Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer
It's full of the run of "the usual suspects", plus a lot of unusual or downright weird ones, and some that are just real headscratchers (in other words I can't figure out why the author put them in).
The head-scratchers:
The X-3 - it was a research aircraft, bitching about it being a bad weapon is like complaining that the V-2 couldn't reach the moon.
The M113 - in spite of the previous megathread we had about it, it's by and large not a "worst weapon". Strangely the Brad got a pass!
DD Shermans - they were disasters at Omaha, but proved sound for the other beaches that weren't as heavily defended as Omaha was.
PzKpfw I Tiger - dude, WTF.
The Type 89 Knee Mortar - "Actually not a bad weapon, just misunderstood [by troops who captured it, he goes on to say]." Then why's it IN HERE?
The Stuka - yes, that lousy weapon that terrorized Europe for 6 years and was a linchpin in the German combined arms warfare tactic.
The Swordfish - the fucking plane that disabled the Bismark is a "Worst Weapon" ?!?
I mean there's a lot of justly deserving weapons - the Apache Pistol (a gun that folded up and was part knife, part knuckle-duster, part pistol and ALL SHIT), pikes for god's sake for Home Defence troops during the Blitz, but really when you put the AK47 in for being "loud" and having an "unpleasant recoil" you stop being anything but mildly entertaining and just fall into "tabletop wargamer who lost to the Russians too many times" territory.
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X-3: It was I believe a bit of a dissapointment mainly due to it being very underpowered, but it was a research aircraft and data from the X-3 led to the development of the F-104 Starfighter which is probably a better candidate for one of the worst weapons ever.
M113: Its alluminium armour made it light enough to be transported by aircraft at the time of its design in the early 1960's but protection in early models was only against small arms, which I think led to most of the critism. Early models also had petrol engines which made them a fire hazard. However America and others have built over 80,000, and 13,000 are still in US service and thousands more with 54 other countries.
DD Sherman: I think the idea rather than the actual tank was the problem here. None of the amphibous armoured vehicles developed by the Allies or anyone else were realy very successfull.
PzKpfw I Tiger: It scared the pants off anyone who had to take it on, but it was expensive to maintain, hard to transport because of its size, and both hard and expensive to manufacture because of the quality materials and high level of engineering that went into its design and build hense its relatively low production rate, but other than problems with its wheels and tracks it was actually fairly reliable.
Type 89 Mortar: I think the problem with it was its knickname " knee mortar" which implied it could break someones bones if used in that way, even though it wasn't designed to be.
Stuka: It was very vulnerable to attack by modern fighters, but so where all other dive bombers which was what the Stuka was.
Swordfish: As said it was outdated even in 1939 but it crippled the Bismarck, sank an Italian battleship and disabled two others at Taranto and sank 14 U-Boats and the British kept them flying until May 1945.