WesWorld

July 8, 1936 - Berlin

The Heer has published a request for proposals for a replacement for the Luger P08 pistol. Any replacement will be a semi-automatic pistol, in 9 x 19mm Parabellum, with a magazine capacity of at least 8 rounds. All manufacturers, foreign and domestic, are encouraged to submit candidate weapons.

Fabrique Nationale will submit it's recent pistol.

9mm Browning P-35 Grand puissance
Generally known as the Browning Hi power, the pistol is a Fabrique-Nationale product developed primarily by John Browning. There is an alternative model with tangential rear sights and a detachable stock.

caliber : 9x19 parabellum
action : single action, short recoil semi-automatic
Length : 197mm
Weight : 1.06kg loaded
magazine : 13 + 1
MV : 350m/s
ROF : 40/min

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August 23, 1936 - Berlin

The Heer has announced the winner of it's light mortar competition: the British 2" mortar will be procured as the 5 cm Granatenwerfer 37 for the infantry and mountain divisions. The panzer divisions, having carriers for their infantry, will be equipped with the short 81mm mortar, the 8 cm Kurzer Granatenwerfer 37. The British weapon won on the basis of it's light weight, while the short 81mm won on the basis of effectiveness and compatability with existing weapons in the inventory.

July 9, 1936 - Wilhelmshaven

The experimental submarine V-64 caught fire early this morning and could not be saved, eventually sinking at her moorings. Witnesses said that after a short burst of white smoke, the little submarine became a raging inferno, with flames pouring out any opening in the hull they could find and the steel hull glowing red in places.

Oops!

Yep, well, the price of progress. Luckily V-64's little, so it's not like I've lost too much, but she'll still need to salvaged so the dock can be used.

Looking forward to the report as to what happened!

Heh, well, V-64 has had a history of fires (mentioned back in Q4/1934 news), this time her history caught up with her. Kind of goes with the territory when exploring new methods of achieving higher submerged speeds.

September 6, 1936 - Memel

The German government has approached the owners of two parcels of land on the coast north and south of the harbor to purchase their parcels. Additionally, enquiries have been made on acquiring land for right of ways to reach these currently undeveloped parcels (one parcel is currently a woodlot, the other a pasture). When asked, the German government spokesman said, "The parcels are being considered as locations for coastal batteries. The agreement between Germany and Lithuania gives Germany the right to emplace guns up to 15cm in bore to defend Memel. These parcels are possible locations for 15cm batteries to protect the harbor."

Possible, but why put it next to Lithuania & Russia?

[In fact, it is exactly what was said by the spokesman: the German government is looking at sites for 15cm coastal batteries.]

September 9, 1936 - Augsburg

The Bf-109 V22, an aerodynamically cleaned up version of the Bf-109 powered by the new DB-601E, took to the skies for the first time. The most obvious changes are the enlarged propeller spinner and the longer, smoother cowling, along with the loss of the bracing on the tailplane and the tailwheel retracting.


September 27, 1936 - Rechlin

Testing of the impressive He-100 continues. The attention to aerodynamics shown in the Heinkel entry is credited for the aircraft's impressive speed advantage over the Bf-109B, though the Heinkel entry does have a minor advantage in being powered by the DB-601N vs the DB-601Aa of the Bf-109B. The Heinkel also has superior range to the older aircraft, with the same armament.


September 30, 1936 - Bremen

Rollout of the BMW-801 powered Fw-190 V5 prototype fighter. The Fw-190 V1, powered by the BMW-139, has made a number of flights over the summer under the control of Focke-Wulf's chief test pilot Hans Sander and the chief designer, Kurt Tank, but the 18-cylinder engine is clearly unsatisfactory as is the cockpit temperature (reaching 55 degrees C in the cockpit). Despite that, most observers have been impressed with what they've seen from the radial-engined machine.