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Originally posted by Noah
Great analysis, Joe.
This is very much true; the Germans were ahead of us in many aspects of military technology -- tanks, machine guns (the MG42 was fearsome), and aircraft. The invention and use of drop tanks, though, is probably one of the most significant events of the 20th century. After that, the end of the war came into sight -- victory, at least in the European theater, became only a matter of time.
I spent my entire youth building World War II model airplanes and building and flying radio controlled ones -- but I've never gotten to ride in a real one.  Someday, someday...
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Noah,
Most of us grew up doing the same thing and still dream of parts of it. You need to at least get a ride in the EAA B-17, which is touring the states right now. If you look on the EAA's site (
www.eaa.org) you should find a link.
http://www.b17.org/
The MG42 machine gun was so fast in its rate of fire that when it started being used in large numbers in 1943 the US Army had to make a training video for new recruits. Just the noise alone scared most soldiers to the point where they could not move. A normal machine gun pauses just a bit between each round and you can tell it. The MG42 cuts this pause down to a minmum and its rate of fire is very, very high. Just like ripping canvas, it is a steady sound and it really frightened almost anyone who was against it. We finally overcame it but it took a while. Interesting thing is that if you take the top cover off of a American M-60 MG that is still used today, much of its "innards" are a direct copy of the MG 42. It was and still is a very good weapon.
If you like things like this, look for a book called "the restoration of black six." Read it years ago and its about the British War Museum's restoration of a BF-109. The aircraft was built in 1944 and in fair shape when they started. The interesting thing was that they pulled the engine apart after 50 years and found that even after being in combat the last year of the war, that it was like new inside! Main bearings were standard/standard and all major parts were within new spec.
This was one of the things that doomed them. The Germans build things to last and they could not do what they would have considered a sub-standard job. During wartime an airplane usually lasts a year or less in those days. Engines did not need to be built to last 20 years when you could use them for 100 hours and put a new one on. The engines on Allied airplanes were usually overhauled at 50 hours and most never made it to 100 hours. The Germans did not have this mindset.
The resources that the Germans used to make everything to the standards they wanted could easily have been relaxed and allowed them to at least double their output. What would have happened had they had double the planes and tanks on the Eastern Front? At Normandy? We will never know but thank God we won that war. The Germans were two weeks away from breaking England in the Battle of Britain and had they invaded the UK Europe might all be speaking German even today.