Getting into WWII

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

13 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

…fund the satellite as a way to scare the snot out of us, because he hadn't solved the reentry problem!  

As a Navy reconnaissance pilot stationed at Shemya in the Aleutians in 1958, my dad was heavily involved in tracking Russian space vehicle re-entries for just that reason. At the time, we hadn’t figured it out either. 

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

6 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Now if someone asks “What if the “Japanese had particle beam weapons?”, I’m out.

 

If they hadn't pissed off Marvin the Martian, they could of had the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

 

 

[Whiskey Hicks]

I remember reading a book about the code breaking efforts against the Japanese, and it detailed a lot of the naval intelligence efforts and the politics of the Pacific with the Japanese for the couple decades leading up to WW2.

 

My understanding is that with both of our expansions into the Pacific, and their need for resources, we would have eventually come to a head at some point with the Japanese.

[Sedalia Dave]

 

On 1/29/2022 at 4:42 PM, Buckshot Bear said:

 

There was that slim timeframe when the US was the only nuclear power in the world and the Japanese and Germans had been beaten. Its an interesting thought to think it would have been a different world if the US had been able to stop Red Russia and Red China from becoming nuclear powers.

 

There were already too many scientists that understood the basics of the physics behind the bomb before the war started for that to be a possibility for any length of time. The war only accelerated the development, sooner or later someone would have developed it even if there hadn't been a war.   

 

On 1/29/2022 at 5:15 PM, Trailrider #896 said:

The German nuclear program was not as close to Japan. The Germans were working on the wrong end of the periodic table. 

 

Its my understanding that several of the lead scientists that Germany coerced into working on their nuclear program sent his program down this and other rabbit holes to delay the program and give the allies time to gain the upper hand.   

[Sedalia Dave]

..

[Pariah, SASS #26619]

Werner Heisenberg, head of the German atomic program, wrote a very self-serving biography after the war, claiming that he purposely delayed the German program. Like many of the Nazi losers (like Speer), this should be taken with a grain of salt. He was completely on the wrong track with his atomic pile design, and Germany was not really close to ever getting a sustained chain reaction. His ego and efforts to distance himself from his Nazi past are the source of that "I really wanted the allies to win" BS.

Honestly, the equipment, processes, and resources to refine U-235 (or Plutonium) was out of reach of Japan (and Germany) during the war. Only the US had the sheer resources to build the A-bomb AND supply the war effort.