The B-29 Turret System. An Effective, Expensive Mechanical Masterpiece
Added 2024-12-12 09:24:29 +0000 UTC'Pre-release' version. The final video (due for release tomorrow) will contain an incredible animated intro starting around the 30 second mark. As we are still waiting for that to render, I thought I'd release the video here.
I think I'm going to start a new 'thing'. If anyone can spot a factual error, let me know and I'll refund your membership for the month (only the first to spot it gets a refund!).
Otherwise, enjoy. Ngl, this one was a lot of work.
Comments
I'll also throw my hat in the ring to help make any parts.
Marcus
2024-12-20 01:00:43 +0000 UTCWell that assumes no fog of war as well. We had been bombing Japan for a while, and they seemed pretty resilient. Then again, it is not clear how much they knew about nuclear weapons either. They never had a nuclear program I don't believe. So, I don't know. It is really hard to evaluate how people from that time, place, and culture perceived things.
deSkunk Works
2024-12-15 10:41:05 +0000 UTCamazing video. The part you said was hard to follow, certainly was. I'd like to figure out a block diagram of the computer that has the mechanisms pictured/labelled too.
Tenthtwo
2024-12-15 10:37:07 +0000 UTCto offer an unprompted hot take: Highlighting the damage wrought by city bombing could imply usage of nuclear weapons in anger was unneccessary, as the sheer damage from the conventional campaigns had guaranteed the same outcome already.
Tenthtwo
2024-12-15 10:35:15 +0000 UTCI was so impressed at the level of effort for all the modeling in this one. I think one reason that those old-school informational videos seem so intuitive even today is because the systems they describe are analog- meaning they represent a real, physical phenomenon that you can describe this way. I think you nailed the style and it really came together, especially with the section on the gunsight and ranging method. I love making these kinds of models myself with my 3D printer and machine tools when I dig into understanding how something works in an intuitive way. If you want to continue with this style of video in the future, do let us in your community know and perhaps we can help you design or fabricate such demonstration pieces :)
morops
2024-12-15 03:24:18 +0000 UTCOh, interesting. I have never read any of this before. It was such a waste. I get having pride in one self and country, but those kinds of deaths so late into the war were just senseless. At some point you just gotta accept defeat. Of course, by the end they had figured out some sort of weakness in U.S. radar it seems so they wouldn't always do the mass wave attacks. Instead it would be like a lone Betty occasionally blipping up, and then suddenly diving down before the defense systems had time to react.
deSkunk Works
2024-12-12 21:23:41 +0000 UTCthanks for this, I'll use it. Japanese accounts are rare - I did read some of the letters by Kamikazee pilots prior to making this video and they certainly paint a different picture to that I think many of the general public have.
Alexander the ok
2024-12-12 19:42:51 +0000 UTCI actually have something that might tie in well into that video for you. It is a article from the Baltimore Sun newspaper printed in 1995, it is is a accounting from Dr. Toshio Tono about what he and other Japanese doctors did during the war, and includes details about what happened to one B-29 crew who had to bailout over Japan as well as other details regarding how the Japanese medical establishment treated various groups and used them as essentially medical training dummies. Kind of grim stuff, but I think it helps to explain why so American veterans and the Chinese continued to harbor feelings of ill-will towards the Japanese after the war. Especially as the Japanese frequently did not own up to their actions. As with Dr. Tono, many of his colleagues told him to shut his mouth and not speak about what they did during the war. (Had to use Yandex caching because they paywall old articles so hard these days.) Obviously no pressure to use if you want to focus more on the Chinese side. I just thought it might be a good source since it includes a B-29 and includes a Japanese account of events, which isn't that common. https://yandexwebcache.net/yandbtm?fmode=inject&tm=1734026850&tld=com&lang=en&la=1730019584&text=https%3A//www.baltimoresun.com/1995/05/28/a-quiet-honesty-records-a-world-war-ii-atrocity-2/&url=https%3A//www.baltimoresun.com/1995/05/28/a-quiet-honesty-records-a-world-war-ii-atrocity/&l10n=en&mime=html&sign=169848de28a872d6d17bbf34b2d50b32&keyno=0&mode=text
deSkunk Works
2024-12-12 18:18:35 +0000 UTCYeah, the rape/massacre of Nanjing, is pretty rough. And that is even before you get into the stuff like Shiro Ishii unit 731. Having a little half Chinese daughter myself, I suppose it makes it a bit more personal to me, but the thought of anyone doing anything like was done to Chinese children in the war, well it is impossible to imagine or justify even by wartime standards.
deSkunk Works
2024-12-12 18:04:28 +0000 UTCI'm actually going to give my opinion on this in a patreon only video in a few weeks (I wouldn't dare do that on youtube because people would get mad at me). I do most certainly agree with you, but note I didn't even really need to bring up that argument in this video. Just the number of Chinese civilians saved by ending the war could be seen as a justification in itself.
Alexander the ok
2024-12-12 16:30:37 +0000 UTCThe thing that I always fall back into in terms of the bombing of cities and the use of nuclear weapons is that in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese home islands the U.S. military calculated the number of purple hearts that they anticipated would be needed in the event of such a circumstance, and pre-ordered their production should they be required. We just ran out this year I believe. Prior to that, through every conflict and war over the last 80 years every purple heart awarded was from WWII. And that would have just been the United States. I cannot fathom the cost of the other side of the conflict. I am thankful they were ultimately rendered unnecessary to requirements to bring the war to a close.
deSkunk Works
2024-12-12 15:32:52 +0000 UTCJust spotted a mistake myself. The bullets curve the wrong way in the air drag graphic.
Alexander the ok
2024-12-12 15:24:32 +0000 UTC
