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The XCR-48, codenamed "Typhoon", is a classified project under development in the Northern Coalition by Fasir & Barrow Armaments, Incorporated. It fires 3.5mm caseless flechette darts with a micro-explosive embedded in the tip, giving it impressive stopping power. As well, the weapon's small caliber gives it minimal recoil, allowing for sustained automatic fire on the target. Combined with a light weight, the major downside of this rifle is that the ammo is very expensive. This, combined with a lower-than-average lifespan of the parts, has relegated the Typhoon Project to the back-burner of Coalition military spending.
This isn't exactly a WIP, but I have some more plans for this weapon, if it is received well. If you were wondering, it was inspired by the Combat Rifle from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Comments, suggestions, praise, etc... Are all welcome. Thanks for stopping by, y'all come back now, ya hear?
After the VCS-Puma deployment and success nearly destroyed the advance of the GRF, they were pushed to the edge, and to defend their main R&D facility on Olympian ground, they were forced to activate their latest prototype, Codename: HADES, this mech is capable of medium range teleportation thru jumps over a parallel dimension, the drive that allows this is called the Hades’ key and both this and the energy core are based on the study of ancient relics that remained from the last civilization that lived in Olympia, the downside of this teleport skill is that the armor has to be a special alloy of superconductivity metal that is not very resistant to damage and no human is able to stand unharmed this travels, the pilots of HADES are bound to die soon after they leave the life support of the mech cockpit.
The core generates excess energy that has to be vented thru the chest and head, and it is armed with a triple gun called CRB-RUS, it shoots high density energy covered rounds, they are powered by the main core and are nearly unstopable by any known alloy, and the energy coating nullifies energy shields, it is joined by 2 ARGUS scout drones that allow a updated map for successful teleports
Its is know that when deployed the HADES used a move where it would teleport behind pumas and take them with him and leaving them to die on the parallel dimension, this was called the death grip.
Due to the dead ratio and the fragile armor the HADES is deployed on emergencies only, but when deployed, there are no survivors.
This was made for the universe created by ExclusivelyPlastic , go check his designs and descriptions, they Rock, now it is your turn to counter a HADES deployment, I’ve though of at lest 2 ways...
c/n 10041, l/n 04-1.
NATO codename:- Charger
The Tu-144 was the world’s first supersonic transport aircraft making its first flight in December 1968, some two months before Concorde. It went supersonic in June 1969 and achieved Mach2 in May 1970. Sadly, fatal accidents in 1973 and 1978 ended its passenger career, although some remained in use on cargo/postal flights and as research aircraft.
This example first flew in 1975 and spent five years as a trials aircraft before retiring for preservation at Monino. Since my last visit in 2012 her nose has been raised to the ‘in-flight’ position, making her look much sleeker.
She remains on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
A Victorian special operations task force was assigned to ambush an exchange of radioactive material and capture a high value individual (HVI) codename Panther, a Russian arms dealer. Although Team 8 form the task force has setup an ambush to intercept the radioactive material and capture Panther, the arms dealer arrived at the exchange in a BTR armored personnel carrier along with a Russian Spetsnaz unit. A strategic decision was made for Team 8 to stand down, fearing a direct engagement with Russian troops.
Although Panther was allowed to escape, the task force had a "bump plan" to intercept the radioactive material. The Advanced Force Operations teams continued to track the vehicles carrying the radioactive material. As the vehicles entered the Great Desert, Team 7 performed a heliborne interception.
Team 7 successfully intercepted the two vehicles and the two insurgents immediately surrended. The team also captured the radioactive material. Once the team had secured the radioactive material, the entire task force exfil from the area.
Based on the gear, weapons, and movement of the Spetsnaz unit, the task force believed that it was a top tier unit. The fact that Panther was under the close protection of a top tier unit at the exchange, intelligence believed that Panther is not merely a Russian arms dealer but a Russian intelligence agent. Although the TF did not capture Panther at the exchange, it did further the CATF’s understanding of his role. The TF also successfully prevented radioactive material to fall into the hands of the insurgents and prevented their plot in building dirty bombs threatening Victoria and her allies. The mission was deemed a success.
- The End -
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 35382001001, l/n 01-01.
Built 2015.
NATO codename:- Hokum-B
The Ka-52K is the specialised naval variant of this impressive attack helicopter. Designed for use on the new Mistral class amphibious assault ships, they have folding stub wings and rotors, anti-corrosion treatment and new fire-control radar for use with anti-ship missiles. The Mistral project has since been cancelled and the ships sold to Egypt. Russia will now supply the Ka-52Ks to Egypt, but it is unclear what future the type will have in Russian service.
This is the prototype and is seen on static display as part of the ARMY 2017 exhibition.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
Although the TF conducted several raids to ascertain the whereabouts of the Russian nuclear scientist (codename Pale Horse) with little result, it remained the allied nations primary object to capture Pale Horse to prevent future attacks. The intelligence task force continued to support intelligence units to acquire information on Pale Horse’s location.
An asset belonging to an intelligence officer from Victoria (codename Grayhawk) indicated that he was aware of the location of Pale Horse. The asset revealed that a Russian was seen being held captive in a market near Jannatabad, an insurgency stronghold.
Due to the heavy insurgent presence in the area, a covert “snatch” mission was planned. Grayhawk hand-picked six men from the combined task force, drawing personnel from Team-7, DEVGRU and Delta Force. The team first staged at a safe house in the region. They changed in local apparels to blend into the environment.
To be continued…
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
NATO codename "Fishpot". The Russian Su-9 was a two-person attack mecha (one pilot and one navigator), utilising an antigrav (антигравитационный) engine which allowed the vehicle to hover a few inches above the regolith. These craft were thus restricted to the relatively flat terrain of the lunar maria. Owing to their compact design, the Fishpots could be aligned in a row to form a defensive wall against the American forces.
