Monthly Archives: July 2012

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Everything Old is New Again

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The U.S. Navy has deployed a converted transport ship, the Ponce, into a floating forward base for helicopters and special operations troops.  The critical changes were the addition of a flight deck and a modular barracks.  Here is The New York Times article.  This reminds me of the escort carriers built during WWII.  They typically used merchant ship hulls and were very cost-effective as convoy protectors.

Marc De Santis

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World War Two Warbird Photographs

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Here are several photos I have of WWII warbirds at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale, New York.    So let’s just imagine that we really did discover a trove of old photos that had been mislaid for nearly seven decades.  And ignore the indications of 21st century attire or technology.  It is 1944!

This P51 Mustang is waiting to take off on an escort mission over Germany, June 1944.

This p47 Thunderbolt has just returned from a strafing mission over occupied France, June 1944.

This Navy F4U Corsair waits to take off from the deck of the USS Essex, September 1944.    Please ignore the concrete flight deck.

At this late date in the war, the P40 Warhawk is a second-line fighter, but still soldiers on providing close air support for ground troops.  This machine is stationed in southwestern China, August 1944.

Marc De Santis

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Photography Bug Bites

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I have been bitten by the photography bug, again.  The butterflies won’t cooperate by staying still, and the birds are remaining in the shade, out of the sun.   So here are some flowers I snapped with my elderly, but still extremely effective, Canon Powershot Elph S600.

 

 

 

 

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Ancient Warfare Dacia Issue

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Ancient Warfare, an English-language publication from the Netherlands, is a true gem.  The magazine is full of scholarly articles on ancient military topics, which you will bet I love.  The latest issue’s focus is on the Dacian wars of Emperor Trajan.  These efforts deserve to be better known.  Unfortunately, we lack a good literary source from ancient times that deals specifically with them.  There must have been histories of this kind made, but they have been lost to posterity.

Fortunately, we have one of the best archaeological sources of all – the famed Trajan’s Column – which still stands in Rome.  It depicts the entire Roman army of the first years of the second century A.D. on campaign against the Dacians.  Much of what we know of the appearance of Roman soldiers of the early Empire derives from this monument.

There are top-notch people behind Ancient Warfare.  They also put together fantastic podcasts which you should immediately download from iTunes.  All of them!  I wish that we could have an American version of this journal.  Lucky for us that the magazine is available at Barnes & Noble.

Take a look at the dude below.  Awesome, right?  This is what a legionary – really! – derived from the Adamklissi monument in Romania – looked like.  Very different from what you expected, I’ll bet.  He was likely serving with a legion stationed in the east of the Empire, and fought in Dacia with Trajan.  He has already acquired something of a “Byzantine” appearance.  His spangenhelm helmet was based upon Iranian models.  Great job by the author, Raffaele D’Amato, and the artist, Johnny Shumate!

Marc De Santis