20 Things You Didn’t Know About Hadrian’s Wall

Andrew Knighton

 

 

Though long since reduced to ruins, the line of Hadrian’s Wall is still visible through the countryside of northern England, from Bowness on the west coast to Wallsend on the east coast. It remains one of the most impressive and fascinating accomplishments of Rome’s skilled military engineers. Here are some facts you might not know about the Roman Empire’s most northerly line of defence.

Nazi Germany's Battleship Bismarck vs. America's Iowa Class: Who Wins?

A World War II showdown that never was.

Kyle Mizokami

Despite the vast scope of the Second World War, the navies of the United States and Nazi Germany fought few, if any, direct surface engagements. By the time of America’s entry into the war the Royal Navy had already sunk or neutralized the lion’s share of Hitler’s Kriegsmarine, with only Hitler’s U-boats remaining a substantial German threat.

Nikitin-Shevchenko IS-1

Perhaps the most innovatory single-seat fighter to undergo flight testing in the late 'thirties was the IS-1. Polymorphic in concept in that it could translate from biplane to monoplane configuration and back again in the air, the IS-1 (Istrebitel Skladnoi or folding fighter) was conceived by Vladimir V Shevchenko and designed in collaboration with Vasili V Nikitin. The IS-1 was intended to take-off as an unequal-span biplane, subsequently retracting its main wheels pneumatically into the lower wing and then folding this wing (again pneumatically), the centre section into recesses in the fuselage sides and the outer panels into shallow depressions in the upper wing. Theoretically, the lower wing could be extended during combat to increase manoeuvrability. The IS-1 was powered by a 1,100hp Shvetsov M-63 nine-cylinder radial and carried an armament of four 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns. Construction was all metal and the prototype was flown for the first time on 6 November 1940, the lower wing being successfully retracted and extended within 7-10 seconds during subsequent trials. Refinement of the basic design for series production had meanwhile re- suited in the IS-2, only one prototype of the IS-1 being completed.