Sort of taking a page from Neko's book this February and showcasing some of the Joe teams African American members. Its interesting to me that with the exception of '87 Hasbro made sure there was at least one AA Joe on the roster every year all the way up until the end in 1994.
c/n 2805103.
NATO codename:- Bull
The Tu-4 was a direct copy of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. It first flew in 1947 and was the first Soviet strategic bomber. A total of 847 were built, some serving until the 1960's.
There are three known survivors, two in China and this sole example in Russia.
It is on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n 42105.
NATO codename:- Bear-H
Built as a Naval Tu-142MK but converted in 1979 to become the prototype Tu-95MS, a cruise missile carrier platform. Designed to carry the Raduga Kh-55, the type later went into full production while by 1991 this development aircraft had been retired to the Zhukovski Engineering Academy.
It is now on display at the adjacent Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
An asset belonging to an intelligence officer from Victoria (codename Grayhawk) indicated that he was aware of the location of a Russian nuclear scientist (codename Pale Horse). The asset revealed that a Russian was seen being held captive in a market near Jannatabad, an insurgency stronghold.
Grayhawk hand-picked six men from the combined task force, to conduct a covert “snatch” mission. The team changed in local apparels and drove into the market in two vehicles. The 6-man team scattered around the market to conduct covert reconnaissance and located a building guarded by insurgents. The team positioned themselves opposite of the target building and setup an observation post. After several hours of surveillance, the team positively identified Pale Horse in the building.
To be continued…
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
New pics from an old kit.
Equipment Type: anti-aircraft robot, series 05
Government: U.N. Spacy
Manufacturer: Viggers/Chrauler
Introduction: August 2012
Unofficial codename: Whistler, Lawn Mower
Accommodation: 1 pilot and 1 radar operator
Dimensions: height 10.7 meters (hull only), 12.4 meters (incl. extended surveillance antenna); length 5,6 meters; width 6,8 meters
Mass: 29.8 metric tons
Power Plant: Kranss-Maffai MT830 thermonuclear reactor developing 2750 shp; auxillary fuel generator AOS-895-3 rated at 810 kW.
Propulsion: many x low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles.
Design Features: 'Nimrod' Mk. III tracking radar with dish antenna, MPDR 'Argus' range setting and surveillance radar, starlight scope; fully enclosed cockpit.
Armament: 4 x 37 mm air-cooled 6-barrel gatling guns, Type Bofors KDF-11B (firing at 2.000 or 4.000 RPM, standard 1.550 rounds each).
Optional Equipment: 2 x large capacity ammunition drums.
Description and History
The Mk. XI series was immediately developed after the ADR-04-Mk. X Defender proved a successful and powerful anti-aircraft weapon at medium to long ranges. Even though earlier ADR-04 marks with gun armament did not advance into service, the lack of a close range support vehicle with a high rate of fire against smaller and highly maneouverable targets like drones, missiles or even small ground vehicles was detected - even though no official Operative Requirement was published.
From the successful joint development of Viggers-Chrauler which would, besides the ADR-04 also yield MBR designs like the Tomahawk, a prototype of the ADR-04-Mk. XI was built as a private initiative. Utilizing the destroid ambulatory system of the proven 04 chassis series, the new design featured a new torso which housed, beyond the main armament and its ammunition load, a crew of two plus a sophisticated radar system, specifically designed to track and fight multiple, quick and small target at lower height. The whole system offered the option to link up with other sources like the long range radar from the Defender, so that the "Manticore", as the prototype was called, inspired by the mythical beast that would shoot iron spikes from its tail at its enemies, could support aerial defense at close range. The design was presented and approved, and a small batch of 10 pre-production Manticores was converted from the still running ADR-04-Mk.X production line and introduced for field tests in late 2012.
The fire power of the Manticore proved to be impressive: its four 37mm six-barrel Gatling guns theoretically allowed a total maximum output of 16.000 rounds per minute, with a velocity of 1.450m/s, and a maximum range of 7.600m horizontally.
Tactically, the Manticore weapon system is able to put up and maintain a 2.000m wide and 1.000m high, 180° aerial barrier. In reality, though, only short, short, controlled bursts would be fired at selected targets. The two pairs of guns and the weapon system would allow the attack of two separate target "clouds" at a time, and the system proved to be very effective against mass attacks with missiles even at close range.
Switching from HE to AP ammunition through separate round feeds allowed the Manticore to work effectively even against lightly armored targets and to switch between air and ground targets within seconds, strafing large areas with deadly fire. As standard, 1.300 HE rounds and 250 AP rounds would be carried per gun - HE ammunition stored in alcoves at the main hull sides, and the AP ammunition stored in boxes on the weapons themselves. This limited internal ammunition capacity could, similar to the ADR-04-Mk. X, be extended through external magazines on the back. For static defense, the four guns could alternatively be fed by external belts, ROF was just limited by the heat generated through constant firing!
After first trials of the 11 Mk.XI pre-production Manticores, the following serial version, with improved radar, more passive sensors and a stronger auxiliary fuel generator, was introduced in January 2013. A second series of another 40 of this 04-Destroid series in the updated version were built at slow pace in parallel to the Defender.
Production of the Manticore already stopped in 2014, though. Being very specialized and limited, and only a supportive unit, the ADR-04-Mk. XI never saw much action in the open field, just as an addendum to the more versatile ADR-04-Mk.X. Like its long range counterpart, the few Manticores were mainly used as point defense unit for selected, vital potential enemy targets. They fulfilled their intended role well, esp. against missiles and Fighter Pods, but had only limited success against Zentraedi Tactical Pods: even a simple Regult was hard to crack. Hence, the Manticores remained in the background. Since the Manticore Destroids proved to be very vulnerable to close range attacks, more than 30 were lost in open field battles before they were retired into pomit defense roles and consequently already taken out of active service in 2021.
