Aircraft/tanks

[Micha]

Could it be that some aircraft, for instance the Ju87B and some American planes, don't appear in the replacement pool/production table?

I also noticed that after I had changed tank bns from t-70 to Grant the AI always seemed to change it back although I was on human upgrade control. Is there a way to prevent this?

[Possum]

Hello Micha, Are you playing with my custom scenario?
If Not, then no, There are no Aircraft/tanks that do not appear in the pools listing.
If Yes, then there are many aircraft/AFV's that are not displayed in the pools, as I had added in so many....
In my custom scenarion, though, the only units that do not appear in the pools listing are the Obsolete units such as T-35's, Ju-86k's, T-28's, etc. Basicly the only units you see in the pools are thing that you can still build.
WRT to the spontaneious replacement of Grants by T-70's
Try waiting untill you have at least 70 Grant's in the pool before swapping over. The most probable reason for this is that the computer is trying to give the Bn in question replacements, and it's not finding any to give, so it automatically swaps AFV's to something it can give. It's most probably using T-70's as that is the tank you have the most of in your AFV pools.

[Micha]

I play the normal game.

Concerning the American aircraft I guess the explanation is that for instance the P-38 and P-51 only appear in allied bombing but are not shipped to the Soviet Union.

However, the Ju87D appears in the German replacement pool, but is not available when you want to change the production.
And the AI still changes my Grants to T-70s although I have more than 300 Grants in the pool. And even if not I think it should be the players' decision if he wants to equip a unit with a tank type where it might be hard to replace losses.

[Ranger-75]

Micha,

That's because the US didn't provide any P-38s or P-51s to the USSR under Lend-Lease. The most numerous planes provided by the US to the USSR was the P-39 & P-63 Cobras. The US kept all the P-38 Lightnings for themselves and provided limited numbers of P-51 Mustangs to the RAF. The US also refused to provide any 4 engined bombers to the USSR (especially B-29s).

[Preuss]

Still, Ivan managed to copy the b-29 within a few years, anyway...cheeky Russkies!

[Possum]

Thats because the Russians dissasembled a few of the B-29's that had to make emergency landings in Vladivostock. Officially so they could repair other USAAF B-29's that had also landed there with combat damage. (remember that Vladivostock was the closest allied airfield, prior to the capture of Iow Jima, to Tokoyo)
International law allowed the USAAF to land dammaged aircaft at Vladivostok, but not to use it as a stageing post for raids.
(The same law allowed the UK to land a dammaged Vulcan, returning from Port Stanley, at Sao Paulo?, Brazil, during the Fauklands War BTW)
Also the Russians puchased quite a few LB-30's (B-24's) I thought about including the LB-30 in my custom OBWIR, but the total received came to less than 200, so not really sufficent to warrent inclusion.

[Preuss]

If you made them as deadly as the USAAF b-24's, the Germans would be in serious trouble. I still get amazed when a relatively small number of American bombers (less than 50) inflict HEAVY damage.

[K62_]

The Russians don't see the T28's in their pool and can't switch any of their battalions to this type. The same happens to the Germans with the R-35. These aren't the best tanks of their time, but they are quite decent.

[Denniss]

B24 and deadly ?
Get 100+ planes and 70+ experienced FW190A units on CAP over Germany and see how "dead" your B24 will be .....

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by Ranger-75
The US kept all the P-38 Lightnings for themselves and provided limited numbers of P-51 Mustangs to the RAF.

Not exactly, the P-51 was a *British* plane. It was ordered by the Brits from an American company, and was only average with a radial engine. It was a British test pilot who suggested putting the Brit's Merlin inline engine in it. The result was the P-51. So it was an American plane body with a British engine. The plane was produced by the US, Britian, and Australia, so there must have been cross licensing agreements concerning the Merlin engine to allow the US to produce the entire plane in its own factories. From what little I've gotten off the net, I think had the piston aircraft engine and the war lasted much longer, Britian would probably have gone entirely over to the Mustang, but the war ended and the jet plane arrived before such a switchover could happen.

[Augusto]

Not exactly, the P-51 was a *British* plane. It was ordered by the Brits from an American company, and was only average with a radial engine. It was a British test pilot who suggested putting the Brit's Merlin inline engine in it. The result was the P-51.

The P51 had no radial engine. The first models had the american Alison inline engine (mustangs I and II, RAF designation) the merlin engine was used in the mustang III (P-51 B) onward.

[Possum]

The T-28 and The R-35 cannot be selected because they have code 99 for build cost, which means that they are obsolete, and cannot be used to re-equip any AFV formations.
Other code 99 AFV's are Pz-IIIe, Pz-IVd, T-37, BT-5, and T-35

[Ranger-75]

Originally posted by Ed Cogburn



Not exactly, the P-51 was a *British* plane. It was ordered by the Brits from an American company, and was only average with a radial engine. It was a British test pilot who suggested putting the Brit's Merlin inline engine in it. The result was the P-51. So it was an American plane body with a British engine. The plane was produced by the US, Britian, and Australia, so there must have been cross licensing agreements concerning the Merlin engine to allow the US to produce the entire plane in its own factories. From what little I've gotten off the net, I think had the piston aircraft engine and the war lasted much longer, Britian would probably have gone entirely over to the Mustang, but the war ended and the jet plane arrived before such a switchover could happen.

