Transcript (by Youtube)


4s The Shooting Range
8s In this episode...
9s Pages of History: A Pick-Up Line for Flying Aces
14s Round Study: Soviet Rockets
16s And Metal Beasts: New Landship
29s The title of the main landship has long been held by the Soviet T-35 heavy tank.
35s It still holds the record for the number of turrets,
37s but today’s Metal Beast has set a new bar for tank size and total crew number.
43s Please welcome!
44s A French superheavy tank,
47s the Char FCM 2C bis.
50s The main caliber of this machine is a 155-mm howitzer
54s with 100 degrees of traverse
56s and elevation angles between −10 and +10 degrees.
61s Auxiliary calibers include a couple of machine guns.
64s The engine is in the center of the hull, while the transmission is in the rear.
67s The crew of this tank includes the commander, the driver, the gunner,
71s four loaders, and no less than five machine gunners...
75s The total is 12!
77s Compared to other nations’ tanks of this class,
80s the French heavy looks simply ginormous.
83s The first thing you’re likely to encounter is
85s the bewilderment of those allies who only started playing
89s and never expected to see such a monster at the spawn point.
92s Watch out where you drive lest you smash a careless teammate!
98s You won’t have to do that for long, though,
100s since you’re going to be left alone soon enough.
102s With a top speed of only 15 km/h,
105s it’s impossible to keep up with medium or light tanks.
109s Here’s a plus, though!
110s The reverse speed is as good as the forward one is bad.
113s On the other hand...
115s Who chooses a landship to retreat?
117s Forward, and never look back!
120s When this French tank finally gets to the battlefield,
123s a second wave of bewilderment crashes down:
126s this time, on the enemy side.
128s Some flee in panic...
130s Others don’t know what to fire at...
132s Still others shoot all their guns, frantically trying to stop this menace.
137s The panic and confusion alone are worth trying out the new heavy.
143s The armament of this French tank is a bit less impressive
146s than its Soviet counterpart’s.
148s There’s only one gun, and the fire rate is way lower.
151s But each time it shoots,
152s it throws no less than 43 kilos of explosive-filled metal at the target.
158s Should we even mention that no tank at this rank can survive such a pitch?
162s The survivability is also pretty nice.
165s Its armor isn’t impenetrable,
166s but there’s enough space inside to soak up a few rounds.
170s Even if the enemy gets close,
172s it’ll take them quite a while to incapacitate the entire crew.
175s Your allies may even have enough time to come for help before they finish.
180s The 2C bis is too slow to take key positions first;
183s its fire rate limits the number of frags you can score,
186s but still, this unique tank may give you emotions
190s you’re unlikely to experience with anything else.
205s For what seemed like the first time in his life,
208s Louis Curdes, a brave American fighter pilot,
210s was experiencing something quite far from confidence.
214s He was a true hero who piloted a Lightning over the Mediterranean Sea
218s and managed to shoot down no less than three Bf 109s in his first flight.
223s Quite a feat!
224s Naturally, he earned his flying ace title soon enough.
227s Then, he won in a harsh fight against an Italian Folgore,
231s knocked out a German bomber—and another fighter to boot.
235s Next time, he was hit himself, got captured,
238s but escaped and made it back to the allies.
241s He was sick and exhausted but refused to go home.
245s Having recovered, he got back to the frontlines.
247s That time, he piloted a Mustang over the Pacific.
250s What an admirable type, wouldn’t you agree?
253s And then, he met this girl.
256s Her name was Svetlana Shostakovitch-Brownell.
259s She was beautiful, kind, smart, and talented,
263s and she never lacked attention, even from men with much higher ranks.
267s She was also an actress performing in USO tours.
271s Although she’d only just started, she was already famous,
273s thanks in part to her uncle, Dmitry Shostakovich,
276s a renowned Soviet composer who actually made it to the cover of Time magazine,
281s and his Seventh Symphony was on the radio all the time.
285s And who was this Lieutenant Curdes anyway?
287s Just a regular fellow from Indiana with a few wins to his name.
291s So what if he asked her out?
293s It took something much bigger than simple confidence
296s and the title of a flying ace to win that girl!
299s But, the war was still going.
301s During one of his patrols, Curdes was commanding four Mustangs
304s in an unsuccessful attack at a small Japanese airfield on the island of Batan.
310s One member of his squadron received serious damage
312s and had to make an emergency landing at sea.
315s The lieutenant never intended to leave his fellow pilot behind.
319s He was circling around him, providing cover and guidance for the rescue plane.
323s Meanwhile, something truly odd was going on nearby.
327s Curdes was heading back to his base when he spotted a C-47 transport flying...
332s Wait, it was flying right at that Batan island, the one occupied by the Japanese!
338s The lieutenant made a sharp turn and got closer.
341s All his attempts to radio the transport failed.
344s Curdes tried getting in front of the plane and rocking his wings
347s to show the “follow me” signal.
349s But the C-47 pilot was obviously lost and out of fuel.
353s They probably planned to land on the closest airfield,
355s never realizing they were flying straight into enemy hands.
359s Knowing full well what horrors could await the crew and the passengers in that case,
363s Curdes dared the unthinkable.
366s He tailed the C-47 and sent a few accurate volleys at its engines,
370s knocking both of them out.
372s He then circled around watching the transport make an emergency landing
375s on the water surface,
376s made sure everyone got to their rafts,
379s and called a rescue Catalina in.
381s The next morning, the passengers were back in safety,
385s including his fellow pilot and...
387s Imagine Curdes’ surprise!
390s Svetlana Shostakovitch-Brownell,
392s the very one who Louis Curdes had asked out the night before!
