Bronco continues their series of GPWs with one that now tows the M3A1 37mm AT gun. After the War Department determined that Willys couldn’t meet the governments demand for vehicles, Ford was given a contract to license build the GPW version of the Willys MB (Jeep). The GPW differs from the MB in a few areas. The front cross member under the grille is a tubular piece on the Willys while on the GPW it was an inverted “U” channel. Ford also introduced the familiar stamped front grille which was then adopted by Willys. Another difference is the lids on the tool boxes on either side of the rear seat. The Willys’ tool boxes have plain flat covers while the GPW’s lids are embossed. The vehicle itself is listed as a Mod. 1942, and correctly has the Ford logo stamped on the rear panel, as both Ford and Willys had their company name stamped on the rear panel. This practice was ended in July of 1942 by order of the War Department. Thus, only the first 2000 vehicles had the Ford logo.

Introduction

This is another in Dragon’s series of Sd.Kfz.10 halftracks and makes an interesting version that is a nice kit to assemble.

Background from Dragon’s Website

Germany fielded a wide range of halftracks during WWII. The Sd.Kfz.10, one of the lighter types, was conceived as a prime mover for small, towed anti-tank or antiaircraft guns. Several specialist vehicles were based on this design, with a rather unique conversion appearing in 1941. This saw a 5cm PaK 38 L/60 gun being mounted on the rear of an Sd.Kfz.10 to create a light anti-tank platform. In addition, armor plate was added to the engine compartment and driver’s cab. It’s thought these unique vehicles were mostly issued to Waffen-SS units.

Introduction

A quick search of the internet finds the Baku was a Kiev-class aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy. Her keel was laid down in 1978 in Ukraine, she was launched in 1982, and commissioned in December 1987. The ship was actually renamed Admiral Gorshkov after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the paint scheme and markings for this kit are more in line with those of the Adm. Gorshkov era. Plagued by difficulties since a boiler room explosion in 1994, she was offered for sale and 1996 and eventually sold to the Indian Navy in 2004. The Baku is an assault carrier, somewhat comparable to the newer USS Wasp class amphibious assault carriers of the U.S. Navy.

At the beginning of World War two the German Army had little need for dedicated mobile AA defence as the Luftwaffe enjoyed air superiorty. However after a short while it became more important for mobile AA defence as the Army realized that the Luftwaffe could not always provide a protective umbrella. A quick solution was to convert soft skin and half-track vehicles to provide this mobile AA defence, but it was also soon realized that many of these conversions left the crews exposed. It was then decided to mount more effective mobile AA platforms that would have fully enclosed turrets to protect the crews and improve overall survivability in the face of ever increasing Allied air supremacy. The Panther medium tank chassis was ideal for these future mobile AA defences, the 5.5 cm Zwilling Flakpanzer was one of many proposals that did not advance beyond the drawing board.

The idea of flamethrower tanks came about towards the end of WWI. Even though the US Army was not really sure if this was a platform that they wanted to pursue they still had the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) work on its development. For most of the interwar years there was not much development as this type of weapon was actually considered a failure. There was a renewed interest at the outbreak of World War II based on reports of German and Italian tank mounted flamethrowers. The real need for the flamethrower tank came from the Pacific campaign. There the usefulness of routing out the enemy from fortified positions on the islands become a backbone operation for the flamethrower tank. Thus also saving countless lives of soldiers. The US Army flamethrower tank was used sparingly in the ETO. Mainly due to the lack of platforms and fortified positions as encountered in the Pacific.