Lockheed is known for making unusual aircraft. The company's legendary creations include the F-104, the U-2, and the SR-71. Another well known plane is the F-117, the first stealth aircraft with its distinctive shape. But why and how was it designed this way? Read more in our infographic.
The P-26 Peashooter is a family of American monoplane fighters developed by Boeing during the interwar period. In War Thunder, it serves as an introduction to the USA’s aviation tech tree, where it stands out for being a monoplane fighter, rather than a biplane, contrary to what other nations have at its tier. That being said, its flight performance and armament is not too dissimilar from those biplanes, albeit with some minor differences.
Despite how common this element is, its purpose remains little known. This component is called the Leitkreuz, which translates from German as guide cross. It carries no symbolic weight and is purely a technical device, despite its resemblance to the Balkenkreuz. So, what does it actually do? Read on in the article.
The Cold War forced the USSR to pour colossal resources into air defense. Drawing on combat experience and intelligence assessments, the country built a flexible, layered system that combined assets of different ranges and roles: from long-range missiles to classic gun-based air defense. A vast fleet of anti-aircraft guns didn’t simply stand guard; it was constantly refined to meet the challenges of a new era.
In our game, there are tanks with a great balance of stats: solid armor, good speed, decent firepower. Sounds like a universal recipe for success. But the excitement from that kind of vehicle fades fast. And then you start looking toward the “dark side”: machines whose personality is built on extremes — one stat cranked to the max, and everything else seemingly designed to make sure you never get too comfortable. With the Chinese light tank ZTS63, boredom is not on the menu.
From the first operational jet fighter, to bombers intended to be able to fly to America in one trip, Germany’s Luftwaffe pushed the boundaries of military aviation to its fullest extent during the Second World War. However, from the war’s beginning, the Luftwaffe's leader, Hermann Göring, had avidly believed in the power of a certain aircraft type for ridding the skies of enemy fighter opposition: the 'Zerstörer' ('Destroyer'). But what actually was this design, and how successful was it in combat?
The appearance of the Me 262 in the skies drew intense attention from military aircraft designers. The first mass-produced jet fighter proved unmistakably that the piston era was ending. Still, the Germans did not catch the Allies completely off guard: Britain and the United States were already working on their own jets. The Soviet Union tried to join the race as well, but found itself trailing. Domestic turbojets were not ready, and Soviet fighter projects existed largely on paper.
Almost all piston aircraft start a match by climbing because whoever looks down on the enemy gets to set the terms. But there are fighters and interceptors that climb so aggressively that we might jokingly call them “helicopters”. And today we’re taking the controls of exactly that kind of machine: the Japanese Ki-44 II Hei.
The Matilda III is an early heavy tank in the British tech tree. It boasts amazing armour and weaponry, but suffers from a poor top speed and can easily be outflanked and defeated if fighting on its own against a coordinated and determined enemy. There is also the Matilda Hedgehog, that has a mortar in the back, which can be used against enemy light vehicles, or even tanks with enough luck and skill.
For a long time, carrier-based VTOL aviation remained just a dream of Soviet aircraft designers and a distant hope for the Soviet Navy. The USSR’s first production VTOL aircraft, the Yak-38 attack jet, turned out to be an overly complex and accident-prone subsonic aircraft without a full-fledged radar. But in the 1970s, naval commanders envisioned the future fleet in formations approaching the capabilities of U.S. carrier strike groups, and the Yak-38 clearly didn’t fit that vision. The Navy needed an aircraft that could secure air superiority, strike ground targets, and support amphibious landings. All of that — in a single impressive package.