German civilians salvaging their possessions in bombed-out Berlin after the surrender of Germany, 1946.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-3560
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
English women watch an Eighth Air Force maintenance crew work on a B-24 engine.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-2357
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
Luftwaffe officer feeding a cat in Russia 1941.
Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=737984006863778&set=gm.1702667603251989
Wreckage burns from two Marine F4U Corsairs that collided at what appears to be Barakoma airfield on Vella Lavella Island in the Solomons, late 1943 or early 1944.Barakoma Airfield was a former World War II airfield on Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands archipelago. On August 15, 1943 American forces landed at Barakoma and immediately U. S. Navy (USN) 58th Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) "Seabees" began clearing a swampy area of jungle for development into a fighter strip parallel to the southeast coast of Vella Lavella Island.
Between August 19-28, 1943 Japanese aircraft attacked Allied forces in the Barakoma area losing a considerable number of aircraft of which Allied fighters and anti-aircraft claimed about 50 attackers. None of the raids did considerable damage. The last recorded Japanese raid was January 16, 1944 when four bombs were dropped three miles wide of the airfield. At night, harassment raids by Japanese interfered with, but did not stop the construction.
By October 25, 1943 the single runway measured 3,600 x 150' and was oriented 322° x 142° with taxiways and revetments along the inland southwest edge of the runway. Also a road was constructed from the airfield northward passing Gill's Plantation up to Lambu Lambu Cove and Horoniu.
Wartime History:
On September 24, 1943 the first official landing on the newly built runway was by VMF-214 "Black Sheep" F4U Corsairs piloted by Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington and Mo Fisher. Many Marine F4U aces flew from Barakoma during its height. During late 1943 until early 1944, Barakoma Airfield was used by U. S. Marine Corps (USMC) fighter aircraft and bombers. Afterwards, squadrons moved northward to Bougainville and Nissan Airfield (Green Island).
US Navy units based at Barakoma included:
VF-40 operating Grumman F6F Hellcats.
USMC units based at Barakoma included:
VMF-212 operating Grumman F4F Wildcats
VMF-214 operating Vought F4U Corsairs
VMF-215 operating Vought F4U Corsairs
VMF-221 operating Vought F4U Corsairs
VMF-321 operating Vought F4U Corsairs
VMF(N)-531 operating Lockheed PV-1 Ventura's
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-5909
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=72167
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-3997
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
President Franklin Roosevelt’s casket proceeds down Constitution Avenue toward the White House during his funeral procession on April 14, 1945.The death of President Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, took the world wholly by surprise. Although those close to him had feared that since his reelection campaign that his time was near, the public was not aware of the seriousness of his condition even though photographs from Yalta showed his physical deterioration. The president secretly left for the Yalta Conference after his inauguration on January 20 and later reported on that trip in a speech to Congress on March 1. Legislators were shocked by his worn and frail appearance. Six weeks later President Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia.
The Ferdinand Magellan train returned the president to Washington on April 14 and his coffin was carried on a caisson in a military procession from Union Station to the White House. At least a 500,000 people watched silently in the hot April sun. The coffin was brought into the East Room where it would remain for about five hours. Hundreds of mourners gathered in the East Room where he lay in state. Thousands more gathered outside along the iron fences. After a simple funeral service the caisson returned to Union Station and the coffin was placed aboard a train to be taken for burial at Hyde Park, New York.
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-3997
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/franklin-d-roosevelt-funeral
Soviet soldiers and their lend-lease Jeep, somewhere in ex Czechoslovakia, May 1945. As soon as Hitler attacked the Soviet Union both Britain (and later America) provided, Free-of-Charge, huge quantities of weapons, trucks and tanks to the Russians. Among the most valued were the Willys and Ford-built Jeeps which arrived by the hundreds and were immediately put into action. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 billion in materials: over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386 of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans); 11,400 aircraft (4,719 of which were Bell P-39 Airacobras) and 1.75 million tons of food.Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease
https://www.kingandcountry.com/lend-lease-russian-jeep-p-5572.html
https://ww2jeep.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=4236629&gid=465399&fbclid=IwAR1SnCaUyz5YkZrBiCEiAR2A3dhRjMAgGp5PNTBdyqLVWiTS29aXIP_CQ-w
Source :
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Pape,_Walter_(1914)
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=44093
U.S. Naval aviation cadets of the Morning Wing check flying assignments by class for their primary training flights in N2S “Yellow Perils,” 1942/43. The leather flight jackets were a status symbol. Undoubtedly hot in the Texas sun, they would be needed in the Stearman’s open cockpits.