The kit and its assembly:
Did you like the story? This mecha was inspired (or better triggered) by a post about an anti aircraft robot project in a German SF forum. I remembered that I once had the plan to convert a Defender into a lighter aerial defense robot with Gatling gun armament. I had a kit for that purpose stashed away years ago, but never the drive to do the conversion job.
But as I thought about the project, I had another weird idea: I also had a leftover "chassis" from a Tomahawk (legs and lower torso), as well as two sets of impressive double Gatling hand guns from Gundam kits (two 1:144 "Serpent Customs", from Endless Waltz, actually part donation kits for other projects). This basis, combined with a new torso and some radar equipment... Looking for a torso option (and a dramatic radar equipment in the correct size), I came across a 1:72 kit of the Russian S6R "Tunguska" anti-aircraft tank, a limited edition kit from Military Wheels, a Polish company, and the rest is glue, putty and free drifting of ideas.
Putting the things together went pretty straightforward. The legs were already complete, but hidden under lots of old paint (I counted four layers...). These old parts consequently needed some cosmetic surgery. The material was already quite brittle, so I did not dare a brake fluid bath and tried my best with sand paper. Results are so so, so that many details were later added with small polystyrene strips. But at least, the spare parts found new and good use!
The Gatling gun stub arms were 100% taken from the Gundam kits, just minor things added. With internal vinyl caps they'd fit onto the original breast part and allow free rotation as well as side movement of about 20° to the left and right - good for a "natural" pose.
Most attention went into the crew compartment and upper torso, which was placed on top of one Serpent Custom's shoulder pieces. It consists mainly of the Tunguska's box-shaped central turret section, with added pieces on the hull's sides/shoulders which are supposed to be ammunition storage containers for a quick change. These parts, which blend very well into the overall design, are actually shortened halves of a camera pod from a 1:72 scale F-14 kit from Italeri!
The radar equipment was taken from the Tunguska tank, too, only the rear antenna had to be modified because the original parts were so crude that I did not want to use them. Finally, flexible hydraulic hoses and ammunition belts were added between mecha hull and arms, as well as small details like the hydraulic telescopes at the hips, searchlights, vents, handles, etc.
The result looks very compact, functional and plausible. I wanted to stay true to the Destroids' design as grungy tank-like vehicles with massive firepower and a menacing look, and that's what I think I achieved pretty well.
Painting and markings:
For the mecha's livery, I also wanted to stay true to the Destroid look: only a single overall ground color (brown or green, even though I have seen dark blue Phalanx') and some white 'decoration stripes'. Additionally, some 'nose art' was to be added, because it is a frequent sight on these mecha.
To set it apart from the Defender in my collection (olive drab), I went for a brown tone. After long search, the Manticore's basic paint became 'Israel Armor Sand/Grey' (Testors 2138), a murky, almost undefineable tone. Some details were painted in a dark brown (Burnt Umber, Testors 2005), the stripes were painted by hand in flat white.
Then, standard weathering was done with a black ink wash and dry painting with lighter tones like Humbrol 83 (Ochre), 140 (Gull Gray), 84 (Mid Stone) and 121 (Pale Stone). Decals came from the scrap box and are only few, the 'nose art' piece is a donation of a friend of mine (many thanks, André!) and actually belongs to a Czech MiG-21(!). Finally, everything was sealed under matte varnish.
All in all, this build-up was rather simple, since I had most components at hand and the paint job did not require much effort. But I like the simple look, and this fictional Manticore Destroids blends well into the line of the official Macross mecha. And finally, the leftover Tomahawk chassis has found a good use after waiting for resurrection for more than 15 years.
Chassis n° ZFF67NHB000184232
The LaFerrari was codenamed “F150” in development : this first-phase test mule prototype was known as “M6”
Techno Classica 2022
Essen
Deutschland - Germany
March 2022
Leading up to the global reveal of the LaFerrari at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show, the supercar titans of the automotive industry battled to develop their own production-ready hybrid powertrain technology. Within the space of five months, the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder had all commenced production, cementing 2013 as a pivotal year for supercar evolution. After decades of competition between manufacturers to produce the fastest car by virtue of the most potent internal combustion engine, the embrace of the electric powertrain would change the game forever. This trio of hybrid supercar pioneers marked a new era of performance engineering.
Of course, Ferrari’s entrance onto the competitors’ stage was always going to be grand. The name alone of the Italian marque’s contribution to the hybrid supercar arms race caused a stir, with the boldly named LaFerrari translated as “The Ferrari”. It was described by company president Luca di Montezemolo as “the expression of what defines our company”. Following in the footsteps of the preceding 288 GTO, F40, F50, and Enzo, the LaFerrari took up the mantle as Ferrari’s flagship sports car. There would be 499 examples of the coupé version made for customers over three years, followed by the open-top Aperta, which spanned 210 cars manufactured over a two-year production run.
Clearly, for such an important car to live up to the Ferrari badge and go wheel-to-wheel with its hybrid supercar rivals, its development phase would always be crucial. What would be known internally during development as project code “F150”, the research and testing phases of the supercar’s progression were divided into three cycles.
To begin, the first test mule, known as “M6”, was derived from Ferrari’s Type F142 platform—more commonly known as the Ferrari 458 Italia. Compared to the final production version of the LaFerrari, this early test mule’s likeness to the 458 Italia is clear. It features the 458 Italia’s smooth and uninterrupted side panels, doing without the side-mounted air scoops that draw in air to cool the finished LaFerrari’s mid-mounted hybrid powertrain, while also featuring many of the flowing Pininfarina-penned lines of the earlier car. Conversely, the completed LaFerrari was the first Prancing Horse since the Dino 308 GT4—styled by Bertone and made from 1973 to 1980—not to wear a Pininfarina design.
