I'm about halfway through the full rewrite of the dive bomber post.  I decided earlier this evening that I pretty much had to scrap the original version, save for the introduction: that, I kept.

So, tomorrow.  While you're waiting, another in the 'lazy blogger's best friend' series... this one behind a NSFW tag, though:


-Jeremy Clarkson, 1991.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry.  That was mean of me.  Just click the "more" button for the hot girl picture.  It's worth it.


more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:57 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Since it appears that people actually want to read my thoughts on the dive bomber as a weapons platform, I'll rewrite it on Sunday with an aim of getting it posted that night. (UPDATE: No, it'll be on Monday... I think.)

 And for once, it won't be limited to the Pacific theatre, either... though that's where the majority of the dive bombing action took place.

In fact, it's rather surprising how little dive bombing was used in Europe (other than by Germany and to a lesser extent, Italy), but we'll cover that in the post.

While you're waiting, also by demand, here's another cute girl.

-Hatsukoi Limited, BD ED

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:45 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I just spent two hours on a post.  A post that I thought was clever.  It wasn't.  It fails.  Miserably.  On so many different levels.  It's a treatise on how the dive bomber was an evolutionary dead-end, yet a war-winning one.  I'll be darned if I can figure out how to make it something more than "Huh huh huh me luv Dauntless durrrrrr" however.  I've saved it, so it may see the light of day sometime after a major rewrite and much sacrificing of farm animals to dark gods, but for the moment, yeeeesh!

So, instead, here's a cute girl.

-Hatsukoi Limited, ep10

See?  Everybody wins.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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-The Cockpit OVA, ep02

Say what you want about Leiji Matsumoto (and I will!), but he does do "fetishistic detail" very well....  One of the least-loved planes of WWII, the SB2C "Helldiver" earned every bit of its nickname: "Son of a Bitch, 2nd Class".  It was big, unmanueverable, underpowered, and a handful to fly.  Worse yet,  in its first iteration it was actually banned from dive bombing due to structural weakness. 

On the plus side, though, it was fast enough to keep up with escorting fighters, carried a bombload almost twice that of the plane it replaced, the Dauntless, had a heavier armament and a longer range.  Eventually, over 7000 copies of "The Beast" were built.

It barely appears in The Cockpit ep02; it takes longer to read this post than it's on screen. 

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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