1 [CONTENT] [APRIL] A new type of ground vehicle…………………………………………………………………… 3 The ST-1 walking tank *ACE PILOT+ Squadron Leader Marmaduke ‘Pat’ Pattle…………………………………………. 9 Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIB [WEAPONS OF VICTORY] Golovachev's Yak-9M………………………………………………….. 14 [AIR FORCES] Canadian Air Force………………………………………………………………………… 16 RCAF Canadair Sabre CL-13 Mk.5/6, aircraft 23445 of the 444 “Cobra” Squadron, camouflage created by MightyArrow [VEHICLE PROFILE] M4 Sherman…………………………………………………………………………. 20 M4 Sherman "Columbia lou" D-Day, 70th Tank Battalion, Utah Beach, 6 June 1944, camouflage created by -313- Paegas [WEAPONS OF VICTORY] IS-2 “Revenge for the Hero brother”……………………………. 23 [ACE TANKER] Zinoviy Kolobanov……………………………………………………………………….. 25 KV-1E, available in the game via the starter pack & Kolobanov's authentic camouflage, made by Joker [GROUND FORCES] 4th Heavy Tank Regiment of the People's Army of Poland……. 27 IS-2 mod. 1944 from 1st Polish Armoured Corps, April 1945, camouflage created by RazNaRok [AIR FORCES] The Dawn of the Royal Air Force…………………………………………………… 30 Fury Mk.I Trainer, 5th Flying Training School, RAF Sealand, 1938, camouflage created by Spo- gooter [VEHICLE PROFILE] M41 Walker Bulldog……………………………………………………………… 33 M41 Walker Bulldog - US Army camouflage created by JoKeR_BvB09 [LOCATIONS] Kent, Malta and Midway………………………………………………………………. 35 [AIRCRAFT PROFILE] Grumman F7F-1 Tigercat……………………………………………………. 40 F7F-1 Tigercat VC-80 "What If", camouflage created by PROx_GAMING [WEAPONS OF VICTORY] P-51D Daddy's Girl………………………………………………………. 44 1 [ARMS] Minengeschoß shells……………………………………………………………………………… 46 FW 190 A-4 with 2x MG FF/M [VEHICLE PROFILE] MiG-15…………………………………………………………………………………. 50 MiG-15Bis number 15 of the Soviet Air Force, camouflage created by Audrey_McKnight [WEAPONS OF VICTORY] T-34-85 E……………………………………………………………………… 53 _____________________________________________________________________ © 2009—2015 by Gaijin Entertainment. Gaijin and War Thunder are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Gaijin Entertainment or its licensors, all other logos are trademarks of their respective owners. 2 Two 'Object 104' (later called ST-1) participating in field training exercises. Picture taken shortly after the first prototype trials [APRIL] A new type of ground vehicle 1. April - Author: War Thunder team Development of the ST-1 started even In April 1937, Armour Command of before the start of World War II. The the Red Army sent the military opera- first world war, which was also called tional requirements to Factory #184, “the trench war”, showed an ineffi- these were the requirements for the ciency in the usual infantry break- development of “an armoured machi- through and required the creation of ne of a new type” with a maximum an absolutely new type of ground mass of 50 tons, protected by at least vehicle - something that could cross 60mm of armour and the option to destroyed roads and ground torn install different weapon types. De- apart from explosions. This is what pending on the task of the battle the ST-1 was about - the first and the machine, a 107mm cannon, a 122mm only model of a walking tank. howitzer or 152mm howitzer could be mounted. Additional weapons were a 3 45mm cannon, a high-calibre AA ma- the execution of order for object chine gun and a 20mm tank cannon. 104”: In spite of the complexity of the task "6 machines tested on the run. The the construction bureau of the factory following defects found: managed to cope with the new design and the new battle machine (object a) Replacement of the diesel engine 104 in the factory numeration) rea- and the electrical generator due to ched the factory testing stage which overheating and low oil pressure. lasted for a year. During this period a b) Overheating of the main clutch considerable number of flaws were mechanism. detected, these issues were elimina- c) Unstable operation in the power ted as the tests proceeded. drives of the side turrets. d) High temperature in the battle Central Archive of the Ministry of compartment. Defense of Russian Federation “Head e) Unsatisfactory performance of gyro armour command of the Red army stabilization mechanisms.“ Military representative’s report on Soviet troops on the offensive, 1941 4 In September 1939 after most of the due the high profile of the machine. defects had been eliminated, the The large “dead zone” of the main development prototype obj. 104, armament and limited range of vision (newly designated ST-1) was delivered were the main weaknesses. A success- to Moscow to be shown to members ful combat deployment convinced of the Soviet government and Red even the most pessimistic military Army command. The demonstration officials of the necessity to put ST-1 of the new battle machine highly into mass production. impressed the Soviet political and military leadership, and therefore it According to different sources by June was decided to build a series of ma- of 1941 from 20 to 