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-15048
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/tag/usaaf/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
Army Air Forces recruits arrive at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Training Center in preparation for basic training. San Antonio was one of the three locations where Training Command processed and classified aircrew candidates for training.When you can’t get enough college- trained officers to make into pilots, you take what you can get. In two world wars, the Army plucked teenage boys from high school, called them “cadets,” and tried to make them into officers and gentlemen while it taught them to fly.
The process was swift and often harsh. One World War I pilot who had been through it defined a flying cadet as “a person subject to military law who ranks just one grade lower than a German prisoner but who must remember that someday he is to be an officer and conduct himself accordingly.”
The Army Aviation Section entered that war with thousands of eager applicants and few planes with which to train them. It sent cadets to selected universities for preliminary training, then to flight schools in England and France. Many waited months to go overseas and had to build their own bases when they arrived. They entered combat with scant instruction; losses were staggering.
Between wars, pilot requirements dropped, and officers again filled most of the training slots. The Army let a few cadets enter, but the standards were so high that few qualified, and most who did washed out. Among the handful who made it through was a midwestern youngster named Charles A. Lindbergh.
By the early 1940s, however, the Army Air Corps faced another war and was again short of flyers. In June 1941, Congress created the grade of aviation cadet, and the Army launched a massive flight-training program. Within two years, its annual output would soar to more than 65,700 pilots, 16,000 bombardiers, and 15,900 navigators. In time, the cadet program would expand to train nonrated officers in such fields as communications, armament, weather, and radar.
To get that many applicants, the Army had to lower its age and education requirements. When I applied a few weeks after the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I had just turned eighteen and was a high school senior.
Physical requirements remained high, but medical examiners tended to be lenient. When I was found to be underweight for my height, they weighed me again with my clothes on and had me slouch until I measured an acceptable five-ten. They so gave me three tries before I squeaked through the depth-perception test.
Passing the physical made us only “aviation cadet candidates.” We could await our official appointments either at home or in the Army as privates, unassigned. I thought a little Army experience would help later, so I enlisted. Three weeks after high school graduation, I was in a tent at Fort Dix, N. J., with seven other future cadets and some middle-aged draftees who still thought they had been inducted by mistake.
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-662
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1190cadets/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 80-G-K-1704
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.patriotspoint.org/scrappy/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=d69c3145fb4b99e14d9acbf844f9cca4d59d149c-1615728787-0-AfVn_n0_uIilihmHT3V-5cDYjUJlOGWkHKY32UHZTnhSK4wtiqgZwA5Y2yGMOk6RrK84KbL9KpXWskC4MAzvP43Ab2GEzuieJtLC9K7ryZ45FyVqyL_fNqF_IPOG2IDJwjkfFzfcllMVLufcwb5VqqPa6WEniRxVBui9eCbG9beikkd96S8GZA7PAdKBOiIXpgDjLDMyZx_xiiZv98oV_VRQDRanLEZQQMLJHbIkUrKtj4lY-ucIqiRe-Tpw52OzV6Cm3WRkC2RdDzXuKpQzVdgvCwOKcoih2_8K9XLu1rGbp0sNX490X8irNdpjKvtsTm8hWLSRfyswDSWNkhmSrF0HisvcevOOydRsRRF9-Q9cKDDgp3LDhj3HgOIwdWP5GmVyrl9Vtr7eQA-cOS8Vw0s
Sergeant Manuel Goulart Ferreira from Rio de Janeiro proudly polishes the Brazilian national insignia of a 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron P-47 Thunderbolt in Italy. The squadron flew in combat from November 1944 to May 1945 as part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. Brazil was the principal South American nation participating in Allied operations against Germany.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-4395
