Scenes from World War 2: Victory In Europe [Photography]

By Jack Loftus Oct 9, 2011 8:00 PM 35,317 36

In 1945, one of the greatest modern wars the world had ever seen was in its final stages.

The Rhine was about to be crossed. The Soviets were nearly through on the Eastern Front. The dying continued.

These are the images from that final push and from V-E day, when the European theater came to its final conclusion. Above is the Red Square, illuminated with gunfire and celebration.

It was a joyously happy occasion for the world, but as you can see in the In Focus series this week, many of the historic cities where fighting was fiercest did not survive. Victory, as it usually is in war, was bittersweet, and the Pacific Theater still raged.

Check out the rest of In Focus's 20-part World War 2 photography series here. [In Focus]

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The Behind the Scenes Story of the Nike Air Mag, the McFly Jacket and More [Video]

The Nike Air Mag auction has wrapped up and has raised $5.6 million for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research ($11.2 if you count Sergey Brin's contributions). It was an absolutely worthy cause for the iconic shoe.

In all, there were over 38,000 bids on eBay with the cheapest pair being sold for $2,300 (a Size 7) and the most expensive pair being sold for $9,959 (size 10). Other pairs sold for more in different auction settings. Sneaker News has the full recap of the auction and it's a really great source for number nerds.

Also, Nike recently released the full story of the Nike Air Mag and as I'm still absolutely in love with the shoe, I can't stop watching and reading any new material about them. And I'm still learning new stuff! Like I didn't know one version of the "power laces" in BTTF 2 actually had holes in the sole so someone could pull down the laces underneath the street (the magic of the movies!). They've also released videos about the auto-resizing, auto-drying "McFly" jacket too (which I didn't know Nike had a hand in making). Watch them all.

I really hope they come out with a 2015 version. I also really hope I can afford to buy it by then. [Nike, Sneaker News]

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How Michael Bay Captures His Most Insane and Incredible Chase Scenes (KERBLOOOMMM) [Video]

If you've seen a Jerry Bruckheimer or JJ Abrams film—like, ever—you've witnessed the handiwork of the Russian Arm. You can thank this robotic, gyroscopicallly-stabilized camera crane for filming some of the most famous car chases in the last three decades.

The Russian Arm was developed by Filmotechnic—which was started in 1990 by Academy Awards Winner Anatoliy Kokush—as a robotic mobile camera crane. It's mounted on the roof of a vehicle to film tracking shots—those of moving vehicles from a moving vehicle—at virtually any angle. The Russian Arm keeps the camera steady while travelling at high speeds, across uneven pavement or off-road using a unique spring and strut design that eliminates camera shake and vibration.

Weighing 300kg in total—including 24kg camera and counterweights—the Russian Arm is comprised of an swing arm and a gyro-stabilized head as well as a mounting platform. The arm can swing freely around the perimeter of the vehicle, as low as a one foot from the ground and as high as 14 feet. The arm itself is about 12 feet long, though a 16-foot option is also available. The head can also pan 360 degrees (in six seconds), tilt along a 200 degree axis and roll along a 270 degree axis.

This entire system is most typically mounted onto a modified Mercedes ML55 AMG with setup and installation usually only requiring about two hours. These SUVs are known for their performance and handling, allowing for a top speed of 115 mph with this system strapped to the roof.

The camera crew—a precision driver, an operator to control the crane arm via joystick, and a technician—all ride in the chase car. The filming director communicates with the camera crew using an iCom system, a secure 50w walkie system that prevents other walkies in the area from listening in on the conversation.

On-board, images from the camera are displayed on one of eight monitors—5 for video assist and another 3 "witness" LCD monitors. The video is recorded and played back using the car's NDT 200 DVR and can be wirelessly transmitted over a range of 300 meters back to the base.

As you can see from the video below, the Russian Arm is a fantastically popular piece of equipment. It's been used in fils like Iron Man 2, Transformers, Mission Impossible 3, The Fast and The Furious, Incredible Hulk, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and by virtually every major automaker. The Russian Arm has even won Academy Awards.

[Filmotechnic - Filmitechnic Canada - Arrimedia]

Monster Machines is all about the most exceptional machines in the world, from massive gadgets of destruction to tiny machines of precision, and everything in between.

You can keep up with Andrew Tarantola, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Related Stories

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Behind the Scenes at Ground Zero [Video]

On September 6th, Gizmodo went behind the cordon to tour the progress of the World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial. From the first floor to the 71st, see how these incredible structures are taking shape—from the inside.

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Tiny Tanks, Howitzers-On-Wheels and Other Deadly, Dusty Scenes from WW2's North African Front [Photography]

The North African theater was every bit as savage and deadly as its better-known European and Pacific cousins during World War 2, with the added exposure to the Sun and dust storms for good measure. These pictures tell that story.

Culled together by In Focus as part of a 20-part photographic retrospective on World War 2, these are the images of Rommel, tiny half-tracks and a brand of fierce fighting that one would expect to see from the southern desert front in this great global conflict. [In Focus]

You can keep up with Jack Loftus, the author of this post, on Twitter and Facebook.

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