The Steel Republic

My name is Ray Novak. I grew up twenty minutes from the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, which probably explains most of this.

This channel is about machines. Tanks, aircraft, prototypes that never made it past a plywood mockup, and the committee fights that decided which ones got built. American hardware mostly, because that's what I know best. But you can't talk about the Sherman without the Panther sitting on the other side of the hedgerow, so everyone else shows up here too.

Fair warning: I go long on the details. Procurement battles, rejected designs, the engineer who was right ten years too early. If you want a top 10 tanks list, there are better channels for that.

I work from books. Hunnicutt, Zaloga, and yes, Death Traps, mostly to explain what it gets wrong. Not from other people's videos.

A new video most days. Six or seven a week. I take a day off when I remember to.

When I get a date or a caliber wrong, say so in the comments. It will happen.