The aluminium chassis was modified to accommodate the prototype hybrid LaFerrari powertrain, once more differing from the final car’s carbon monocoque that was made alongside Ferrari’s Formula 1 team cars. In the case of the “M6” mule, it was propelled by a V-12 Type F140FB engine, while the final production car would be fitted with Ferrari’s Type F140FE, a progression of this. Engineers also adapted the shock tower around the prototype as part of their research into weight distribution of the car. This first phase of the LaFerrari prototype was used between May 2011 and December 2012 as a development model for the testing of mechanical components; primarily focused on the research of brakes, steering, suspension and tyre integration; also marking the first application of an ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) in the LaFerrari project; and most importantly carrying out extensive testing around the prototype hybrid system.
Later stages of the tri-phase LaFerrari prototype cycle were known internally as the “Second Family Mulotipo” and “Third Family Preserie”—or “pre-series”—with each newer instalment looking more like the finished product that Ferrari would begin to deliver to customers in 2013. Given the complexity of the new electric powertrain, engineers and researchers at Ferrari committed significant resource behind development of the LaFerrari. The supercar was spotted on multiple occasions in pre-production camouflage around Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters, while there were also sightings of development cars in testing on Germany’s famously unforgiving Nürburgring circuit, even after the final car had been revealed. This was testament to Ferrari’s commitment to perfecting its design, and surely one of the ultimate locations to test a car to its limits.
Always known as a company that rewards its most loyal customers, Ferrari began to offer its LaFerrari development mules for sale once it was clear that they were no longer required for testing. This example, sold privately in July 2016, was offered subject to a refresh and repaint by Ferrari, on the understanding that the car was not homologated therefore could not be registered for road use nor be used on public race circuits. However, this very collectable part of Ferrari history could be used on private land with its running powertrain.
Now it is offered for sale again, with the distinguishable matte test mule Nero exterior finished over a Pelle Beige interior. Selected parts of its bodywork are cut or are rough, the interior presents an assortment of colours and styles, and the engine bay does without the conventional Ferrari neatness for an assortment of exposed wires, heat shield wraps, and protruding hoses—yet these endearing features only add to the fascinating history of this unique Ferrari test mule. All around this intriguing example, there are remnants of its past, not limited to the hand-cut access panels on the outside, also including exposed metalwork around the cabin, hand-written marker annotations, printed tester’s notes stuck to the dashboard, and exposed mechanical works behind the seats. The prototype is offered for sale with the additional exterior panels that it wore during testing. The car is officially recognised by Ferrari, and is Ferrari Classiche-certified with an accompanying Yellow Book.
The LaFerrari would go onto carve a legendary reputation. Its blistering performance can be attributed to its 6.3-litre V-12 engine lifted from the developmental FXX model, yet its electric motor and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) hybrid set-up sets it apart. With 3,322 km on its odometer at the time of cataloguing, it is remarkable to think about the extent of testing and hours of rigour this car was subject to while undergoing development with Ferrari. While the prototype cannot be registered for the road, it would easily slot into the collection of any Ferrari enthusiast as an incredible piece of the marque’s history and transition into the age of the hybrid supercar.
The Sukhoi Su-27 heavy air superiority fighter - codenamed 'Flanker' by NATO - was designed during the Cold War as a Soviet counter to potential Western opponents such as the US Air Force's F-15 Eagle. It first flew in 1977. Service entry began during 1985, and when the 'Flanker' started appearing at Western air displays in the hands of Sukhoi test pilots, starting at Paris in 1989, it astounded spectators with its manoeuvrability.This SU 27 is on the strength of the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade, based at Myrhorod in central Ukraine.
Michael Sng's robot Codename Colossus incorporates steampunk aesthetics, 400 3D-printed parts, servos, an Arduino and “a ridiculous level of craftsmanship” into a towering walking tank-bot. Video Intro
Omaha Beach - Widerstandsnest 61- Fox Green sector, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy
This H-667 type bunker was part of the German defenses on Omaha Beach; codenamed WN61 it guarded the draw in the bluffs that leads to Colleville-sur-mer and on D-Day this draw (situated on the border of Fox Green and Easy Red sectors) was one of the two prime targets of the American forces.
The bunker housed one of the two dreaded 88 mm "pak-43" guns the Germans had available on Omaha on D-Day. It was responsible for the knocking out of several US Sherman tanks and landing craft before it took a direct hit from one of the remaining Sherman's on the beach.
In the early hours of D-Day it was this one of the two German strongpoints guarding the draw responsible for the terrible losses inflicted on the men of the 1st infantry division, the Combat Engineers of the Gap assault teams and the tanks of the 743rd Tank Battalion. The area around the Colleville draw, codenamed Easy-3 exit, was a killing ground where the first waves of landing troops were pinned down and took terrible losses before the German defenses here where taken out by flanking forces later in the day.
On the Photo
View towards front of an H-667 type Casemate of WN61 (Widerstandsnest 61) which guarded the Easy-3 exit with a formidable PAK43/41 88mm antitank gun. The 88mm gun was where the off-white garagedoors are now. The H-667 was built with protection towards the sea so that it could enfillade the beach. Nowadays the Blockhaus is used as a shed for a yachting club and is on private property still overlooking the beach.
Three (handheld) shots were used for this tonemapped photo using a Nikon D7000 DSLR with a Tokina 12-24mm, Augustus 2012.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
An asset belonging to an intelligence officer from Victoria (codename Grayhawk) indicated that he was aware of the location of a Russian nuclear scientist (codename Pale Horse). The asset revealed that a Russian was seen being held captive in a market near Jannatabad, an insurgency stronghold.
Grayhawk hand-picked six men from the combined task force, to conduct a covert “snatch” mission. The team changed in local apparels and drove into the market in two vehicles. The 6-man team scattered around the market to conduct covert reconnaissance and located a building guarded by insurgents. The team positioned themselves opposite of the target building and setup an observation post. After several hours of surveillance, the team positively identified Pale Horse in the building.
To be continued…
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 36911016202.
Originally coded ‘701 black’.
NATO codename:- Flanker-E
This is one of the original Su-35 aircraft, an export version of the Su-27M multi-role aircraft. This is not to be confused with the more recent Su-35S, currently in service with the Russian Air Force.
