Top 10 Inventions Of WWII

Nothing like a big bang for uniting the troops, is there?

 

So Von start the new thread as things are going flat around heya lately...Please.

Feel free also to continue this thread. Anyone see the famous Russian flying submarine invention?
Didn't they show it about a week ago on Saturday showing Russian secret inventions on Discovery channel. According to the programme the Russians had a jet fighter flying before both the British and the Germans! Also a transparent aircraft but which they discarded because of unreliable materials.

 

Ah yes, I taped that and thought it was very interesting. They had the German weapons before the Russian ones. It was interesting how Stalin helped the Germans out by doing stupid things and then Hitler helped the Russians out by doing the same.

 

agreed on the atomic bomb.

 

Well even though the atomic bomb was a horrible weapon it did save alot of American lives and ended WWII. Unless massive fire bombing continued over Japan I can think of no other way to defeat bushidoism and get them to surrender. As far as ethics discuss that with veterans from Pearl Harbor.

 

For me the first one is Jet engine the secound is V1 and V2 rockets.I also think the tank "Tigar" and "Panther" has give a lot for resarching beter weapons.I think that we can put "FG" and "MP44" in those 10 iventions.The atom bomb that americans drop in Japan was one for sure.I will put the "Katusha" in 10 iventions in my opinion.The U-boats and the enigma must be one of the best iventions of WW2 too.It may sound REALLY funny but the german helmet is one of the iventions too many of todays army have helmets just like the form of the nazis helmets

 

Well this may sound shallow but I would say
#1. Atomic bomb- It killed many people yes, but also saved the lives of countless others from needing to invade the Japanese mainland.
#2. M1 Garand- Although a simple and small weapon, its use inthe hands of american infantry was decisive against other bolt-action rifles of the day.
#3. Messerchimt Jet- Although it was first put to use during the battle of the bulge which did little good because it was overcast for nearly the entire battle and by that point the war was nearly finished anyways. It opened a new door to innovation and warfare for the future.

 

I thought Penicillin was discovered in 1928? Florey and Chain picked up the baton and started to produce it in significant amounts around about 1941,after picking up on the research. If one includes penicillin in the top ten it can only be from the viewpoint of the major/mass production of a life saving drug, it's ultimate development,and thus widespread use and associated issues.

 

Thought I would include this here rather than another thread.

"Deaths from disease in WW1 were more than 31 times greater than those suffered in WW2, while lost service due to venereal disease (V.D.) was 30 times higher in WW1 than during WW2 … (although WW2 still numbered 606 men who came down with VD each day") .

Also:

Ultimately Pfizer, the American pharmaceutical company produced 90 percent of the penicillin that went ashore with Allied forces at Normandy on D-Day in 1944 and more than half of all the penicillin used by the Allies for the rest of the war.

 

Cabin pressurisation in aircraft.

 

the best invention was the garand, very accurate semi-auto gas-operated, infantryman's best friend

 

The invention in WW2 that changed the world was microwave radar. The thousands of commercial aircraft in our skies today are all tracked continuously by radar. Every ship and pleasure boat now relies on it, as do most of the world's storm-watching systems and TV weather reports. Radar led to radio astronomy. It was radar that brought on the discovery of pulsars, quasars, and thousands of hidden galaxies.

Microwave radar also led to the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, the transistor, and the maser, giving the basis of computer memories. But that wasn't all, early television got a critical boost from wartime radar, as did microwave spectrography.

So too did microwave ovens, now common in every home. This forum wouldn't exist nor the Internet were it not for radar and all its myriad spin-offs.

I would recommend you read Robert Buderi's appropriately titled The Invention That Changed The World - The Story of Radar from War to Peace

 

The Garrand is an excellent weapon in the right hands. Thank you for your response. Any others you feel worthy of mentioning.

 

In no particular order:

1. Penicillin and other anti-biotics
2. UHF FM radio
3. Radar, in particular microwave radar. By the by, the Japanese beat the British to inventing it....
4. Nuclear power / weapons
5. Metallurgy. The advances in this field were tremendous during the war. Tungsten carbide (prewar it was marginally in use), alloy and stainless steels, aluminum alloys, titanium etc.
6. Plastics. This was almost a new field in 1939 with few in use. Use was widespread by 1945 and was quickly replacing wood in most applications.
7. Gas turbines (jet engines)
8. Operations research and industrial engineering. New fields that brought science to the application of war and industry. The introduction of the "Mil-Spec" and rigorous quality control had massive ramifications in reliability and production of war materials.
9. Room temperature storable rations. From C rations to M&M's to the canned potato or Spam this made an enormous impact on health and well being of troops and civilian populations.
10. Layered clothing designed for combat and outdoor living.

Note, with the exception of nuclear weapons not one thing on this list is a weapon. This is because the weapons of WW 2, like most throughout history, were evolutionary not revolutionary in nature.

 

In no particular order:

Penicillin and other anti-biotics

There seems to be a question in peoples minds as to Penicillin not being an invention but a discovery.

This was intimated by a few on this thread through its course.

Sir Alexander Fleming certainly observed "Penicillin" however he could not "make it work" and shelved his research in 1930.

Florey, Chain et al made it work by "Inventing" the process to manufacture.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

Don't you feel an invention is useless unless it can be applied?

 

Don't you feel an invention is useless unless it can be applied?

Hi Pete,

Yes I do!

What is the meaning of your question? Are you relating it to Fleming or is it generalised?

There is no doubt that Fleming "discovered" penicillin and hypothesised the possible human benefits however it would have gone nowhere had someone not acted on his research.

The invention of the means of manufacture and subsequent application (Florey, Chain etc did all the human trials) marked this as the new age of medicine.

 

Don't you feel an invention is useless unless it can be applied?

Not at all. There have been plenty of inventions that on their own never were useful but led to subsequent developments that were. Just because something is impractical or useless now does not mean it might be practical and useful in the future.
Not all progress is revolutionary. Most of it is evolutionary. That is, most inventions are not something totally new without a previous string of developments but usually they are the other way around.

 

Not at all. There have been plenty of inventions that on their own never were useful but led to subsequent developments that were. Just because something is impractical or useless now does not mean it might be practical and useful in the future.
Not all progress is revolutionary. Most of it is evolutionary. That is, most inventions are not something totally new without a previous string of developments but usually they are the other way around.

Evolution of invention has merit but during War time, application was essential and unfortunately for the Germans they tended to go the evolutionary route.