30 ST-1’s were chines for operational trials. The new built. All of the aforementioned vehi- vehicles went through a baptism of cles were deployed in the western fire during the Soviet-Finnish war. ST- military districts but by the beginning 1, along with new trial tanks the SMK of the war, the machines were not and the T-100 had been sent to the fully mastered by the crews - also front. Later, the ST-1 was changed to there was a lack of spare parts for KV in the documents for disinformati- repairs that resulted from a large on purposes. amount of electrical failures In the course of the near-border battle in summer of 1941, all completed ST-1’s were lost. But some of them were mentioned in German battle reports. From the report of Wehrmacht’s 14th tank division: Blueprint of the Object 104 (ST-1) “... For the first time in the Eastern campaign we faced a new type of Not only did it have an extremely high battle machine, it was hard to miss cross-country ability, the ST-1 also the complete superiority of a 55 ton was almost immune to anti-tank hed- walking tank…” gehogs and mines. Even more so, “... Our 5cm KwK. tank cannon could thanks to it unique looks, it would penetrate the armour only in vulne- spread fear and panic in enemy infan- rable spots and at very close distances try ranks. 152mm howitzer allowed to (below 200m).” destroy concrete pill-boxes with a “… Our tanks’ armour cannot stop the minimal ammo expenditure. Finnish 15cm armour piercing shells, and even 37mm cannons could not penetrate close detonation of an HE shell often the battle compartment’s armour and led to penetration of the armour by its Molotov cocktails were also useless fragmentation effect” 5 “... The existing facts and besides that, the impression felt that Russians know about their armoured walkers’ techni- cal superiority, should be taken into account and thoroughly investigated to avoid the damage that is being done to our armoured troops” “… Fight against Russian armoured walkers and tanks with 8.8cm flak Forced river crossing, ST-1 in action cannons and 10cm tank guns cannot be enough on their own. Both weapon The Germans managed to capture types are cumbersome and in most several trial prototypes that were cases they are already discovered, abandoned without fuel and ammu- under fire and destroyed while trying nition. Despite the fact that the crews to reach an optimum firing position.” followed the instructions and tried to destroy their machines with hand “... In order to counter Russian heavy grenades, the Germans managed to tanks and armoured walkers the restore several machines in a few following detailed recommendations years and they took part in incidental are presented for consideration: skirmishes. I) To develop assault weapons to fight Due to the difficult situation at the heavily armoured targets: front and the military factories’ relo- II) Besides other modernizations we cation to the East, a decision had should progress with the building of been made not to continue the pro- the 26 ton tank and use captured and duction of walking tanks and concen- undamaged 55 ton Russian armoured trate on less spectacular but more walkers. 1 company of which is efficient, easy to master and repair required for each tank regiment. vehicles with traditional running gear. III) We should design a 10 cm self- 3 pre-production ST-1’s were given to propelled anti-tank gun. At least 6 of the US due to its technology exchange these SPG’s are required for each tank program. In Autumn of 1941 they regiment. were delivered to Aberdeen proving IV) Create new shell type with consi- ground and were tested for 1.5 derably higher armour-piercing capa- months. city. V) Create a more powerful mine, that What follows are the excerpts from can render a 55 ton armoured walker the reports on the testing of the unserviceable. For example, simply armoured battle machine of the new our existing mines are not enough…” ST-1 type: 6 “1. Armored Chassis: tion rates. Engine cooling is not up to our (US) standards and if it won’t be A choice of the armor angling for hull compensated by the engine design plates and turret points to an excell- itself, then the engine lifetime would ent shell damage withstanding capaci- be dramatically reduced. An air star- ty... tup system could prove additionally effective… This needs to be resear- 2. Armament: ched as a reliable additional and al- ternative method of startup. Firepower much higher than any of our own tanks, makes it possible to destroy almost any target on the battlefield, including permanent concrete fortifications. In addition, the additional armament of a 45mm cannon grants a high rate of fire whilst engaging lightly-armored tar- gets. Additional machine guns are reliable, of a very simple design and easy to produce and to instal, there German armoured train with captured ST-1 are possibilities of replacing machine guns with equivalent ordinance of our OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE ST-1 design.