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
Lieutenant Clifford Allen of Chicago, Illinois, stands in front of a C-47 preparing to drop the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. The 555th was the only African American parachute unit and was not ready in time to deploy to Europe. Instead, as incendiary Japanese balloon bombs were launched towards the U.S. in mid-1945 in hopes of starting large fires in the Pacific Northwest, the 555th was assigned to jump on fires to extinguish them as part of “Operation Fire Fly.” The unit made 15 such jumps. Note the 150-foot rope for descending from tall trees; the plastic helmet and catcher's mask were protection against branches and brambles. Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-3746
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
An intelligence officer briefs pilots for “Operation Strangle” in spring 1944. They were to attack key supply lines keeping German forces operating in Italy. Operation Strangle was a series of air interdiction operations during the Italian Campaign of World War II by the United States Fifteenth and Twelfth Air Forces to interdict German supply routes in Italy north of Rome from 19 March 1944 to 11 May 1944. Its aim was to prevent essential supplies from reaching German forces in Central Italy and compel a German withdrawal. The strategic goal of the air assault was to eliminate or greatly reduce the need for a ground assault on the region. The Allies failed in the overly ambitious objective of the campaign, namely the forced withdrawal of German forces from the Gustav Line, but the air interdiction seriously complicated the German conduct of defensive operations and played a major role in the success of the subsequent Allied ground assault Operation Diadem.Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-4136
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Strangle_(World_War_II)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
Based on the extensive group of documents, photos and insignia related to the career of Luftwaffe engineer Otto Sunkel, includes: his Luftwaffe "wehrpass", issued Feb. 24, 1938 and featuring his identity photo and signature on the second page. Page 12 shows his various regimental assignments, indicating that he served primarily with signals and communications units, while page 22, shows his rank progression from his induction as "Hauptingenieur" ("general engineer") in September of 1937, to "Stabsingenieur" ("staff engineer") in October of 1938, and finally "Flieger Oberstabsingenieur" ("aviation chief engineer") in April of 1944. Pages 32 and 33 indicate that he spent the majority of the war stationed in Belgium and western France, and several of his decorations are listed on page 38. April 20, 1944, an award certificate granting Sunkel the War Merit Cross, First Class with Swords. Signed at the conclusion in black ink by Luftwaffe field marshal HUGO SPERRLE (1885-1953) as chief of Luftflotte 3. Jan. 30, 1944, an award certificate granting Sunkel the War Merit Cross, Second Class with Swords. Again signed by Sperrle at the conclusion in black ink. March 11, 1939, an award certificate granting Sunkel the Long Service Award, Fourth Class for four years' service in the Luftwaffe. Signed once more at the conclusion by Sperrle in black ink. Munich, Sep. 18, 1939, an award certificate granting Sunkel the Sudetenland Medal. Signed at the conclusion by a Luftwaffe major general in black ink, countersigned with Sperrle's typed signature. WITH: eleven additional documents related to Sunkel's service, including his service agreement, completed and signed by Sunkel upon joining the Luftwaffe; documents for his dismissal from the Luftwaffe issued both by the Wehrmacht and the occupying American 14th Armored Division; his shooting record book; a 1935-dated order enlisting Sunkel as a radio engineer; and more. WITH: pair of Luftwaffe collar tabs, each 2" x 1 1/2", of pink wool over a buckram core, trimmed with braided aluminum bullion and depicting a three-bladed propeller over an oak leaf cluster, indicating Sunkel's early rank of "Oberingenieur" ("upper engineer") in the Luftwaffe Engineering Corps.
