Originally Posted by Dean

Awww, but Perseus, your questions are so interesting, even if I could not answer a lot of them. I hope you will ask more soon.

To keep things going, here is an easy one.

At the beginning of the Battle of Midway, even though Americans are loathe to admit it, the Japanese had the upper hand. they had 4 heavy carriers to the Americans three, and they had the Zero, which was in almost every way superior to the F4F Wildcat. As well, they had more of them. However, in one attack, the ungainly SBD Dauntlesses, (obsolete, about to be replaced with the TBM Avenger) which were usually easy pickings for Zeros, managed to attack without any interference even though the Zeros were in the air. It was a clear day, with a bit of high cloud cover, and the clouds were not a factor. The attack resulted in the sinking of 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers. The question: Why were the Japanese unable to stop, or even touch the Dauntlesses?

It was one of those incredibly lucky moments of WW II.

Because the Japanese were too busy shooting down torpedo bombers and were out of position to attack the dive bombers thus they got a free shot at the carriers.

Originally Posted by MontyB

Because the Japanese were too busy shooting down torpedo bombers and were out of position to attack the dive bombers thus they got a free shot at the carriers.

I told you it was easy. The torpedo bombers came in at wavetop level, and all of the Zeros that were in the air went down to meet them. That allowed the Dauntlesses to come in unopposed at hign altitude and to drop their bombs on the virtually defenseless carriers, and then, the speed that they had built up in the dives allowed them to easily outrun the Zeros. Later in the day, the fourth carrier was sunk, and with it went any hope of further expansion in the Pacific.

Go for it MontyB.

Dean.

Ok something slightly different.

What was the designation of the first helicopter to enter production and service with the Luftwaffe?

Originally Posted by MontyB

Ok something slightly different.

What was the designation of the first helicopter to enter production and service with the Luftwaffe?

Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri.

Originally Posted by redcoat

Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri.

The information I have is of an earlier model and designation. The Fl 282 entered service in late 1942 the one I am looking for was 2 years earlier.

There were two, and according to my source, both were operational in 1940. One was indeed the Flettner FL-282, and the other was the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (Dragon), a medium helicopter.

Originally Posted by Dean

There were two, and according to my source, both were operational in 1940. One was indeed the Flettner FL-282, and the other was the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (Dragon), a medium helicopter.

Yep I had the FA-223 as the first of the two to enter production.

All yours.

Thank-you Monty, so here is another one. Towards the end of the war, the Russians had stopped less than 50 kilometers from Berlin to allow their logistic tail to rejoin their armies. The delay was longer than expected, and this time allowed the Germans to build up their defences in an attempt to stop the Russiand from getting to Berlin. When the attack was re-started, Marshal Zukhov almost lost his job. What was the problem, and where did it happen?

Dean.

How late are we talking here?

I will take a guess and say the problem was that the Germans had withdrawn without the Russians knowing to fortified postions on the Seelow heights consequently the massive opening Russian bombardment was wasted and infact some of it was fired into their own advancing troops.
On top of this the assault on the heights was extremely costly in terms of manpower and material and was not immediately successful.

You got the place, but not the problem. Why did Stalin send a very thinly veiled threat to Stalin saying that he was on the verge of being fired? It was not the botched artillery barrage.

Dean.