Thanks to Augusto for the correction on the Allisons vs. Merlins, here's more:

In the winter on 39-40 the RAF was trying to obtain more fighters. They had ordered several hundred P-40s but with French and US internal demands, they were turned to the then small North america aviation to build P-40s. North American said that they could design and build a better plane in the same time that it would take to tool over and build P-40s. The result was the NA-75 later known as the P-51 Mustang.. It was an American design. THe original engine, the in-line Allison engine didn't do the plane justice, so the RAF substitueted Rolls Royce Merlins and performance soared. RR couldn't build enough engines for an new plane (they were full out equipping Hurricanes, Spitfires & (later) Lancasters), so Ford was initially approached. But Henry Ford being an anti-semite was too leaning towards Germany and blew off the request. Beaverbrook (British the Aircraft production minister), said screw Ford, have Packard build the engines, when someone said that Packard was too small, he said, "double the order", so Packard built the Merlin engine in the US and they were able to equip a large portion of the later Lancasters as well.

Strange how the Allison engine which performed so well in the P-38 did so poorly in the P-39 and P-51. The P-39's problems could be attributed to someone's crippling the plane by insisting that the engine not be supercharged, but why the P-51 fared so badly, i don't know...

So the Mustang was an American design with a British engine. That's ok by me. Should have been Cadillac making the engines though.

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by Ranger-75

so Ford was initially approached. But Henry Ford being an anti-semite was too leaning towards Germany and blew off the request.

Really? Henry Ford was pro-Nazi? His company made equipment for the Allies, so how did he lean to the Germans without getting branded as a traitor?

(I believe you, I just never heard this before.)

[Nixuebrig]

Originally posted by Micha
Could it be that some aircraft, for instance the Ju87B and some American planes, don't appear in the replacement pool/production table?

I also noticed that after I had changed tank bns from t-70 to Grant the AI always seemed to change it back although I was on human upgrade control. Is there a way to prevent this?

Don`t know if it has been corrected in the latest Version, but in prior Versions all Western Allied Equipment(even the lend lease ) had unit nationality 2(in this case USAAF) and so they didn`t show up in the pool.

[Ranger-75]

Originally posted by Ed Cogburn



Really? Henry Ford was pro-Nazi? His company made equipment for the Allies, so how did he lean to the Germans without getting branded as a traitor?

(I believe you, I just never heard this before.)

Ford was very anti-semetic, its is all over the many documentaries on the man. He wasn't a pro-nazi, but he used his power and personally intervened to prevent the Ford Motor Company from making Merlin engines in early 1940 - remember this was before Germany overran France so perspectives were different than they were in the summer of 1940.

[Mark_BookGuy]

Originally posted by Ranger-75


Ford was very anti-semetic, its is all over the many documentaries on the man. He wasn't a pro-nazi, but he used his power and personally intervened to prevent the Ford Motor Company from making Merlin engines in early 1940 - remember this was before Germany overran France so perspectives were different than they were in the summer of 1940.

There are a number of excellent books on Ford and his increasingly bizarre and harsh behavior as he got older. For a recent title on his relations with the Jews take a gander at Neil Baldwin's Henry Ford and the Jews (New York: Public Affairs, 2001). Personally, I think he just went nutty, but at least he didn't dump his stock options, eh?

The role of US companies in the Third Reich has been investigated off and on since the war and the results are mixed. There was nothing similar to the post-World War I hysteria over the "Merchants of Death."

Odd piece of info: the SS uniforms were designed by none other than Hugo Boss (yes, the designer label). Humm... wonder what Himmler would have thought of his guys wearing Nikes? (Their motto could have been SSwoosh.) I got this tidbit from an employee of the Ford company archives.

[Vern]

Originally posted by Mark_BookGuy


Odd piece of info: the SS uniforms were designed by none other than Hugo Black (yes, the designer label). Humm... wonder what Himmler would have thought of his guys wearing Nikes? (Their motto could have been SSwoosh.) I got this tidbit from an employee of the Ford company archives.

Sure. BTW, which SS uniforms? Combat uniform or Ausgehanzug? 1935 or 1943 style? Waffen-SS or Verfügungstruppe? Or did he design simply ALL of them? May he also designed the death skulls and the germanic runes? He decided that the eagle had to be worn on the left arm instead of the breast?

C´mon, you don´t believe this yourself, do you?

[Mark_BookGuy]

Originally posted by Vern


Sure. BTW, which SS uniforms? Combat uniform or Ausgehanzug? 1935 or 1943 style? Waffen-SS or Verfügungstruppe? Or did he design simply ALL of them? May he also designed the death skulls and the germanic runes? He decided that the eagle had to be worn on the left arm instead of the breast?

C´mon, you don´t believe this yourself, do you?

The person who uncovered this is a very close scholar friend who was employed by the national firm History Associates through Ford in the 1990s to investigate its role in the Reich. He did not have a chance to find out all the Hugo Boss details because it was not directly related to his research. His Ford research was proprietory so I couldn't get juicy details from him, despite copious quantities of beer.

Does anyone else have other specific info on the topic?

[radical]

I believe this came from a news report that Hugo Boss had manufactured uniforms for the SS. Here's a humorous website depicting the fall 1937 Hugo Boss Nazi fasion line:
http://www.thethirdrail.com/hugo/