Collaborate Disseminate
Imagine you’re a commando, doing some big secret mission on the continent in the midst of World War II. You need to hook up some wires to your explosive charges, …read more Continue reading Check Out These Amazing Self-Soldering Sleeves From World War II
As their prospects for victory in the Second World War became increasingly grim, the Germans developed a wide array of outlandish “Wonder Weapons” that they hoped would help turn the …read more Continue reading The Fliegerfaust Roars Back to Life After 77 Years
Your airplane has crashed at sea. You are perched in a lifeboat and you need to call for help. Today you might reach for a satellite phone, but in World …read more Continue reading Historical Hackers: Emergency Antennas Launched by Kite
This sealogged Nazi machine will undergo restoration. Continue reading Divers Pull Rare Surviving WWII Enigma Cipher Machine from Bottom of the Baltic
You may not know the name Abraham Wald, but he has a very valuable lesson you can apply to problem solving, engineering, and many other parts of life. Wald worked for the Statistical Research Group (SRG) during World War II. This was part of a top secret organization in the …read more
Continue reading Abraham Wald’s Problem Solving Lesson is to Seek What’s Not There
The Bank of England has announced that Alan Turing’s face will grace the new £50 note.
Continue reading Alan Turing – the face of the new £50 note
Even if you wouldn’t describe yourself as a history buff, you’re likely familiar with the Enigma machine from World War II. This early electromechanical encryption device was used extensively by Nazi Germany to confound Allied attempts to eavesdrop on their communications, and the incredible effort put in by cryptologists such …read more
As the prospects for Germany during the Second World War began to look increasingly grim, the Nazi war machine largely pinned their hopes on a number of high-tech “superweapons” they had in development. Ranging from upgraded versions of their already devastatingly effective U-Boats to tanks large enough to rival small ships, the projects ran the gamut from practical to fanciful. After the fall of Berlin there was a mad scramble by the Allied forces to get into what was left of Germany’s secretive development facilities, with each country hoping to recover as much of this revolutionary technology for themselves as …read more
Continue reading Operation Backfire: Witness to the Rocket Age
Towards the end of the Second World War, as the United States considered their options for a possible invasion of Japan, there was demand for a new fighter that could escort long range bombers on missions which could see them travel more than 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) without refueling. In response, North American Aviation created the F-82, which essentially took two of their immensely successful P-51 fighters and combined them on the same wing. The resulting plane, of which only 272 were built, ultimately set the world record for longest nonstop flight of a propeller-driven fighter at 8,129 km (5,051 …read more
Continue reading Rebuilding an Extremely Rare Twin Mustang Fighter
There’s perhaps nothing worse than working on a project and realizing you don’t have the part you need to complete it. You look through all your stuff twice, maybe three times, on the off chance it’s hiding somewhere. Perhaps even reach out to a few nearby friends to see if they might have something you can use. Forget local stores, what you need is so specific that nobody’s going to keep it in stock. You’re stuck, and now everything has to be put on hold.
That’s precisely what happened to [Nathan Cragun] recently. He needed a Japanese Type 96 Light …read more
Continue reading Prop WWII Machine Gun Courtesy of Home Depot