The only surviving model was captured by the Red Army in Manchuria in 1945 while in service with the Japan Army. How it arrived there from Germany is still a mystery (2/5)
The "tank" was used as a light reconnaissance vehicle with a one man crew. The armour was incredibly light, only five millimetres thick (3/5)
The vehicle was powered by a single-cylinder two-stroke motorcycle engine. At the rear there is a steerable wheel to shift the center of gravity behind the axis of the two track wheels and to support rotary movements that are carried out with the track wheels. (4/5)
In stationary operation, the tank could probably serve as an armoured refuge or makeshift bunker. This sadly is all we know about this odd contraption of a tank but maybe in the future the world will discover more about this small Wunderwaffe (5/5)
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The project began when the USA put an embargo on Turkey for UAV, due the fear of them being used to taget PKK groups inside and outside of the nation. Bayrack started developing a drone on the request of turkish government, and in 2014 the TB-12 made its maiden flight. (2/5)
A year later the weapon system had been already tested.
Many problems, regarding its components arose with time: the engine used, made in Austria, was only certified for civilian use; while parts of its imaging system and bomb rack was suspended... (3/5)
Development began in 1941, german used french radial engines in order to not put more stress on their industry. They also reinforced the wings and installed a steadier undercarriage comprised of four small wheel at the front and six larger wheels on the side of the fuselage.(2/5)
At the beginig were used only 4 engines, later upgraded to six, in version -D.
The Me-323 wings were made out of plywood and fabric, while the fuselage consisted in a metal tube construction with wooden spar. The floor had heavy breacinf to support the cargo. (3/5)
By the late 1950s, Soviet commanders realised that the T-55's 100 mm gun was incapable of penetrating the frontal armour of newer Western tanks, such as the Centurion and M48 Patton, with standard armour-piercing shells (2/13)
It was decided to up-gun the T-55 with a 115 mm smoothbore cannon, capable of firing APFSDS rounds. Experimental trials showed that the T-55 was inherently unsuited to mount the larger new cannon, and work therefore began on a new tank. (3/13)
- That Time Caesar was Kidnapped by Pirates (Mediterranean Sea, 75 BCE) 🧵-
In 75 BCE a band of Cilician pirates in the Aegean Sea captured a 25-year-old Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar, who had been on his way to study oratory in Rhodes. (1/8) #svagaiature#SPQR#History
From the start, Caesar refused to behave like a captive. When the pirates told him that they had set his ransom at 20 talents, he laughed at them for not knowing who it was they had captured and suggested that 50 talents would be a more appropriate amount. (2/8)
Caesar wasn’t the usual captive, he treated the pirates as if they were his subordinates. In few time he became the de facto leader of the ship. He even sent his entourage out to gather the money and settled in for a period of captivity. (3/8)