WesWorld

Quoted from "Hood"

I really wouldn't go with a braced tailplane with jet engines, draggy and possibly causing other problems too.

Strangely enough, the OTL aircraft had them; no doubt flight testing will confirm the problem you cited, and the feature will be designed-out of future developments.

That would likely result in the historical J-451MM Stršljen variant.

I guess the designers must have been worried about tailplane flutter at higher speeds.

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Monday, 21 July 1947

The Ministry of Defence has announced its decision in the competition for the Royal Yugoslav Army’s next generation medium tank. The winning design was submitted by First Yugoslav Heavy Engineering-Special Vehicles Works, and has been christened “Kurjak” (Wolf). The vehicle, estimated to weigh-in at thirty eight tonnes will be armed with a Schneider-designed 90mm cannon and powered by a diesel engine of Skoda origins. Full details, however, have yet to be released.

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Friday, 25 July 1947

The oceanographic research and training ship Pelikan has called at Port-of-Spain in Trinidad, having cruised along the coast of Brazil – calling at Recife – and visited Cayenne, Paramaribo and Georgetown. It is believed that she will cruise the Caribbean for the next several months while her cadets learn the traditional skills of seamanship.

‘Prince Mihail’ Barracks, Sisak, Friday, 1 August 1947

The last month had seen Captain Konstantin Prigal busy with preparation for the Army’s participation in the upcoming ‘Silk Road Rally’ in China. Vehicles had to be modified, drivers, mechanics, and technicians selected and trained; soon the “Flying Pandurs” would leave for China, taking the long sea route across the Indian Ocean. Today however Prigal found himself summoned to division headquarters under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

To Prigal, seeing Oton Elbinger wearing the tabs of a brigadier seemed to be a sin against nature. Elbinger was a combat soldier first and foremost, and the two had served together in Afghanistan long ago. Prigal was but a corporal then. As he entered Prigal heard music playing from a gramophone.

“What’s that?” Prigal asked.

Elbinger looked up from the stack of papers on his desk and laughed. “Your new theme music. Borodin’s U srednjoj Aziji [In the Steppes of Central Asia]”

Leave it to Elbinger to gift a road rally team with theme music Prigal thought. “It doesn’t seem very martial.”

“You’re not going on a strictly military mission,” Elbinger replied. “But you are carrying our banners further than they have ever been before.” He pointed Prigal to a stack of books on the table opposite. “You will need to digest those too. They may give insight into where you are going.”

Prigal picked up the first thick leather-bound tome. “Ruins of Desert Cathay”, he said, reading the title aloud. “Aurel Stein.” He looked at the others – ‘Ancient Khotan’, ‘Serinda’, ‘German Turfan Expeditions’ – and turned. “These are all scholars’ works – aren’t there more recent reports?”

Elbinger shook his head. “If there are, they are written in Chinese. I don’t suppose you read Chinese?”

“No sir,” Prigal admitted. He was conversant enough in Italian, German, and Romanian, with a smattering of Polish and half-remembered Pashtun from their service in Afghanistan.

Elbinger continued. “The Foreign Office has sent down a bunch of maps and phrase books so your team can have some idea where you are going, but I want you to read those to get a feel for the lands and the cultures you will be encountering.”

Prigal tried hard not to roll his eyes. Book learning was not his specialty. With difficulty he confined himself to a formal “Yes sir”.

Nice to see your planning well.

The Brits will probably chuck a few six-packs of beer and some tins of baked beans into the back of the Landrover and make sure their AA badge is showing on the bumper in case they get a breakdown!

Quoted from "Hood"

Nice to see your planning well.

The Brits will probably chuck a few six-packs of beer and some tins of baked beans into the back of the Landrover and make sure their AA badge is showing on the bumper in case they get a breakdown! :D

Quoted

If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.

Sun Tzu

"The Art of War" is on the Royal Yugoslav Army's required reading list. 8)

Novosti News Service, Monday, 4 August 1947

Last weekend saw the opening in theatres of the latest documentary filmed by the crew of the oceanographic and research ship Pelikan. Having continued her voyage northward along the coast of Brazil the Pelikan called at the port of Recife, in the province of Pernambuco, in the country’s northeast corner.

