The Soviet Volunteer Group In Action
In November 1937, with Shanghai secured, the Japanese turned their attention on Nanking. The old capital was devoid of any worthwhile defences so the Chinese decided not to fight for the city as they had […]
Month: April 2015
Vought V-65/V-92 Corsair
The Vought V-65, or O2U in US Navy service, was a biplane scout and observation aircraft that entered service in the late 1920s. It was very successful, with versions being exported to 13 different countries. […]
Fiat BR.20 “Ruth”
The Fiat BR.20 was regarded as one of the finest bombers in the world when it made its debut in 1936. It was ordered after Fiat responded to a Regio Aeronautica request for designs for […]
Vultee V-11
The Vultee V-11 light bomber was derived from the unsuccessful V-1 passenger transport. The V-1 sold in very small numbers because, as a single engine aircraft, it did not meet the safety requirements to operate […]
Yokosuka B4Y Type 96 “Jean”
The Yokosuka B4Y was a carrier torpedo bomber of the IJNAF. The 7-Shi (1932) requirement for a carrier attack bomber produced the Yokosuka B3Y, which was inadequate for the role. So, the 9-Shi (1934) requirements […]
Kawanishi E7K Type 94 “Alf”
The Kawanishi E7K “Alf”, or Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane, was designed in response to the 7-Shi requirement specification that also produced the Hiro G2H bomber. The aircraft was to be operated from smaller Japanese warships […]
The Panay Incident
USS Panay was a river gunboat built in Shanghai in 1927-8 for the US Navy’s Yangtze River patrol. She was a small vessel, only around 500 tons displacement, with a shallow draft that allowed her […]
Newsreel: Sinking of the USS Panay
Norman Alley’s Movietone newsreel footage of the sinking of the USS Panay by Japanese aircraft of the 12th and 13th Kokutai, 12th December 1937. 2 Panay sailors were killed, as well as the captain of […]
Operation Zet: Soviet Aid to China
As the fighting erupted in Shanghai in August 1937, the Chinese authorities began to look to the great powers of the west for assistance. The first to offer meaningful help was the Soviet Union, with […]
Polikarpov I-16
Whilst design work for the I-15 biplane fighter was underway, Nikolai Polikarpov also began to work on a revolutionary monoplane design with retractable undercarriage and a fully enclosed cockpit. This new design was accepted even […]