The Best That Never Was 2 (Prototypes)

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

Speaking of the Canadian New Fighter Aircraft, it's worth noting that before the "Canadian Caper" in Iran (popularized in Argo), Canada was in negotiations to acquire Iran's F-14 Tomcats as their replacement for the Voodoo and Starfighter. It would take only a very mild historical tweak for Canada to be flying Tomcats in the 1980s and 90s.

Very interesting! Are there any websites - in preference to books - that go into any detail about this ? (I'm interested in reading more about this but not so interested in laying out money for a book that may have only a few paragraphs on the subject!)

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Very interesting! Are there any websites - in preference to books - that go into any detail about this ? (I'm interested in reading more about this but not so interested in laying out money for a book that may have only a few paragraphs on the subject!)

Tacairnet has a small piece about the CF-14-Eh.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

Tacairnet has a small piece about the CF-14-Eh.

Very interesting indeed, thanks for the link.
And to think the Canadians practically had it all in the bag until the Iranians found out about the "Caper".
Would have made a very different Cold War landscape in North America if the Canadians were flying Tomcats but I'm left to wonder how they would have made nice with Grumman (I'm presuming Grumman would have remained unhappy with the Canadian's lower cost purchase and also that Canada would eventually have to get new spares etc. etc. from Grumman at some point in time).

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Very interesting indeed, thanks for the link.
And to think the Canadians practically had it all in the bag until the Iranians found out about the "Caper".
Would have made a very different Cold War landscape in North America if the Canadians were flying Tomcats but I'm left to wonder how they would have made nice with Grumman (I'm presuming Grumman would have remained unhappy with the Canadian's lower cost purchase and also that Canada would eventually have to get new spares etc. etc. from Grumman at some point in time).

In a non-Twilight scenario, it also makes me wonder if the Canadian use of the Tomcat would have prevented Cheney from having the tooling scrapped in the early 90s and left an updated Tomcat as a potential candidate for the fleet defense role on US carriers instead of the Super Hornet. The longer-ranged AMRAAM makes the Phoenix mostly obsolete, but the F-14's track-while-scan capability is (to the best of my knowledge) still unmatched by carrier-capable aircraft.

[Vespers War]

Here's one that's more forgotten than never was.

In 1923, Poland started a competition for a new light machinegun. The next year, the Ministry of War purchased a dozen each of the Benet-Mercie, Lewis, and the eventual winner, the BAR. Guns were bought from Belgium starting in 1927, chambered in 7.92mm Mauser instead of .30-06, to the tune of 10,000. License production in Poland then began, and another 14,000 were built before 1939. They saw use not just with the Polish Army (and partisans during WW2), but captured units were used by both the Soviets and the Germans, and earlier some had been shipped to the Spanish Republic, Greece, China, and Palestine.

Wt 5.9 kg, ROF 5, Dam 4, Pen 2-3-Nil, Blk 7, Mag 20, SS 4, Brst 9, Rng 93.

Compared to the original M1918, a little bit of weight has been shaved off and the burst recoil has increased from 8 to 9 as a result, while an extra 10 meters of short range has been added (due to a longer barrel). The Polish BAR also had a pistol grip. While produced in decent numbers, it's been overshadowed by the far more common American BAR.

[Vespers War]

An 18th-century best that never was is the infamous Puckle Gun. An early manual repeater, it was a 32mm smoothbore black powder revolver mounted on a tripod with a 3 foot barrel. It has a nine-shot cylinder. A crank at the rear cams a cylinder to or from the breech, and when cammed back the cylinder can be manually rotated. A flintlock fire mechanism at the top of the frame will drop sparks into a priming pan and fire the top-most chamber. Rotating the crank all the way back allows the cylinder to be removed and replaced. A single shot can be fired per 5-second round, and replacing a cylinder requires three rounds, so a cylinder can be fired and replaced in one minute for an average rate of fire of 9 rounds per minute.

A grand total of two Puckle Guns were purchased for an expedition to the West Indies. The expedition was a failure and it's not known if the Puckle Guns were ever fired in anger.

Puckle Gun (3.2 cm L/28)
Gun Weight: 40 kg
Tripod Weight: 10 kg
SAR, Mag 9, Rld 3, Bulk 8, SS 2, Rng 90 (SS and Rng include tripod bonus)

Shot: Dam: 7 Pen: 2-Nil
Canister: B: 45 Dam 2/1 Pen: 1-Nil

Each loaded cylinder is approximately 5 kilograms. Loading a single chamber takes 2 actions, so it requires 18 actions to fully reload a cylinder. Three cylinders and a crew of 3 (1 gunner, 2 loaders) should be able to keep a Puckle Gun firing at its maximum rate, though extra cylinders may be desirable to maintain flexibility between shot and canister. Explosive shell was not developed due to a lack of reliable detonator; if it was developed it would be B: 4, C: -1, Pen: Nil. If an effective shrapnel shell was developed, it would be B: 8, Dam: 2/1, Pen: 1-Nil.

[cawest]

something bigger than the latest round. MD-17

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-launch-33860/

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

An 18th-century best that never was is the infamous Puckle Gun...

I have that one on my site, under blackpowder rifles, but I had the impression more were built?