On display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
Omaha Beach, Easy Green sector, Normandy, France
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed on low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties on this spot were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the demolition teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting 16 channels through the beach obstacles, each 70 meters wide. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation here on Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation.
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
On the photo:
The view is towards the west and Pointe et Raz de la Percée. At high water there is only a couple of yards of sand left. Both Easy Green and Easy Red saw heavy action on june 6, 1944. Elements of the 116th RCT and Combat Engineers landed here from 06.30 and this was one of the area's were the Combat Engineers succeeded in clearing paths through the German obstacle belt allowing reinforcements to land when the tide was rising and the Landing Craft were threatened by the mines and obstacles. It did take a terrible toll though, as their casualty rates were some 40%.
Tonemapped using three (Handheld) shots made with a Fuji X-T3 and a Fujinon XF-18-55mm, september 2019.
For a map of the eastern part of Omaha click here. The German WN's are marked as well as the Draws and beach sections.
My other Omaha beach photo's with several viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
A set of photo's with notes of Utah Beach and the Cotentin peninsula with the Airborne sectors.">
Here's the complete set of photo's made on Pointe du Hoc over the past years
These are my photo's and notes of the British and Canadian sectors: Gold, Juno and Sword.
c/n 00347108.
Built 1970.
NATO codename ‘Cub’.
Last reported as being operated from the 1449th AvB at Tambov.
On static display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
24th August 2017
A deep cover agent codename Emerald has been compromised. Grayhawk and a 4-man patrol from the Special Operations Group were tasked to extract the agent from the Naran Darre Mountain region.
The team traveled to a safe house in the region. In order to maintain a light footprint, the team was equipped with weapons that are common in the region.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
An asset belonging to an intelligence officer from Victoria (codename Grayhawk) indicated that he was aware of the location of a Russian nuclear scientist (codename Pale Horse). The asset revealed that a Russian was seen being held captive in a market near Jannatabad, an insurgency stronghold.
Grayhawk hand selected six men from the combined task force, to conduct a covert “snatch” mission. The team changed in local apparels and drove into the market in two vehicles. The 6-man team scattered around the market to conduct covert reconnaissance and located a building guarded by insurgents. The team positioned themselves opposite of the target building and setup an observation post. After several hours of surveillance, the team positively identified Pale Horse in the building.
The team hastily devised a plan to capture Pale Horse. Just after nightfall, the team quickly advanced to the house, silently neutralized the guards, and captured Pale Horse. Without alerting the insurgents in the area, the team drove out of Jannatabad back to Coalition control area. The team was then extracted by helicopter and returned back to the main base.
Upon interrogation, Pale Horse revealed to the TF that he was held captive by a radical sect of Al-Asad. The new sect, named Al-Qatala, has broken off from Al-Asad and is aiming to pursue attacks against both Coalition and Russian force with violent and extreme means including the use of WMD. However, Pale Horse confirmed with the TF that the new sect does not have the technical knowhow in manufacturing WMD devices even if they were able to obtain those material. Intelligence agencies among allied nations assessed that this new sect is emerging as a new threat against both Coalition and Russian force in the region.
To be continued…
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 10MK51314.
NATO codename ‘Flanker-C’
Operated by the 237th Centre for Display of Aviation Equipment (tSPAT) as part of the Russian Knights (Russkiye Vityazi) formation team.
Seen during a display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
c/n unknown.
NATO codename ‘Midget’.
No history has ever been reported for this airworthy UTI, although it is believed to be ex-Soviet Air Force.
The “МАИ” badge on the nose represents the Moscow Aviation Institute (a possible operator for this historic machine?).
It also wears the same ‘bird with flowers’ badge as the replica Farman IV, so it is possible they are both operated by the same organisation.
Seen on static display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
An asset belonging to an intelligence officer from Victoria (codename Grayhawk) indicated that he was aware of the location of a Russian nuclear scientist (codename Pale Horse). The asset revealed that a Russian was seen being held captive in a market near Jannatabad, an insurgency stronghold.
Grayhawk hand selected six men from the combined task force, to conduct a covert “snatch” mission. The team changed in local apparels and drove into the market in two vehicles. The 6-man team scattered around the market to conduct covert reconnaissance and located a building guarded by insurgents. The team positioned themselves opposite of the target building and setup an observation post. After several hours of surveillance, the team positively identified Pale Horse in the building.
The team hastily devised a plan to capture Pale Horse. Just after nightfall, the team quickly advanced to the house, silently neutralized the guards, and captured Pale Horse. Without alerting the insurgents in the area, the team drove out of Jannatabad back to Coalition control area. The team was then extracted by helicopter and returned back to the main base.
Upon interrogation, Pale Horse revealed to the TF that he was held captive by a radical sect of Al-Asad. The new sect, named Al-Qatala, has broken off from Al-Asad and is aiming to pursue attacks against both Coalition and Russian force with violent and extreme means including the use of WMD. However, Pale Horse confirmed with the TF that the new sect does not have the technical knowhow in manufacturing WMD devices even if they were able to obtain those material. Intelligence agencies among allied nations assessed that this new sect is emerging as a new threat against both Coalition and Russian force in the region.
To be continued…
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 0718.
NATO codename:- Flashlight-A
The Yak-25 was designed as a long range interceptor and first flew in 1952. The 'M' was the basic production version of which 406 were built, with the first being delivered in 1955. It was a popular aircraft with its crews, although it suffered heavily with engine failures.
On display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n 34012843290.
NATO codename ‘Havoc-B’.
Reported to be last operated by the 15th Army Aviation Brigade (15BrAA), based at Ostrov.
Seen after displaying as part of the Berkuty team (Golden Eagles) during the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
Ford launched its new for 2021 Ford F-150 a month or so ago. Codenamed P702, the new truck appears to be a moderate change to the 6-year-old P552 series which preceded it.