397s She only evaded a terrible fate in the hands of the Japanese
401s because Curdes shot down her plane!
403s The command first wanted to court-martial the lieutenant, of course,
407s but they had to admit his actions had been wise, practical, and absolutely correct.
413s Curdes was in for an award.
415s Although, he couldn’t really care less about it.
418s What he did care for was Svetlana who now looked at him with true admiration.
424s On the 2nd of April, 1946, they married.
427s And they lived happily ever after.
429s By the way, Curdes’ Mustang is still exhibited
432s in the Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona,
435s still rocking its victory marks:
437s seven German planes,
439s one Italian,
440s one Japanese, and one...
442s American.
443s This is the story of a man who managed to shoot down his future wife
447s and remain a hero.
464s Today’s Round Study is going to be aerial again,
466s but we won’t talk about guns or certain vehicles.
469s This time, we’re going to talk about Soviet 82-mm and 132-mm rockets,
475s found in the arsenals of numerous aircraft.
481s We’ll start with the bigger ordnance,
483s taking the high-explosive ROFS-132 and the later M-13UK.
489s These rockets are very similar to big HE rounds used by tanks:
493s they carry 4.5 and almost 5 kilos of explosives, respectively,
498s providing a penetration rate of 39 to 40 mm.
502s With their good velocity and accuracy,
504s a skilled pilot can achieve successful hits at quite a distance.
508s But why don’t we try it in practice?
510s The King Tiger and the Ostwind will be our targets today.
513s We’ll start with the SPAAG.
515s And we destroy it with the very first hit!
518s Let’s try it again...
520s The rocket misses and lands a hull away.
522s But it’s still enough to knock out the crew with the explosion!
526s Which means you don’t have to spend that much time
528s on aiming at open-top vehicles.
530s Just send a single rocket towards the enemy, and you’re good enough.
534s Now, what about the second target?
537s No matter how many times we hit the Tiger, no significant damage is seen.
542s The armor-piercing rockets however perform much better against heavy tanks,
546s like the RBS-132.
549s Their effect is closer to capped rounds:
551s these rockets can get inside the hull and hit both the crew
554s and the internal modules with overpressure and shrapnel.
558s Their penetration rate, however, drops a lot with distance,
561s and the best range is 400-500 meters.
564s Moreover, they’re heavier and slower, and you need a direct hit to destroy a target.
569s This is the main flaw of these rounds when used against open-top vehicles.
573s When you’re attacking an anti-aircraft gun,
575s having to get close and aim carefully might simply be too risky.
583s As for the 82-mm rockets...
585s Well, size does matter.
587s The ROS-82 and the M-8 don’t have enough explosive filler
591s to even scratch regular tanks,
593s while open compartment vehicles require a direct hit.
597s That’s why the armor-piercing RBS rockets are much more efficient in practice.
602s They have enough pen even for the King Tiger’s roof,
605s and the planes that carry them often attack much less formidable targets.
610s Let’s sum up.
611s 132-mm rockets can be easily used in both AP and HE versions.
617s The choice is defined by the combat situation.
620s If the enemy team has too many anti-aircraft guns
623s and you see a lot of chat messages about your allies going down,
627s choose the high-explosive rockets.
630s If your main threat is tanks, feel free to load up on AP ones.
634s By the way, War Thunder already has some aircraft
637s that can carry both types of rockets thanks to the custom loadout capability.
641s You can even combine the ordnance with them!
644s As for the 82-mm rockets, we recommend you only take the AP version.
649s Well, enough with the rocket science today.
652s Time to answer some of the questions you ask us in the comments!
669s The first question was sent by a player called Gumerhumer 804:
674s “Which plane(s) have thrust reversal? I didn’t find any.”
679s Hi there. The Swedish Viggen and SK-60 have it, as well as all Tornado versions.
685s By the way, the SK-60 and the Tornado can even use the reversal mid-air.
692s TheMaXDieCool asks:
694s “Why is the M1128 so slow on snow and sand?”
699s Hi, Max. The Stryker’s mobility is mostly limited by its modest engine power.
704s However, we’ve recently reworked ground resistance for all wheeled vehicles
709s and added a way to remove slat screens from the M1128.
713s It’s now much quicker, feel free to test it!
716s Another question comes from Stanterain:
719s “What does the designated bomb point do and how do you use it?”
724s Hi, Stanterain.
725s You probably mean the CCRP bombing system which we talked about
729s while answering your questions in the last episode.
732s With this system, your ballistic computer tells you when to drop the bombs
735s to hit the coordinates you’ve previously set.
738s It isn’t terribly useful against moving objects,
741s but perfect for hitting stationary ones,
743s like bases and other targets in air battles.
746s geekadeuzan writes:
748s “What about a video on the Mirage family?
751s There's already a good amount of them in the game.”
754s Hi, geekadeuzan.
756s We do have some plans for it!
758s We can’t promise to feature it in the next episode,
760s but we’re certainly going to talk about these famous French fighters.
765s And the last comment for today was written by DapperLlama:
769s “Can you find a tank triathlon in real life?
772s If yes, where can I watch it?”
775s Oh hi, Llama!
777s There’s more than one, actually.
779s The most popular ones are probably the Strong Europe Tank Challenge
782s and the Tank Biathlon.
784s It’s easy to find videos online if you search for them.
787s That’s it for today.
789s You’ve been watching the Shooting Range by Gaijin Entertainment,
791s and the next episode will premier the following Sunday
794s at 4 PM GMT or noon Eastern time.
798s Subscribe and click the bell if you don’t want to miss our next videos.
801s Don’t forget to rock your wings before you shoot out her engines,
805s leave a like, share your thoughts and comments...
807s and see you next week.