Recife was founded in the early 16th Century, by Portuguese under the leadership of Duarte Coelho Pereira. The agricultural riches of the region and the wealth of the planters there contributed to turbulence in its history; the settlement was attacked by the Englishman James Lancaster in 1595 and the Dutch took the town in 1630, during their brief and unsuccessful campaign to oust Portugal from its colony, departing in 1654.

Located at the confluence of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers before they flow into the Atlantic Ocean, it is a major port and the gateway to Brazil’s northeast. The city sprawls over many small islands and no fewer than fifty bridges span the rivers and waterways to knit Recife together, earning it the sobriquet “Venice of Brazil”.


Sitting nearly on the Equator the city experiences mild, summer-like weather nearly year round, with warm to hot temperatures and high relative humidity throughout the year. However, these conditions are relieved by pleasant trade winds blowing in from the ocean. Recife is one of Brazil's prime business centres, with a commodious port drawing shipping from north and south. Local industries include canning and brewing, weaving of textiles, and sugar refining.

‘Prince Mihail’ Barracks, Sisak, Friday, 8 August 1947

Prigal had a way of following orders – not necessarily the way his superiors expected, but rather a unique blend of The Book, combat experience, and heresy. But when it came to preparing his men for a mission, he would leave no stone unturned. Having allowed the drivers and technicians of “The Flying Pandurs” an opportunity to study the Chinese language primers provided to each one, he began to drill them. Gathered in the bay of a maintenance garage he started.

“Hello!” he bellowed. “Nǐ hǎo! [Hello!]” the team responded.

“How are you?” he shouted. Here he encountered his first obstacle in this method. Half the assembly responded “Nǐ hǎo ma? [How are you]” while the other half answered the question, saying “Hěn hǎo, xièxie? [Fine, and you?]”

Prigal rolled his eyes. “This is a drill, not a conversation,” he explained. Fortunately there were many weeks yet before the start of the road race, including the forty-day voyage to China. He might have time to train them not to accidently insult the locals.

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Tuesday, 12 August 1947

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Thursday, 14 August 1947

The sail training and research ship Pelikan arrived today in the port of Charlotte Amalie on Sankt Thomas in the Danish Antilles.


Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Friday, 15 August 1947

A national holiday has been proclaimed today to mark the occasion of the wedding of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Petar to Princess Edith Marie Gabrielle Anna of Bavaria. The ceremony solemnizing the marriage was held in the Royal Chapel of Saint Apostle Andrew the First Called on the grounds of the Royal Compound.

Jugoslovenska vojnik, Friday, 22 August 1947

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Monday, 25 August 1947

The sail training and research ship Pelikan has arrived in the port of San Cristobal on Hispaniola. It is anticipated that she will stay for several days before continuing her voyage westward in the Caribbean.

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Monday, 1 September 1947

Having cruised in the central Caribbean the training ship Pelikan has called at the port of Borinquen on the island of Puerto Rico.


Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Wednesday, 3 September 1947

The documentary series of films produced by the crew aboard the training ship Pelikan, recording her current Caribbean cruise, continues in theatres around the nation. The most recent film documents the Pelikan’s call last month to Port of Spain in Trinidad.

This city, with its excellent harbour, is a hub for shipping arriving from or departing to Atlantis, Europe or North America. Its quayside is normally with freighters discharging manufactured goods for local consumption or transfer to ports along the northern coast of South America; tankers taking on the dangerous liquid cargos, have their own separate port facilities.


A regional business centre Port of Spain also has busy financial and commercial centres, where branch offices of Atlantean and European firms can be found. It also serves as a regional seat of government, and is provided with stately public buildings in what is known as the Downtown District. In recent years the city has grown and developed numerous suburbs.

‘Prince Mihail’ Barracks, Sisak, Friday, 5 September 1947

When he had first heard about the Silk Road Rally it had sounded like such a lark; now Konstantin Prigal had to deal daily with the realities of the challenges his team would have to face. Everything he read about the Gansu Corridor, the ancient route along which the rally course would run, filled him with concern. They would be departing Dunhuang in early December – where the average high temperatures might be as much as zero degrees, with temperatures well into the frost range at night. At Lanzhou, the formal entry to the Corridor, things might be a bit better – temperatures might rise above freezing in the daylight. At least the route had habitations, oasis cities; but metalled roads were non-existent. The combination of cold, desert, and vast spaces would be a daunting one for his team.

