A few more questions for the experts

[150GCT_Veltro]

Originally Posted by HenFre

Do not worry Veltro. He has allready stated above, that the torpedo is not for the BR.20

Hops, sorry mate you are right. My apologies.

About M & T, we did send all in Moscow several years ago if i remember well. I need to check again, but we should have all info you need about M, T ecc. ecc. (explosive type). But i need to search in my books and magazines, or waiting for friends reply.

[Abraxa]

Checking few pictures of SM79s and Italian torpedos, it really seems there's no real standardization in terms of colours.
It is possible that the "head" was painted in red sometimes, but I wouldn't draw any rule, IMHO.
Here's an interesting pict of a SM79's torpedo that I found online. It's taken at the Vigna di Valle Museum.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_yBKu6IwRjCY/Sf...0/DSCF1139.JPG

Although I would not follow the pict for the red nose as a rule, the grey colour looks quite realistic to me. Should I judge from the war picts I would say that the colour was either grey (the ordinary "grigioazzurro"?), either bare metal, maybe depending upon the producer. I guess that Veltro will be able to collect all the needed information on the Italian forum.

EDIT: one more pict.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/s...rviero-003.jpg
The nuance of gray looks way too lucid to me, in this restored piece, although the gray tonality doesn't look so bad.

[150GCT_Veltro]

Ok, i've found something (from "Storia Militare", a very good magazine).



100M is for "Bomba Mina" (roads, railways, light tonelage ships, bridges).

100T is for "Bomba Torpedine" (heavy targets, structures, medium tonelage ships)

I need to search again for explosives (TNT ecc. ecc..).

M = Mina (italian) = Mine (english)
T = Torpedine (italian) = Torpedo (english)
100 = 100 Kg bomb

[Alien]

Originally Posted by luthier

6. Hypothetically, let's say, a group of Spitfires is talking to the ground on 347 Khz. A German bomber over the Channel just happens to have his radio man listening to 347 KHz. Theoretically, he could he get a vector on the British squadron, right? Did something like this ever take place?

Yes, on 6th September one of german pilots told to 303. Squadron to break and return to base, and Poles didn't knew that it wasn't tower. That's only example I know.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Alien

Yes, on 6th September one of german pilots told to 303. Squadron to break and return to base, and Poles didn't knew that it wasn't tower. That's only example I know.

Get a vector means know their (approximate) location if I'm not mistaken, not the same as communicating with them.

[Zorin]

luthier I sent you a PM with lots of manuals for all nations. Should be quite helpful.

[Alien]

I know, PeterD, but though, if they didn't knew about ,,vectoring" that they didn't knew about it, too.

[bolox]

re british radio
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...197#7361019197
might be of some use?

[HenFre]

Regarding colours of the Italian torpedoes i recieved the following answer from an expert on the field:

"Italian torpedoes were left in natural metal overall, and were greased with oil in order to prevent corrosion. Detachable wooden tail was painted light grey. Silurificio Italiano's built examples had a cap that was usually a light colour, probably the grey as above, but perhaps also the same light blue of propeller blades. Sometimes they appeared dark, like standard Italian Dark Olive Green, or possibly a dark blue used for Italian bombs"

Here is a link to their colourguide to planes, ships and their crews:
http://www.stormomagazine.com/RegiaA...sinWWII_3a.htm

[blottogg]

Originally Posted by PeterD

Get a vector means know their (approximate) location if I'm not mistaken, not the same as communicating with them.

The bomber using the radio to determine the relative position of intercepting fighters would depend on a couple of things:

1) Being on the right frequency. From Bolox's link, the British TR9 HF radio was tuned to a single frequency on the ground (4.3-6.0 KHz). I don't know about the frequency tuning abilities of German bomber radios, but if they could tune to this frequency, they could listen in.

2) The bomber crew would have to know that they were the target the fighters were being vectored towards. With multiple interceptor and bomber flights, this might not be easy to suss out. Given the short duration of fighter transmissions, D/F-ing the interceptors directly would be difficult, unless they were "holding down" to allow their own GCI to D/F their position. The TR9 apparently had a separate transmission frequency for this purpose.

3) The German on the radio would need to know not just English, but RAF GCI terminology. "Judy", "Buster", "Bandit", "Bogey", and "Angels" are all terms we're familiar with after years of flight sim experience (these terms also still mean the same thing in modern GCI, too), but they're not exactly conversational English.

If they could do that (and remember to take GCI's vector heading and use its reciprocal to look for the incoming interceptors), they could get an advanced warning of the Hurricanes and/or Spitfires. Other than the above example, I don't know of the Germans trying to listen in, though I don't think it would be too difficult. The example above makes sense to me, as I would think the Polish (and other pilots who weren't native English speakers) would be more vulnerable to spoofing.