From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

SepiaGlyphs
-+
Follow
Mon
You are sent back to January 1, 1936 and are put in charge of the
British Empire with all your knowledge from the future. How do you win
the Second World War?
To win WWII starting January 1, 1936, you wouldn't need to invent
futuristic weapons. YourCOd need a 23-year-old Cambridge mathematician and
the nerve to call Hitler's bluff exactly 66 days later.

The first priority would be the immediate expansion of the Royal Air
Force. The prototype Supermarine Spitfire took its first flight in March
1936. Knowing its eventual strategic value, the government could order
it into mass production immediately, skipping years of bureaucratic
delays and peacetime budget constraints. Simultaneously, pouring
unlimited funding into Robert Watson-Watt's early radar experiments
would accelerate the construction of the Chain Home radar network along
the British coast and push for the early development of the cavity
magnetron to put miniaturized radar inside aircraft.

In the intelligence sector, bypassing the initial struggles of the codebreakers would yield massive advantages. British leadership could immediately recruit the aforementioned mathematician, Alan Turing, and establish the Bletchley Park cryptography center years ahead of
schedule. Armed with future knowledge of the German Enigma machine's
rotor wiring, British intelligence would be reading high-level
communications long before the outbreak of hostilities.

For ground forces, a complete overhaul of British tank doctrine would be essential. Historically, the military split its focus between heavily
armored but slow "infantry tanks" and faster, lightly armored "cruiser
tanks," resulting in vehicles that were consistently outmatched by
German armor. Canceling this divided doctrine in favor of a universal
medium tank with sloped armorrCopowered by a derivative of the new
Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft enginerCowould effectively field the postwar
Main Battle Tank concept a decade early.

However, the most decisive move would be geopolitical. On March 7, 1936,
Adolf Hitler ordered troops into the demilitarized Rhineland. Historical records show that the German military was severely under-equipped at
this time and under strict orders to retreat at the first sign of French
or British resistance. Issuing a joint ultimatum with France and
mobilizing the British Expeditionary Force would force a German
withdrawal. Facing immediate military humiliation and a confrontation he
was completely unprepared for, Hitler's political capital would shatter.
By standing firm in 1936, the British Empire could crush the regime's momentum, fundamentally altering the course of the twentieth century
before a global war could even begin.


A surviving Chain Home radar transmitter tower at the former RAF
Stenigot in Lincolnshire. Photo by Dave.Dunford is licensed under CC
BY-SA 4.0.
13.7K views
View 189 upvotes
1 of 105 answers
17 comments from
David Paul Evans
and more
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

"a425couple" wrote in message news:RHq8S.58013$atK1.6611@fx48.iad...

SepiaGlyphs
-+
Follow
Mon
You are sent back to January 1, 1936 and are put in charge of the
British Empire with all your knowledge from the future. How do you win
the Second World War?
...
However, the most decisive move would be geopolitical. On March 7, 1936,
Adolf Hitler ordered troops into the demilitarized Rhineland. Historical records show that the German military was severely under-equipped at
this time and under strict orders to retreat at the first sign of French
or British resistance. Issuing a joint ultimatum with France and
mobilizing the British Expeditionary Force would force a German
withdrawal. Facing immediate military humiliation and a confrontation he
was completely unprepared for, Hitler's political capital would shatter.
By standing firm in 1936, the British Empire could crush the regime's
momentum, fundamentally altering the course of the twentieth century
before a global war could even begin.

----------------------------------
That's possible, the third Fascist dictator, Spain's Franco, stayed out of
the war and remained in power until he died in bed in 1975. Hitler's
generals strongly opposed his risky planned exploits until they succeeded. Mussolini's meddling in Ethiopia was similar to what Britain and France were doing.

Another possible scenario is Hitler attacking the USSR to gain Lebensraum by first becoming allied with one or more bordering nations, thus not prompting
a wider European war. The West might have been glad to let him. Finland, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria all sided with Germany against Russia to some extent.

However, depending on how many of those allies would have joined him without the war the Holocaust would likely have been much worse. Before its flaws became so obvious Fascism appealed to many who leaned left but rejected
Marx's one-world views in favor of the nation-centered socialism that Mussolini had created as the alternative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Union_of_Fascists

We had no way to verify the huge death numbers reported from behind the Iron Curtain, or to what extent Hitler or Stalin were responsible, both killed
many millions. The countable Western toll was much lower, notably from Mussolini's Italy. Bulgaria also protected its own but not neighboring targeted "Gypsies, Jews and Commies". https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-losses-during-the-holocaust-by-country

Without the war the USA and USSR might not have become superpowers. There
may have been no way to stop Japan.

The Communist source of "Gung Ho":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_Carlson
"He may be red but he's not yellow".

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

"a425couple" wrote in message news:RHq8S.58013$atK1.6611@fx48.iad...

SepiaGlyphs
-+
Follow
Mon
You are sent back to January 1, 1936 and are put in charge of the
British Empire with all your knowledge from the future. How do you win
the Second World War?