They could make preparations; every vehicle on the expedition would be prepared for operating in winter cold as well as desert sand; it would be particularly difficult for the Triglav that would be their actual entry – it would have to sustain continued rough terrain laden with necessary supplies. It would have to be fitted with a roll-cage, or at least several roll-over bars, to protect the driver and his navigator. That at least he had already put in train, and the base workshops assured him that the modifications would be ready in time. He had indented for special winter rations – pre-packaged food of German origin; that he prayed would be approved. How to keep the engines of all the team’s vehicles from freezing would be a more significant issue, one which he was still working on. And there were less than fifty days before they were due to depart.

“It will take a miracle,” Prigal thought.

Privredni Vjesnik, Tuesday, 9 September 1947

Report of the Hungarian Military Attaché, Belgrade, Friday, 12 September 1947

The priorities in Yugoslav defence expenditure appear to have shifted away from naval matters to the Army and the Air Force. The latter has seen considerable investment in the acquisition of jet fighter aircraft to match the potential threat of the Italian Air Force; moreover, pilots have been sent abroad for advanced training in jet combat to expand the pool of trained pilots – suggesting that further acquisition of jet aircraft is anticipated in the not-that-far-future. Monies are being expended on the development of an indigenous jet combat aircraft but nothing concrete is anticipated to appear for at least another year; this suggests that the Yugoslavs are expecting to purchase their next jet aircraft from abroad; both British and French aeronautical firms have been vying for such a procurement.

The Orkan armoured reconnaissance vehicle is now entering service in substantial numbers, displacing the older Nemanja armoured car in Yugoslavia’s armoured cavalry regiment. Procurement of the LT.43 light tank is now complete, while development work on an indigenous medium tank design is being pursued with much energy. Orders have been placed for new half-tracked infantry carriers, with deliveries anticipated soon. Meanwhile the AT.47 antitank vehicle continues in low-rate production, with some being delivered to motorised infantry formations in lieu of towed antitank guns. Most regular formations have now been equipped with the M43 self-loading rifle, and production of the M47 general purpose machinegun is being accelerated. Production of motor vehicles also remains at a high level, with emphasis on standardisation on domestically-designed types.

Sources suggest that work has begun on development of a new light antitank weapon for the infantry; most formations use the M40 Divisional Gun in that role but it is now seen as overly heavy. A recoilless weapon of 9cm is said to be under consideration; no details are available at this time.

Novosti News Service, Belgrade, Sunday, 14 September 1947

The latest in the series of documentaries filmed by the crew of the training ship Pelikan has opened in theatres here. Calling at the port of Sankt Thomas in the Danish West Indies the crew spent several days exploring this bastion of Scandinavia in the Caribbean. Acquired by the Danish crown in 1666 the island and its near-neighbours have been havens of commerce for centuries. The town of Charlotte Amalie is the capital and principal port, with all the necessary appurtenances for a modern naval station.


The city is a free port, and is filled with the offices of Danish, American, German, French, British, Italian and Iberian business houses. Located mid-island on the south shore of the mountainous island of Saint Thomas, Charlotte Amalie stretches about 1.5 miles around Sankt Thomas Harbour. The red walls of the Danish Fort Christian and the open space of Emancipation Garden and the Vendor’s Market are the center of old town. Many of the city’s historic buildings and businesses stand on the slopes of Government Hill just north of Emancipation Garden.

Belgrade, The Ministry of Defence, Wednesday, 17 September 1947

Colonel Dragoslav Milosavljevic reviewed again the delivery schedules for motor vehicles and smiled. For the last several years he had chivvied the motorisation and mechanisation programmes of the Royal Yugoslav Army along and now the goals set ten years ago were within reach. Domestic production of motor vehicles would soon permit the replacement of the last imported types – and among the recommendations in the memorandum on his desk was one calling for the Chevrolet G-7100 to be declared ‘substitute standard’, as deliveries of the indigenous Zastava M41 would soon be sufficient to replace the American type.

“Within a year we will be in a position to issue new vehicles to the Territorials,” he thought. For the time being, and likely for some years yet, the survivors of the Czech, Hungarian, and Swiss type would soldier on in second and third line reserve units. The sale of some new production vehicles to Syria had not unduly delayed the Army’s re-equipment programme, and the fact that Yugoslavia was a ‘player’ in the international arms fraternity – albeit a small one – was gratifying.

He took up his pen and initialled the draft; a fair copy would be made for submission to General Kalafatovic for Friday’s meeting. The general too would be pleased with developments.