war Vehicles of The cold war
Trains
Armoured trains usually had a number of railroad cars, equipped with machine guns and heavy artillery, and were heavily protected with armour. The armies of several countries used these military trains during the late 19th and early 20th century and in World War II. Armoured trains were protected by a variety of thick metal plates, but concrete and even sandbags were sometimes used to create makeshift armoured trains in some conflicts.
When World War II began, the Soviet Union had a lot of armoured trains, but many of these were destroyed or damaged when the Germans invaded in 1941. The trains used later in the war had turrets usually fitted onto tanks and some were even armed with huge naval guns transferred from ships:
The Soviet military greatly valued the MBV-2 and the trains were frequently fitted with different types of guns. German armoured trains of World War II were often used almost as mobile forts on the Eastern Front. The Soviet trains (below) acted in more of a supporting role for army units, able to perform reconnaissance in an area and also attack any German infantry or tanks that they encountered:
This railway gun of the TM-3-12 model (below) can be seen at the St. Petersburg Outdoor Train Museum. This was not part of an armoured train, but was actually built with others in the late 1930s using guns taken from a battleship and placed on a rail chassis. It was used in World War II, but captured by the Finns and used during the siege of Leningrad. When Finland ended their war with the USSR in 1944, the gun was handed over as part of the peace agreement:
Some armoured trains were escorted by a draisine, which was kind of like a tank that ran on rail tracks. These were mostly used for advance scouting, patrols along the track and similar tasks. Sometimes, armoured cars were converted into vehicles that could run on tracks, but most draisines were built specifically for this purpose. This armoured draisine (left) was built in Czechoslovakia for Polish armed forces in 1920s and 1930s. On the right is a Polish draisine captured by the German forces during the campaign in Poland in September 1939:
Germany didn’t use armoured trains as much as their Soviet counterparts did, but had trains that were very well equipped. The Germans had heavily armoured locomotives that were used to pull the trains and some railcars were fitted with anti-aircraft gun turrets. Some cars were also designed with ramps to be able to carry and deploy tanks. The BP 42 train on the right was apparently used in some movies after the war:
Planes
American: SR 71 Blackbird Spy-plane
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight's conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.
Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airframe constructed largely of titanium and its alloys; vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to reduce radar cross-section; Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airframe constructed largely of titanium and its alloys; vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to reduce radar cross-section; Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.
Russian: Lockheed U-2 Spy-plane
The U-2's return to the headlines comes 54 years after the plane became famous when U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers crashed one in the Soviet Union.
As NPR's Larry Abramson , today's U-2 has a slightly different design — along with wildly different electronics and a stronger engine — than previous generations. But its days seem numbered: The Air Force has been looking to phase out the U-2 in favor of its .
The U-2's return to the headlines comes 54 years after the plane became famous when U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers crashed one in the Soviet Union.
As NPR's Larry Abramson , today's U-2 has a slightly different design — along with wildly different electronics and a stronger engine — than previous generations. But its days seem numbered: The Air Force has been looking to phase out the U-2 in favor of its .
Physical Description:
- Loaded Weight: 40,000 lbs.
- Crew: 1
- Power Plant: 1 × General Electric F118-101 turbofan
- Range: 6,405 miles
- Max Speed: 500 mph
- Ceiling: 70,000+ ft.