, the King Tiger was vulnerable to air attack, but so is any armored vehicle caught out in the open. Yet another myth is that the Germans made a mistake going with quality over quantity. People don’t seem to realize that small nations, like those of the Axis powers during WWII, did not have the manpower or resources to compete in a numbers game with large, industrialised nations like those of the Allies. To compensate for their numerical disadvantage, instead of trying to produce one tank, or battleship, for each one of the Allies, they chose to build tanks, and battleships that were worth several of their Allied counterparts. The idea that Germany would have been better off producing more panthers is false, because they did not have the crews to fill them. Late in the war, both Germany, and Japan always had more tanks, and planes, then experienced crews to fill them. Many people believe that the Yamato class battleships were a waste of resources since WWII in the pacific turned out to be a carrier war, but what they don’t understand is that at the time of the Yamato’s construction, the battleship was the undisputed king of the seas, and carriers were simply regarded as support units. There are many myths about the Yamato’s supposed inferiority as well. As far as guns are concerned, it’s true that her 18 inch guns were only superior to Iowa’s long barreled 16 inch guns because of their size, but they were still twenty five percent more powerful than Iowa’s. With regards to armor, it’s also true that her armor quality was not as good as Iowa’s, but it was only a ten, to fifteen percent difference, and on a scale of one, to one hundred, that’s nothing to brag about. And it’s certainly not enough to make up for the difference in armor thickness, and tonnage between the two ships. 19 inch maximum armor thickness, with a weight of 18,000 tonnes for Iowa. And a 26 inch maximum armor thickness, with a weight of 22,000 tonnes for Yamato. The Yamato class battleships were designed in a traditional fashion, where they were fitted with armor plating that gave them immunity to their own guns, at combat range. The Iowa’s on the other hand, were a design compromise. They were designed for speed, and the ability to fit through the panama canal. Because of this their armor did not give them immunity to their own 16 inch guns at combat range, and certainly not to the 18 inch guns of Yamato. Although they did have immunity to the older South Dakota class battleships, shorter barreled 16 inch guns, and this level of protection was considered “adequate” for their intended role, as fast carrier escorts, and battlecruiser killers, they were simply unable to deal with the tremendous advantage that the Yamato’s enjoyed over them with regards to gun power, and armor. Another myth about the Yamato class, is that their fire control system was inaccurate in comparison to the Iowa’s. All we have to do to realize that this is false, is to look carefully, at the historical battles that these two ships fought in. During Operation Hailstone, two Iowa class battleships, opened fire on the Japanese destroyer Nowaki. Despite having a fire control system that was supposedly so accurate, that you could see your own shells splashing into the water, neither of the two battleships managed to score any hits on the Japanese destroyer. The Yamato on the other hand scored several hits on the aircraft carrier Gambier Bay, during the battle off Samar, and the only reason that the carrier was not sunk from this attack, was because the Yamato’s crewmen were not using the proper ammunition for anti carrier use. I am not saying that the Iowa’s were not good battleships, they were excellent, but that said they were designed with restrictions in mind that the Yamato’s designers did not have to worry about, and as such, they would not be able to cope with the Yamato’s in a straight up slug match. The reason that the Axis powers lost the WWII, has very little to do with their equipment, and more to do with the fact that they had poor overall leadership.

Agreed. The Maus was an engineering masterpiece, and tactically it would have been very effective, but strategicly it was a nightmare. It’s armor, firepower, and cross country mobility, were excellent, (thanks to it’s wide tracks, and electric transmission) but as far a resources were concerned, they could have had three King Tigers (which was already an overmatch for anything the Allies had) for every Maus tank. As far as the Ho 229 is concerned, It was actually faster, and more cost effective than the Me 262, since it used a flying wing design which had less drag than the Me 262. And was made mostly from plywood, unlike the sheet steel construction of the Me 262. It was also the first true stealth fighter in history, and it’s radar cross section against WWII Chain Home radar was roughly comparable to the RCS of the F 22, against modern radar. Not to mention that unlike the Me 262, it could actually turn, and burn with Allied piston engine fighters. As far as Hitler’s interfering with the production of the Me 262 to have it produced mostly as a fighter bomber is concerned, The fighter bomber version was no less effective against Allied fighters than it’s pure interceptor counterpart. Just like any other fighter it’s air to air performance would be crippled when carrying bombs, but that was not something unique to the Me 262. All the pilots had to do to engage enemy fighters, was simply drop their ordinance. The problem that Hitler caused with the Me 262 production was not to adapt it to carry bombs (all fighters Axis, or Allied had been) but rather to USE it mostly as a bomb truck, which is inherently an offensive weapon. When he should have been using it mostly as a defensive interceptor. Hitler simply could not except what Germany needed late in the war, were defensive weapons to defend the fatherland, as opposed to giant guns, and bombers, to attack London, Washington, or Moscow.