Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: fiddler@concertina.Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: M4 Tank Info
Message-ID: <1990Jun4.191554.1167@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Jun 90 19:15:54 GMT
References: <16204@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 29
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: fiddler@concertina.Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Hix)

> From: msmiller@gonzoville.East.Sun.COM (Mark Miller - Sun BOS Contractor)
> |>From: cash%convex@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Cash)
> |>
> |>Accordingly, German propaganda (orchestrated by Goebbels and Speer) began
> |>to stress "quality over quantity". The secret "Vergeltungswaffen" (weapons
> |>of retribution) would win the war by dint of technical superiority. All
> |>available technical and manufacturing resources were devoted to getting
> |>these weapons functional and into the field.
> 
> Not entirely correct. By '45 they started building the He162 "People's Fighter"
> in staggering quantity. This was an amazing little jet fighter with (I think) 2
> pnuematic 30mm cannons. The war ended before these really saw service, but the
> Allies uncovered scores of them in underground assembly plants. This wasn't a
> weapon of retibution, it was an attempt to compete in the production war.

It may have been a good thing that the He-162 never saw service in any quantity.
According to most sources I've encountered, the flying qualities of the "Volksjaeger"
(I think it was also called "Salamander") could most charitably described as
"user-hostile".  Not as bad as the Natter...but not much better for poorly-trained
pilots.

------------
  The only drawback with morning is that it comes 
    at such an inconvenient time of day.
------------