#history

The Yak-130 is a modern two seat Russian trainer with powerful engines and an ordnance loadout that packs a punch. Made to prepare future pilots for the complexity and maneuverability of 4th, and even 5th generation fighters, it is a real force to be reckoned with due to its high tech and supermaneuverable nature. Not only is the Yak-130 a menace in War Thunder, but this powerful trainer also has a unique history full of complications and many interesting partnerships.

The Supermarine Attacker was a fighter that emerged in the 1940s with the aim of replacing the legendary Gloster Meteor, the UK’s first jet fighter, which had already made aviation history, and simultaneously becoming the Royal Navy’s first frontline jet fighter. The Attacker failed to achieve its primary objective: the introduction of a modern, efficient single-engine jet aircraft for the Royal Air Force, and its service life was short due to poor overall performance and maintenance issues. Its history and service, spanning from 1950 to 1964, reflects the challenges of the transition to the jet age in the United Kingdom and the introduction of the first jet aircraft of the Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF). Throughout its 14 years of service, the aircraft never took part in any conflict or combat.

After Operation Uranus, the counteroffensive of the Battle of Stalingrad, it became painfully obvious that the USSR needed mobile heavy guns in order to destroy German fortifications and heavy tanks. The Red Army did have the KV-2 heavy tank for this duty at the time, but mass production of the KV-2 had ceased when the Kirov Plant was moved to Chelyabinsk. The new anti-fortification vehicle had to be faster than the KV-2, with thicker armor, and mount the powerful and more accurate ML-20 howitzer on a less expensive platform. The gun was too long and its recoil too powerful for it to be mounted in a turret, so a casemate structure was opted for. This would result in the soon-to-be-famous SU-152 'Zveroboy'.

In 1944, the Sukhoi Design Bureau started working on a new twin-engine fighter. The design process was slow, but the bureau soon acquired a captured German Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow"), which profoundly influenced the project's subsequent development. This culminated in the Su-9 in 1947, which retained the Me 262’s layout but had a different fuselage and wing design. Soon after, the Su-11 was created based on the Su-9, featuring more powerful TR-1 engines. However, in the game, the Su-11’s performance is much superior than that of the Su-9 or the Me 262. It stands out for its excellent acceleration and incredible energy conservation. Is it really that good?

The Renault YR and Renault ACG, officially designated the AMC.34 and AMC.35 respectively, were a pair of French medium tanks designed in series. Initially conceived for the 1931 French Army Cavalry plans for the Automitrailleuse de Combat (AMC) role as a light tank, both were essentially dead on arrival.

The King Tiger is one of the most famous tanks known today, which is very impressive considering its age, but there are many misinterpretations, myths, and misunderstood facts going around, as well as a few blurry lines here and there, which I will aim to dismiss.

The T-26 mod. 1939 was one of the final variants of the T-26 tank, featuring significant improvements over the earlier versions such as a conical turret and thicker, better armor. Around 1300 such vehicles were manufactured by 1940. In War Thunder, this tank is a reserve in the Soviet tech tree. Although it’s slow and has weak armor, this tank features a good gun, making it a powerful weapon in skilled hands.

Hungary was one of the first countries in the world to create its own air force. Austro-Hungarian aces — József Kiss, István Féjes, and others — were fighting in the skies over Europe as far back as World War I. But after Austria-Hungary's defeat, the state was forbidden from even having military aviation. Despite this, Hungary began secretly rebuilding its air force under the cover of organizing aviation clubs. By 1938, when the ban was lifted, the forces had long since been formed and consisted of around seventy Italian CR.32 biplane fighters, plus a few German Junkers Ju 86 bombers.

A helicopter takes off thanks to the lift generated by its main rotor, the rotation of which creates a reactive torque. According to Newton’s third law, the fuselage tends to rotate in the direction opposite to the rotor. To maintain stability, this torque must be counteracted. There are two main ways to do this: generating an auxiliary force (in single-rotor configurations) or mutual compensation (in twin-rotor configurations).

France might have won World War Two on paper, but in reality it had suffered a massive defeat. The Germans, of course, had steamrolled them at the start of the war. Showing the ineffectiveness of their tactics, tanks, and leadership. It was the lessons they learned there, that mobility and the ability to react to unforeseen threats quickly and effectively, that shaped the entire French armoured forces to this day.