---------------------------------
In 1936 theoretical opinions on future war were very strong and nearly impossible to change. The innovative German officers who led Blitzkrieg
across France were violating orders to slow down. The American Air Corps officers responsible for the P-38 and P-39 had to create the new class of "Interceptor" to bypass a strict 500 Lb limit on fighter plane armament weight. In Britain "The bomber will always get through" which meant they didn't need to develop long range escort fighters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_bomber_will_always_get_through

A time traveller knows what did happen but once they make changes the future becomes as uncertain as without them. You know about jet engines, what about the Nimonic alloys essential for them, or the fluid dynamics to shape the blades? Can you design a 10 GHz Magnetron radar oscillator or homing
torpedo?

Unpredictable events had a strong effect, such as the plane carrying German war plans becoming lost and landing in Belgium. D-Day succeeded partly
because the Germans thought the weather was too rough and any landing would
be when high tide came at dawn. A Vichy French admiral was arrogant and uncooperative when the British commander requested he surrender to them, so the British battleships shelled the French fleet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir

We captured vital code books because the crewman who opened a strainer cover to scuttle his crippled U-Boot left it on the deck instead of tossing it in the bilge, and a prepared US prize crew stopped the leak. https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/05/28/the-u-505-submarine-was-captured-75-years-ago-this-week-and-you-can-tour-it-at-the-museum-of-science-and-industry/

Mark Twain dealt with this idea in Connecticut Yankee. He knew all the
modern tech but fumbled tact and persuasion except for the ditzy-seeming
girl who latched onto him. Twain knew something of this personally, he lost his money to the erratic inventor of a failed competitor to the Linotype
type casting machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paige_Compositor

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

"a425couple" wrote in message news:RHq8S.58013$atK1.6611@fx48.iad...

You are sent back to January 1, 1936 and are put in charge of the
British Empire with all your knowledge from the future. How do you win
the Second World War?

-----------------------------
A new book will explore that question. https://robertlyman.substack.com/p/so-what-went-wrong

"It might seem something of an esoteric subject for some, but in the book we identify a number of serious lessons for defence planners in our own times."

When a US carrier visited Britain it made some people starkly aware that
it's air power was greater than all of the RAF's.

Although not part of my job as a hands-on lab manager I and others explored such matters informally and on rec.aviation.military during my off time at Mitre. I came in early and left late to avoid a terrible commute. https://www.mitre.org/

I don't claim to have answers but I've examined many possibilities, so when
an engineer asked me to build them some new gizmo I'd have a background understanding and at least know what questions to ask, such as the temperatures, pressures and G forces it must withstand.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news:113u2ro$77p2$1@dont-email.me...

https://robertlyman.substack.com/p/so-what-went-wrong

The American situation was similar, mostly due to limited spending and the attitude that we wouldn't fight overseas again. We did secretly develop
radar almost simultaneously with Britain and the Navy spent what they had on long term capital ship construction, assuming that an imminent threat would provide the funds for more quickly built smaller vessels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina-class_battleship

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/manuscripts/u-z/leo-c-young-radar-pioneer.html
"During 1922, Taylor and Young observed reflections of high-frequency radio waves from ships on the Potomac River as they passed between a transmitter
and a portable receiver. This led to a radar development project directed by Taylor, and a 200-MHz radar was ready for installation on a ship by 1937."

The British technical delegation that proclaimed "they have nothing like
ours" was quietly taken out to see a CXAM radar already installed on a ship. It's true ours were nothing like theirs, especially the enormous Chain Home
vs portable SCR-270.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-270

US aircraft development was a balance between the military knowing all wars hadn't been ended yet and the civilian imperative to spend only to defend
the USA, which meant the B-17 was sold as suited for coastal defense patrols and fighters were optimized for low altitude infantry support since enemy aircraft couldn't reach us. The Flying Tigers and the Russians proved them very good at it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_P-39_Airacobra
"...they enabled individual Soviet pilots to collect the highest number of kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict."

The theoretically superior turbocharger would be added to fighters if high altitude bomber defense became necessary, so the Allison's integral supercharger was sized to provide ground level pressure up to 15,000 feet. Though a turbocharger itself is small its necessary ducting and intercooler proved too bulky for a narrow inline engine fighter in which the pilot and fuel have priority for the space behind the engine. The fuel needs to be
near the center of gravity to maintain balance as its weight changes.

The P-47's R2800 radial engine made it large enough and the P-38's pilot was elsewhere, so they could accommodate turbochargers, as could bombers. A Corsair with the same engine is thinner. The Navy didn't need turbos because moving ships were very hard to hit even from low altitude. The attempt to turbocharge a P-39 discouraged further effort. https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/p-39-turbocharged-prototype.45453/ https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/xp-39-wind-tunnel-tuft-tests.44989/#post-1264369

The semiautomatic Garand rifle was designed and tested but not manufactured
in quantity, the first troops at Guadalcanal had bolt action Springfields.


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2