The P702 receives a couple of interesting new features however.
In the powertrain department, the F-150 is now available with Petrol-Electric Hybrid powertrain, pairing the 3.5L Ecoboost V6 with a 35 kw (47 hp) electric motor, sandwiched between the engine and the 10-speed automatic transmission. Available on an F-150 trim level, the Hybrid F-150 claims to have the most power and most torque of any pickup in its class, though no figure a quoted at this stage.
One thing the Hybrid powertrain enables is usable electric power to the pickup bed for the customer. Ford terms this feature as 'Pro Power on Board'. The 1.5 kW.hr lithium-ion battery in the Hybrid system provides 120V and or 240V to outlets in the loadbox, to power either a 2.3 kW or 7.2 kW AC inverter system.
Other powertrains available in the P702 are a 3.3L Flex-Fuel V6, a 2.7L V6 Ecoboost, 5.0L V8, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost and 3.0L Turbo-Diesel. Performance figures for each powertrain are yet to be released.
Though not available at launch, Ford has issued a lot of press material concerning a full-electric version of the F-150 Pickup to be made available within two years of the launch of the conventional engine models.
Shown here is the Lariat trim, one of the more highly equipped and expensive versions in the model range.
c/n 4201004.
NATO codename:- Badger-G
Previously coded ’53 blue’
One of over 240 Naval Tu-16s which were converted to carry the K-26 missile system, consisting of two underwing KSR-5 missiles.
Although a Soviet Navy aircraft, it is a long term and popular exhibit at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
A deep cover agent codename Emerald has been compromised. Intelligence Officer Grayhawk was tasked to extract the agent from the Naran Darre Mountain region.
Four operators from the Special Operations Group were hastily assembled to support the extraction. Grayhawk briefed them on the mission at the intelligence headquarters before launch.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 9110117.
NATO codename:- Codling
Built as a standard Yak-40, this aircraft was later converted into the prototype Yak-40K.
Since at least 2002 it has been on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
".....the moon."
"Yep! Hahaha, oh God....."
"That a codename, right? They're hiding out in some barren desert base or something, they gotta be. Only makes sense."
"You wish. It's the moon, babe. The white ball in the sky at night. The one we haven't visited since the 70s. That moon."
"....now you see, I KNOW this one was a shitty sci-fi channel movie, but really I'm just sitting here wondering what the hell my life is. The government wants me to kill Nazis on the moon. "
"Your welcome. You'll be the first woman on the moon! ....nobody's gonna know about it, but still!"
JT: "Well, let's go to to Castle Senator or whatever the fuck and beam ourselves up there! We'll waste the whole damn place in an hour!"
" Yeah, not that easy, tall dark and shit-brained."
JT: "...you just told us there was a fucking teleporter to the moon. Of course it's that fucking easy."
"Sadly no. While finding said teleporter our boys got in a firefight and irreparable damage was done. You two ain't beaming up anywhere."
"Then how are we supposed to go there? Better question, how the hell did the Nazis get there in 40s? We barely got there in the 60s, and we didn't even set up camp like they apparently did."
"....that reminds me. There's someone you two should meet."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
".....and here we are. The home of an unsung hero. And the one who will answer your question, Ms. Tate."
"And we're meeting who exactly?"
"Just the greatest soldier of WWII. Someone who was there from beginning to end and beyond. Someone who's seen all the shit we've erased from the books. Someone the world will never thank but owes it's life to. Someone you'll never be..."
JD: "And you have them locked away in here for the rest of their foreseeable life. Helluva reward."
"They've made a lot of enemies during their service. Enemies wanting their blood long after the wars end and will search the ends of the earth to get it. Keeping them here and ensuring their safety is the best reward we can offer."
"Well, let's meet 'em. Better than listening to you for the last hour or whatever...."
My OOAK Taeyang made for reinarayne
He supposed to be someone of jrock/goth subculture, prototyped after Toshiya of Dir en Grey. His original outfit design was created by reinarayne
Custimization done: curved lips and nose, full face-up, Volks body, acrlylic eyes, eyeslashes, pierced ears, black and blonde (for day life) wigs, outfut.
Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.
The park consists of 310.31 square kilometres (76,680 acres; 119.81 sq mi; 31,031 ha) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain annually.
Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was re designated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.
As stated in the foundation document in U.S. National Park Service website:
The purpose of Arches National Park is to protect extraordinary examples of geologic features including arches, natural bridges, windows, spires, and balanced rocks, as well as other features of geologic, historic, and scientific interest, and to provide opportunities to experience these resources and their associated values in their majestic natural settings.
The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area. This salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places and was deposited in the Paradox Basin of the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago (Mya) when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic (about 200 Mya), desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited. An additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone (about 140 Mya), was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of younger sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation.
The weight of this cover caused the salt bed below it to liquefy and thrust up layers of rock into salt domes. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual "salt anticlines" or linear regions of uplift. Faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge. The result of one such 2,500-foot (760 m) displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center.
As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the major formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the buff-colored Navajo Sandstone. These are visible in layer-cake fashion throughout most of the park. Over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits and pieces. Winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained. Wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Many damaged fins collapsed. Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections. These became the famous arches.
Although the park's terrain may appear rugged and durable, it is extremely fragile. More than 1 million visitors each year threaten the fragile high-desert ecosystem. The problem lies within the soil's crust, which is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in the dusty parts of the park. Factors that make Arches National Park sensitive to visitor damage include being a semiarid region, the scarce, unpredictable rainfall, lack of deep freezing, and lack of plant litter, which results in soils that have both a low resistance to and slow recovery from, compressional forces such as foot traffic. Methods of indicating effects on the soil are cytophobic soil crust index, measuring of water infiltration, and t-tests that are used to compare the values from the undisturbed and disturbed areas.
