Aviation News: New fighter design announced!

Marshal Rogov, head of the Air Force of the Soviet Peoples' United Republic, announced at a press conference today that the Main Design Bureau had developed a new monoplane fighter, the R-1 (or Rippov-1). It is about to begin a series of test flights very soon, and will enter production within the next six months.

An artist's impression of the new R-1 fighter.
In response to comments from members of the Western press that the design looked very similar to the Gee Bee Model Z that was designed and built by Granville Brothers Aircraft, the designer of the new fighter, General Rippov, stated that this was 'a typical bourgeois slur on the creativeness of the Proletariat.' He further stated that it would be more correct to say that the Gee Bee Model Z resembled the new Rippov-1 and not the other way around.

Mr Foxton Light, editor of the influential Military Aircraft Monthly magazine was heard to comment that 'the R-1 and Gee Bee Model Z are different; they are painted in different colour schemes!'

On a separate note, the disappearance of the third prototype of the Gee Bee Model Z some months ago still remains unexplained. The aircraft was on a test flight from Springfield Airport, Massachusetts when it disappeared. Both the aircraft and its pilot have not been seen since.

An artist's impression of the Gee Bee Model Z.

Ducal army...

With limited resources the Ducal Army reveals it's prototype armoured motorcycles...

East of Prague....

Brorogrovia and Slobenia lie in the shadow of Translyvania, somewhere East of Prague. The year is somewhere around 1935-38. It is within this arena that the arms dealers of the world have turned their attention as fighing once again flares up in the disputed Dojiy Valley.

The Borogrovian army has a distinctly adrian helmet look to it (WW2 French & Belgians) and is equipped with Modern French tanks and Italian tankettes. Whilst Slobenia (WW2 Dutch/Romanian) with it's Vickers-Armstrong franchise has the best that the Zlotol can buy.

Cheers

Mark

Gradual developments

This blog does seem to be gathering a momentum of its own, and as a result I have added a few bits and pieces as part of its ongoing development.

The most important of these has been to add links to what I have termed 'Interbellum and related Imagi-nation blogs'. If anyone has any further suggestion for blogs that might fall into this category, please leave a comment (with a link or the URL if possible) and I will add it.

In the meantime I am off to have a cup of tea and a serious think about recent events in Tradgardland. Is war imminent? I wonder...

An introduction to The Duchy of Tradgardland

I feel a bit of fraud in a way as my imagination was first created around three years ago. The Duchy of Tradgardland (situated around the base of Denmark and the top of Germany - if you know what I mean...) was first conceived as a mid 18th Century imagination and has continued to operate as such ever since. It has fought imaginary neighbours and the Imperium aka Austro Hungarian Empire in the Seven Years War.

Elsewhere I have charted the invasion of Tradgardland by the British on their way to to Denmark in 1807, begun to plan a WW1 Ducal army, charted the events of 1918 when Tradgardland became a battleground for Left, Right and even Freikorps!

Now I am thinking in terms of the Inter War period. By the way, I do hope you enjoy this photograph of Tradgardstadt, the capital city. Note well the many cyclists which may be an indicator of why the bicycle features quite heavily in the Ducal Army...

At my blog devoted to Army Red/White (The Swiss Army of 1910 -1939) I have already looked at issues of 1930's uniforms and equipment as part of my Funnylittewars 54mm project.

Hopefully I will be able to intereact upon these pages with the "giants" of the age as well as mere tiddlers like Tradgardland. The next post from me will probably will hopefully outline the political situation in Tradgardland and look at the forces available...

The Tools of the Trade

At the time of writing I have yet to formalise the make up of my two 1920's imagi-nations based on the Eastern Mediterranean. The protagonists will consist of a Balkan type state, tentatively called Balkrunia and their long standing enemies based upon the Ottoman empire. I have yet to flesh out the background for these two adversaries - the Ottoman force does not yet have a name - but I have been giving a lot of thought to the hardware side for the respective armies and fleets. I fully intend having a naval side for this and am fortunate in having a selection of the old Minifigs WW1 ships which will be ideal. the respective navies will be quite modest in size and will make use of much in the way of Great War surplus material from a variety of sources. Given that the geography of the region will be based on the Aegean with its myriad of islands etc the naval side will be very important as well as being a great excuse to have some sea battles. The islands will require garrisons and they will need to be supplied so there is much scope for some interesting actions.

The respective armies will feature a number of similarities in that they both have a main force backed up by locally raised militia types of varying quantity and quality. The main forces will be largely WW1 style armies (more 1914 than 1918) with a smattering of vehicles acquired either under licence or purchased on the open market as war surplus stock. Again, this needs to be 'fleshed out' in terms of detail etc.

Even the air forces will get a look in and I fully intend having provision for some airpower for the sheer fun of it rather than any major tactical benefit!

The scale of the figures will be 15mm which fits in nicely with the WW1 aircraft available in the Wings of War game series. I have a great swathe of figures I could press gang into service for this project but quite fancy designing my own in respect of uniforms etc although I have yet to decide on this. I have an organisation already in place for the army units and it is based around the rules of choice I will be using for the resultant battles. Either 'When Empires Clash' for my own use or 'Hordes in The Trenches' for when the action moves to a club night. Either way I also intend to orchestrate this as an ongoing campaign style of affair and through the medium of the blog to report the outcome of any actions as and when they take place.

More to follow as and when it happens!

Not a bad start!

Well Internbellum has been 'live' for less than a day and already it has one follower, two contributors, and several people who are line to join the list of contributors.

I expect that over the forthcoming weekend things might pick up a bit, but if you are interested in being a contributor just contact me at warden(delete)@dircon.co.uk (just remember to delete (delete) when you paste the address onto your email).

Welcome to Interbellum!

I have created this blog so that anyone who has an interest in imagi-nations and imaginary wars set during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s can exchange news and information.

The 'rules' for those wishing to join as a contributor or blog author are very simple ... just contact me by making a comment about this blog entry and I will add you to the list of people who can make blog entries.

Welcome to the interbellum era!