Railroad Model Craftsman 2009 08

Along U.S. Highway 20 in southern Idaho, at a place called Hill City, there stand the remains of a cribbed grain elevator. For the eastbound passerby, on this way to "Somewhere" and finding himself in the middle of "Nowhere," the elevator first comes into view as the highway reaches the crest of a low hill and curves slightly. Suddenly, the weathered, blue-gray of the elevator rises skyward, interrupting the wide open spaces of the Camas Prairie, hinting that once upon a time, some time ago, life was lived here. A spot on the map now. Hill City, in its prime, was the terminus of the Hill City branch of the Oregon Short Line Railroad and home to nearly 300 residents. A handful of nondescript buildings remain now, but in the early decades of the twentieth century it was a complete town with daily train service. Some elderly residents of the Prairie say, emphatically, that at one time more sheep were shipped by rail from Hill City than any other place in the world, a claim all the more remarkable because there is rarely a sheep in sight today.

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Wing Masters No.02

Troisième numéro de la série Luft-waffe at war, consacrée à l'étude de l'armée de l'air allemande pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale sur tous les fronts, cet ouvrage, comme l'indique son titre, s'intéresse plus spécialement à la période du Blitz en Europe, époque à laquelle rien ne semblait pouvoir résister à la Luft-waffe. Hormis une introduction historique générale, ce livre, comme tous ceux de cette série, est exclusivement composé de photographies d'époque, certaines en couleur, accompagnées de légendes conséquentes. Ainsi c'est un large panorama des avions utilisés entre 1939 et 1942 par la Luftwaffe qui nous est présenté et l'on retrouvera donc sans surprise des chasseurs aussi célèbres que le Messerschmitt Bf 109 (dans ses versions C — encore en première ligne en Norvège en 1940 —, D, E ou même F), le Bf 110 ou le Focke Wulf 190. Les bombardiers ne sont pas non plus oubliés avec plusieurs vues de Heinkel 111, Dornier 17 ou Junkers 88, sans oublier bien entendu l'incontournable Stuka. Mais d'autres «oiseaux rares » peuvent également être rencontrés au fil des pages comme, par exemple, des FW 189 de reconnaissance, des bimoteurs de chasse Me 210 ou des hydravions torpilleurs Blohm & Voss Ha 140.

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Verlinden Modeling Magazine Vol.3 No.1

Anyone involved in warfare operations will tell you that logistics and troop support can be vitally important in any conflict. This was all too well illustrated during WWII when roads across Europe were packed with convoys moving in either direction in support of the fighting GI's. This was somewhat different in Viet Nam where, because of the primitive road conditions, other means of transportation had to be found. For one there was the helicopter which turned out to play a primary role throughout the war ranging from MEDEVAC carriers to heavily armed gunships. The river seemed to be the alternative to ensure swift deployment of troops and equipment, or to perform patrol duties along the dense river banks. Apart from a few books and a brief appearance in some Hollywood movies, little has been shown on one of the more interesting aspects of the Viet Nam War, RIVERINE WARFARE. This may be the reason why modelers have not been requesting more kits of boats and other floating craft. Many modelers, fascinated by the subject had to convert existing kits or scratchbuild their own, both requiring endless hours of work.

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Verlinden Modeling Magazine Vol.2 No.2

One of the least successful battles of WWII (from the allied viewpoint) was "Operation Market Garden". Although the goal of the operation was commendable and the setup was very promising. the outcome was not what the generals had expected. Operation Market Garden was a twofold undertaking. The airborne part, called Market, involved the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the British 1st Airborne Division who would take all key bridges along the invasion road which would be used by Montgomery's 2nd Army to push through the Siegfried Line stronghold and into Germany (a ground operation called Garden). On 10 September, only six days before the actual invasion. MGen R.E.Urquhart (1st Airborne) was given orders to plan the invasion. Intelligence reports, which turned out to be wrong, indicated little or no German resistance. On top of that, some British officer carried the complete plans of the operation with him, while his glider was shot down. The information carried allowed the- Germans to take evasive action under the command of General-oberst Kurt Student, who was an expert in airborne tactics. Underestimating the German strength in the region, the slow speed of XXX Corps moving along the roads (due to heavy resistance) and airborne drops too far from the objectives were some of the mistakes leading to the lost battle. Few people could foresee the prophecy of LtGen Browning's words when he was claiming "This time we may be going a bridge too far".

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