Geological processes that occurred over 300 million years ago caused a salt bed to be deposited, which today lies beneath the landscape of Arches National Park.[ Over time, the salt bed was covered with sediments that eventually compressed into rock layers that have since been named Entrada Standstone. Rock layers surrounding the edge of the salt bed continued to erode and shift into vertical sandstone walls called fins. Sand collected between vertical walls of the fins, then slightly acidic rain combined with carbon dioxide in the air allowed for the chemical formation of carbonic acid within the trapped sand. Over time, the carbonic acid dissolved the calcium carbonate that held the sandstone together. Many of the rock formations have weaker layers of rock on bottom that are holding stronger layers on top. The weaker layers would dissolve first, creating openings in the rock. Gravity caused pieces of the stronger rock layer to fall piece by piece into an arch shape. Arches form within rock fins at points of intense fracturing localization, or weak points in the rock's formation, caused by horizontal and vertical discontinuities. Lastly, water, wind, and time continued this erosion process and ultimately created the arches of Arches National Park. All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categories into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.
Humans have occupied the region since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Fremont people and Ancestral Puebloans lived in the area until about 700 years ago. Spanish missionaries encountered Ute and Paiute tribes in the area when they first came through in 1775, but the first European-Americans to attempt settlement in the area were the Mormon Elk Mountain Mission in 1855, who soon abandoned the area. Ranchers, farmers, and prospectors later settled Moab in the neighboring Riverine Valley in the late 1870s. Word of the beauty of the surrounding rock formations spread beyond the settlement as a possible tourist destination.
The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam, visited the area in September 1923 at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the Devils Garden (known today as the Klondike Bluffs). Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.
The following year, additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student (and future polar explorer) studying the geology of the nearby La Sal Mountains, who was shown the scenic area by local physician Dr. J. W. "Doc" Williams.
A succession of government investigators examined the area, in part due to confusion as to the precise location. In the process, the name Devils Garden was transposed to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley that includes Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted, while another area nearby, known locally as the Windows, was included. Designation of the area as a national monument was supported by the Park Service in 1926 but was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary, Hubert Work. Finally, in April 1929, shortly after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating the Arches National Monument, consisting of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. The purpose of the reservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act was to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations for their scientific and educational value. The name Arches was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.
In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation that enlarged the Arches to protect additional scenic features and permit the development of facilities to promote tourism. A small adjustment was made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.
In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the Arches. Two years later, President Richard Nixon signed legislation enacted by Congress, which significantly reduced the total area enclosed, but changed its status. Arches National Park was formally dedicated in May 1972.
In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park, prompting park officials to recruit physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, to use his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".
Climbing Balanced Rock or any named or unnamed arch in Arches National Park with an opening larger than 3 ft (0.9 m) is banned by park regulations. Climbing on other features in the park is allowed but regulated; in addition, slacklining and BASE jumping are banned parkwide.
Climbing on named arches within the park had long been banned by park regulations, but following Dean Potter's successful free climb on Delicate Arch in May 2006, the wording of the regulations was deemed unenforceable by the park attorney. In response, the park revised its regulations later that month, eventually imposing the current ban on arch climbing in 2014.
Approved recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.
Astronomy is also popular in the park due to its dark skies, despite the increasing light pollution from towns such as Moab.
Delicate Arch is the subject of the third 2014 quarter of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters program commemorating national parks and historic sites. The Arches quarter had the highest production of the five 2014 national park quarters, with more than 465 million minted.
American writer Edward Abbey was a park ranger at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, where he kept journals that became his book Desert Solitaire. The success of Abbey's book, as well as interest in adventure travel, has drawn many hikers, mountain bikers, and off-pavement driving enthusiasts to the area. Permitted activities within the park include camping, hiking along designated trails, backpacking, canyoneering, rock climbing, bicycling, and driving along existing roads, both paved and unpaved. The Hayduke Trail, an 812 mi (1,307 km) backpacking route named after one of Edward Abbey's characters, begins in the park.
An abundance of wildlife occurs in Arches National Park, including spadefoot toads, antelope squirrels, scrub jays, peregrine falcons, many kinds of sparrows, red foxes, desert bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, mule deers, cougars, midget faded rattlesnakes, yucca moths, western rattlesnakes, and collared lizards.
A number of plant species are common in the park, including prickly pear cactus, Indian ricegrass, bunch grasses, cheatgrass, moss, liverworts, Utah juniper, Mormon tea, blackbrush, cliffrose, four-winged saltbrush, pinyon pine, evening primrose, sand verbena, yucca, and sacred datura.
Biological soil crust consisting of cyanobacteria, lichen, mosses, green algae, and microfungi is found throughout southeastern Utah. The fibrous growths help keep soil particles together, creating a layer that is more resistant to erosion. The living soil layer readily absorbs and stores water, allowing more complex forms of plant life to grow in places with low precipitation levels.
Among the notable features of the park are the following:
Balanced Rock – a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
Courthouse Towers – a collection of tall stone columns
Dark Angel – a free-standing 150 ft-tall (46 m) sandstone pillar at the end of the Devils Garden Trail
Delicate Arch – a lone-standing arch that has become a symbol of Utah and the most recognized arch in the park
Devils Garden – many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
Double Arch – two arches that share a common end
Fiery Furnace – an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference, Book of Daniel, chapter 3)
Landscape Arch – a very thin and long arch in the Devils Garden with a span of 290 ft (88 m) (the longest arch in the park)
Petrified Dunes – petrified remnants of dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area
The Phallus – a rock spire that resembles a phallus
Wall Arch – located along the popular Devils Garden Trail; collapsed sometime on August 4/5, 2008
The Three Gossips –a mid-sized sandstone tower located in the Courthouse Towers area.
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.
People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:
use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.
The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.
In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.
Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:
William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866
3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
A Black man in Uintah, 1869
Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883
John Murphy in Park City, 1883
George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.
