WesWorld

January 29, 1938 - Rechlin

With the delivery of BMW-801 powered versions of the Ju-90S and He-177 prototypes, the Luftwaffe's heavy bomber tests can finally get under way. Testing of the large aircraft is expected to last at least 6 months before any production decision is made.

You are building 4 engine He-177?
I WW this plane can have engines with enough power to operate with two engine pylons.

You already dropped the dive bombing requirement so this plane can use its full potential.

Correct, the WW He-177 has 4 BMW-801 engines (at least right now). Think of it as the historical He-177B (though it has different engines because the DB-603 is not production-ready yet).

February 19, 1938 - Berlin

Rheinmettal's 50mm FlaK weapon has been rejected by the Heer, due to assorted problems with the mount (unstable in transit, too slow to traverse, inaccurate). The gun itself appeared to work well enough, but without a suitable mounting, it is not ready for Heer service at this time. By all accounts, however, Rheinmettal is aware of the flaws and working on them, as well as investigating mountings for use aboard ships.

March 19, 1938 - Meppen

The testing of prototype heavy tanks from Henschel (VK4502) and Porsche (VK4501) began today. Both vehicles are currently just large tracked chassis fitted with ballast weights in place of their turrets, Krupp (in charge of the turret design) has not yet finished the prototype turrets. Wooden turret mockups are available, though, for the Heer inspectors to examine, and Krupp promises delivery to the factories by the end of April.

I guess that Henschel will win again? Question is whether it's going to be fairly blocky like the historical Tiger or incorporate sloped armour like the Panzer III/IV here (was that just frontal, or sides as well?) Either way, I think Italy needs a larger anti-tank gun than the 47mm.

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Originally posted by Red Admiral
I guess that Henschel will win again? Question is whether it's going to be fairly blocky like the historical Tiger or incorporate sloped armour like the Panzer III/IV here (was that just frontal, or sides as well?) Either way, I think Italy needs a larger anti-tank gun than the 47mm.

The WW Panzer II, III & IV designes have incorporated sloped armor on their upper sides, so it's a good bet that whichever heavy panzer design wins will do so as well. They might not, if internal space is at a premium, but it's a good bet that they will. The Henschel design is likely to win here, yes, for similar reasons as historical (turret forward design not liked by Heer inspectors, electric transmission not ready for real-world use). However, there are unlikely to be a bunch of Porsche chassis built with not requirement here, so I won't have to find a use for them.

Between the Chars and other FAR heavy tank work and this prototyping, yeah, it's probably time to start looking at something a bit more powerful than the 47mm Bohler.

Quoted

Between the Chars and other FAR heavy tank work and this prototyping, yeah, it's probably time to start looking at something a bit more powerful than the 47mm Bohler.

The problems start to appear with the lack of APCR or APDS shot and the angled hulls that are appearing on most of these tanks. For the defensive war Italy is envisaging fighting, being able to shoot through the hull and turret front is needed. Most suitable gun available at the moment is the 75/46 which with APCBC can't really do this. There's the larger 76/62 which is better but fairly marginal against tanks like the TT-37. The much bigger 105/65 AA gun should do fine, but isn't really portable. Above 75mm and you've got serious problems with portability. Might just have to go to historical HESH and HEAT rounds.

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral

Quoted

Between the Chars and other FAR heavy tank work and this prototyping, yeah, it's probably time to start looking at something a bit more powerful than the 47mm Bohler.

The problems start to appear with the lack of APCR or APDS shot and the angled hulls that are appearing on most of these tanks. For the defensive war Italy is envisaging fighting, being able to shoot through the hull and turret front is needed. Most suitable gun available at the moment is the 75/46 which with APCBC can't really do this. There's the larger 76/62 which is better but fairly marginal against tanks like the TT-37. The much bigger 105/65 AA gun should do fine, but isn't really portable. Above 75mm and you've got serious problems with portability. Might just have to go to historical HESH and HEAT rounds.

Once they're available, HEAT and HESH rounds make perfect sense. Given the lack of a first-power war to accelerate the development, I'm figuring those rounds should appear on their historical schedules (mid-1940 or so for HEAT, 1943 or so for HEP).

Realistically, most AT guns were over-matched by contemporary heavy tanks until ranges were pretty short, so the above "problem" is fairly normal. Arrange your defences to get side shots, where the armor's not so thick, is the best option, historically.

HESH rounds were invented by Sir Dennis Burney.
When he does I'll let you know, at the moment though his in the garden shed knocking and hammering on other potential weapons and other RAE work.

OOC I think we're going to realise like OTL that the AT gun has to be so big and heavy to become almost useless in mobile warfare and the armoured tank destroyer is going to become key.

Quoted

HESH rounds were invented by Sir Dennis Burney.

Also in the late 1930s by Italy. Well it's a little more complicated than that, designing an almost HEAT round that functioned as a HESH round (Effetto Pronto) then later a proper HEAT round (Effetto Pronto Speciale).

I'll see about shoehorning a larger gun into the S105/25 chassis as well for a bit more mobility.

March 29, 1938 - Bremen

First flight of the Fw-187 V31 prototype, the prototype for the Fw-187C series for the Luftwaffe. Changes from the preceding A series include: DB-601EM vs -601N engines, 20mm MG-201 cannon replacing the 15mm MG-151 machineguns, 11mm MG-111s replacing the 7.92mm MG-17s, self-sealing fuel tanks, and 10mm armor protecting the pilot from the rear.