WesWorld

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
What's that tank gun there? It looks suspiciously long...

It stretches far into the future when the tank will actually be fielded...

Very British looking, and thats a long gun

At least 60 calibers to the turret face alone, if not eighty.

[SIZE=1]Barrel is 4 px wide and 230 px long. Presuming the bore is 3px, that's a 76 cal gun just to the face of the turret.[/SIZE]

Quoted

Very British looking, and thats a long gun

Yeah, I modelled this one off the Centurion quite a bit.

Quoted

At least 60 calibers to the turret face alone, if not eighty

I seem to remember that this one was an 85/70, modelled off the German 88/71 and UK 20pdr. I was looking at what was probably going to be needed to defeat the current and next generation of heavy tanks (e.g. the Tiger/Panther thingy Germany is developing). It leads to a pretty big tank, so there won't be that many of them - though with only 2 armoured divisions, there won't be that many of them if they made up all the tanks in the division.



Centurion Mk.3 with 20pdr for comparison.

Ah, so this is more like a 1950s tank, then. Okay.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
Ah, so this is more like a 1950s tank, then. Okay.

Well, it'll depend on the threat situation for when it actually ends up being built. The longer Italy can survive with a 25t tank the better. Notionally it was for 1945+ but we'll see what happens.

I was quite fancying the semi-historical P43 as being reasonable for thinning out the Indian hordes. Decent enough gun and armour, not too heavy. Fairly good off-road. It's not going to be an awesome tank, but reasonable for Italy and suitable for the role envisaged.

Hmm that last pic doesnt really look like the drawings I´ve seen of the P43

Quoted

Originally posted by Vukovlad
Hmm that last pic doesnt really look like the drawings I´ve seen of the P43

I think it's just the perspective;

[size=1]Left: Caproni Astore Serie II Right: Testbed for Asso 2500 engine[/size]

Some problems with the remotely controlled gun turret on the new Caproni Astore medium bomber have been encountered during the first year in service. Although, thoroughly tested in the Piaggio P.50 flying testbed, this reliability has not been replicated during service. A particular problem has been their behaviour at high altitude - a test point that was not available before. In addition, the complicated construction of the turrets has lead to shortfalls in production against airframes. In accordance with this, the aircraft has been slightly re-designed. The Serie II aircraft feature no turret. The rearward firing armament now consists of a single 11mm machine gun operated by the gunner/radio operator. A large portion of the designers were in favour of removing the armament all together, but the single flexible mount has only a limited impact on drag and weight. Initial tests with the modified aircraft have revealed that they are ~20km/h faster.

Another modification flying this year is an aircraft with an Isotta-Fraschini Asso 2500 engine on the starboard wing. This aircraft is getting some flight test data for the new engine before it flies on the RLA later in the year. The aircraft is modified with an all-new nacelle for the new engine with some structural reinforcements being necessary to account for the increased weight.



Another new aircraft to fly is the Piaggio PD.3, which is an experimental helicopter. D'Ascanio successfully flew his first design in 1930, gaining a number of world records in the process. During the 1930s, funding for the research dried up, the Italian government preferring to purchase autogyros as-is from Cierva in Iberia. With recent developments elsewhere in the world, and D'Ascanio having a new design, the research money has increased. The new PD.3 dispenses with the contra-rotating rotors, instead mounting a small secondary propeller at the end of a tail boom for yaw control. Italy currently has no requirement for a helicopter, but wishes to stay abreast of the technology for when it results in a useful vehicle.

Super Mosquito meets Brigand....
I guess the rear MG might deter some foes but with only one 11mm its pretty much a peashooter against the four-20mm armed fighters we'll likely see before long. Still speed at this stage of the game is still vital for escaping danger so its probably a sensible precaution that I guess well get dropped in the Serie III.

More whirlybirds! Yay!
At least it looks fairly modern and practical compared to some of the stuff flown in WW so far (like the British Wier's).

The Astore actually looks remniscient of a Canberra to me.

I think the Canberra is more there than the Brigand myself. I did a fair amount of sizing off the Canberra for it in trying to get a decent bomb bay size compared to the Mosquito. More armament would be nice, but a big power-operated turret adds a lot of drag. IIRC a Mosquito was fitted with a low profile 4-gun turret that still reduced speed by 40mph. I find it difficult to dispense of the defensive armament alltogether and a little flexible mounting was the easiest option.

By the accounts I could find, the PD.3 was a practical machine very similar to the Sikorsky R-4 so it could serve as a good development step towards a useful helicopter. Unfortunately it got bombed historically and that was that.

The single rear gun just reminded me of the orginal Brigand canopy. Sure is a sleek looker though.