New generation mecha supply for US army, codename:Rock Monster.It is full armoured with a 15mm heavy mechine gun and a magnetic field projecter.The magnetic field projecter is one of the high technology defense System
for mecha,it can product a shield for few seconds and protect the mecha from emeny attack include missile attack.The power source is on the back of the mecha. Therefor it can be eassier to recharge and get into battle again.
Chassis n° ZFF67NHB000184232
The LaFerrari was codenamed “F150” in development : this first-phase test mule prototype was known as “M6”
Techno Classica 2022
Essen
Deutschland - Germany
March 2022
Leading up to the global reveal of the LaFerrari at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show, the supercar titans of the automotive industry battled to develop their own production-ready hybrid powertrain technology. Within the space of five months, the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder had all commenced production, cementing 2013 as a pivotal year for supercar evolution. After decades of competition between manufacturers to produce the fastest car by virtue of the most potent internal combustion engine, the embrace of the electric powertrain would change the game forever. This trio of hybrid supercar pioneers marked a new era of performance engineering.
Of course, Ferrari’s entrance onto the competitors’ stage was always going to be grand. The name alone of the Italian marque’s contribution to the hybrid supercar arms race caused a stir, with the boldly named LaFerrari translated as “The Ferrari”. It was described by company president Luca di Montezemolo as “the expression of what defines our company”. Following in the footsteps of the preceding 288 GTO, F40, F50, and Enzo, the LaFerrari took up the mantle as Ferrari’s flagship sports car. There would be 499 examples of the coupé version made for customers over three years, followed by the open-top Aperta, which spanned 210 cars manufactured over a two-year production run.
Clearly, for such an important car to live up to the Ferrari badge and go wheel-to-wheel with its hybrid supercar rivals, its development phase would always be crucial. What would be known internally during development as project code “F150”, the research and testing phases of the supercar’s progression were divided into three cycles.
To begin, the first test mule, known as “M6”, was derived from Ferrari’s Type F142 platform—more commonly known as the Ferrari 458 Italia. Compared to the final production version of the LaFerrari, this early test mule’s likeness to the 458 Italia is clear. It features the 458 Italia’s smooth and uninterrupted side panels, doing without the side-mounted air scoops that draw in air to cool the finished LaFerrari’s mid-mounted hybrid powertrain, while also featuring many of the flowing Pininfarina-penned lines of the earlier car. Conversely, the completed LaFerrari was the first Prancing Horse since the Dino 308 GT4—styled by Bertone and made from 1973 to 1980—not to wear a Pininfarina design.
The aluminium chassis was modified to accommodate the prototype hybrid LaFerrari powertrain, once more differing from the final car’s carbon monocoque that was made alongside Ferrari’s Formula 1 team cars. In the case of the “M6” mule, it was propelled by a V-12 Type F140FB engine, while the final production car would be fitted with Ferrari’s Type F140FE, a progression of this. Engineers also adapted the shock tower around the prototype as part of their research into weight distribution of the car. This first phase of the LaFerrari prototype was used between May 2011 and December 2012 as a development model for the testing of mechanical components; primarily focused on the research of brakes, steering, suspension and tyre integration; also marking the first application of an ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) in the LaFerrari project; and most importantly carrying out extensive testing around the prototype hybrid system.
Later stages of the tri-phase LaFerrari prototype cycle were known internally as the “Second Family Mulotipo” and “Third Family Preserie”—or “pre-series”—with each newer instalment looking more like the finished product that Ferrari would begin to deliver to customers in 2013. Given the complexity of the new electric powertrain, engineers and researchers at Ferrari committed significant resource behind development of the LaFerrari. The supercar was spotted on multiple occasions in pre-production camouflage around Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters, while there were also sightings of development cars in testing on Germany’s famously unforgiving Nürburgring circuit, even after the final car had been revealed. This was testament to Ferrari’s commitment to perfecting its design, and surely one of the ultimate locations to test a car to its limits.
Always known as a company that rewards its most loyal customers, Ferrari began to offer its LaFerrari development mules for sale once it was clear that they were no longer required for testing. This example, sold privately in July 2016, was offered subject to a refresh and repaint by Ferrari, on the understanding that the car was not homologated therefore could not be registered for road use nor be used on public race circuits. However, this very collectable part of Ferrari history could be used on private land with its running powertrain.
Now it is offered for sale again, with the distinguishable matte test mule Nero exterior finished over a Pelle Beige interior. Selected parts of its bodywork are cut or are rough, the interior presents an assortment of colours and styles, and the engine bay does without the conventional Ferrari neatness for an assortment of exposed wires, heat shield wraps, and protruding hoses—yet these endearing features only add to the fascinating history of this unique Ferrari test mule. All around this intriguing example, there are remnants of its past, not limited to the hand-cut access panels on the outside, also including exposed metalwork around the cabin, hand-written marker annotations, printed tester’s notes stuck to the dashboard, and exposed mechanical works behind the seats. The prototype is offered for sale with the additional exterior panels that it wore during testing. The car is officially recognised by Ferrari, and is Ferrari Classiche-certified with an accompanying Yellow Book.
The LaFerrari would go onto carve a legendary reputation. Its blistering performance can be attributed to its 6.3-litre V-12 engine lifted from the developmental FXX model, yet its electric motor and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) hybrid set-up sets it apart. With 3,322 km on its odometer at the time of cataloguing, it is remarkable to think about the extent of testing and hours of rigour this car was subject to while undergoing development with Ferrari. While the prototype cannot be registered for the road, it would easily slot into the collection of any Ferrari enthusiast as an incredible piece of the marque’s history and transition into the age of the hybrid supercar.
c/n unknown.
NATO codename:- Freehand
The Yak-36 first flew in 1963 and was designed as a technology demonstrator for a VTOL aircraft. It was twin-engined, using vectored thrust to transit from vertical to horizontal flight. Four were built, although one was used only for ground tests, and a second was used purely for take-off and landing research.
This sole survivor is reported as being the second aircraft, c/n 35, however this is unconfirmed.
It is on display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017