Source ;
https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/document-and-relic-grouping-of-luftwaffe-engineer_32A4B6783B/
Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10220093889237635&set=gm.1692073677644715
Rare Colour Picture of German Marder III (7.5cm PaK40.3 auf PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf H - Sd.Kfz. 138 Model) Tank Destroyers in Tunisia. Probably newly arrived and prepared to be sent to the front packed with gasoline drums and jerrycans. An unknown number of 7,5cm Pak40/3 auf Pz.38(t) Ausf.H (Sd.Kfz 138) did make it to Tunisia, and the only known units thus far to be known to have this vehicle was the 2.Kompanie / Panzerjäger-Abteilung 39 and the schwere Schwadron / Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 580. There is another image title "North Africa-unknown date. Vehicle captured in Tunis" on page 24 of the Zimmerit Press booklet by David V. Nielsen entitled 'Panzerkampfwagen 38(t)' which shows a 7,5cm Pak40/3 auf Pz.38(t) Ausf.H (Sd.Kfz 138). There appears that the DAK palm tree is located on the right side of the front plate and on the left there is a tactical symbol that looks like the front of an elephant's head. While the tactical marking, is for a Kavallerie Aufklärungs-Abteilung. It seems that units of the 90. leichte Afrika-Division carried some variations on the elephant theme of troop markings, (i.e. the 7,62cm FK auf SdKfz6, w/ H.Pz.Jg.Abt.605 etc.), so it is possibly belongs to the Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 580.BTW, an excellent reference on how the shade of RAL8000 looked like on the Hull and Wheels, RAL8020 on the Jerrycans, in addition to their fuel stowage!Source :
https://ajhydell.com/2021/03/10/rare-color-pic-of-german-marder-iii-h-tank-destroyers-in-tunisia-probably-newly-arrived-and-prepared-to-be-sent-to-the-front-packed-with-gasoline-drums-and-jerrycans/?fbclid=IwAR1DnYJZVUEnlWeAG43yWDMNhd9obmWezHE6rtm_bfBqwyZzne5v2AHVWOY
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1728158044141689/permalink/2614494578841360/?__cft__[0]=AZVPCib9N6Y7F2MEOaWX0wsXncxZsf19rmZ8DqSgmylHY-qFh2eODVWIPH7Pa8kW4wdQjs1KECUh3riBlrcf3cPB4LELcO_15zbJdEBbTCt9IlNsheOvVHaYD00uSjJosbWLYRtK7OtkSo02rSpGQ7Rb&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/germany/panzerjager-38t-fur-7-62-cm-pak-36r-sd-kfz-139-marder-iii/
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Streib
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/topic/6937-ritterkreuztr%C3%A4ger-photos-in-color-thread/
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (8 AF) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft. Established on 22 February 1944 by the redesignation of VIII Bomber Command at RAF Daws Hill in High Wycombe, England, the Eighth Army Air Force (8 AAF) was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the European Theater of World War II (1939/41–1945), engaging in operations primarily in the Northern Europe area of responsibility; carrying out strategic bombing of enemy targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany; and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft until the German capitulation in May 1945. It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Air_Force
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1689714011214015/?__cft__[0]=AZVYKEV6kBNzkFj6gybNcpTQtdXe2pySr4pP62CoEzAQ7erpiSA269b0WJIkMvSf4DgxstR3cuiir6w8M9G829lTm3klLfAXNB65RltBa59XX6mi9S0aA3zemYwgZSdNXs5yC-XHxNFEbtUODx7KeBwtpliinWtjz3t2e8bvL6DPQebZ4iazi5WDDken3gteiuI&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
The M1 and M1A1 were portable flamethrowers developed by the United States during World War II. The M1 weighed 72 lb, had a range of 15 meters, and had a fuel tank capacity of five gallons. The improved M1A1 weighed less, at 65 lb, had a much longer range of 45 meters, had the same fuel tank capacity, and fired thickened fuel (napalm). Development of the weapon began in July 1940. The first prototype had the designation of E1. The prototype was further refined into the E1R1 model, which resulted in the adopted M1 model in August 1941. These man-portable weapons saw little use in Europe. They were more common in the Pacific, where they were used extensively when attacking pillboxes and fortifications. The M1's unreliability and lack of developed tactics resulted in the failure of the first flamethrower attack on a Japanese fortification in December 1942. The M1 was gradually replaced by the M1A1 in 1943. The M1A1 was replaced by the M2 flamethrower later during the war.
Source :
Bettmann Archive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_flamethrower?fbclid=IwAR26fIvT2J84OFfmebNLcph_smlulynrT75k1K4gSZ4QkQRUG7hDmA2zX_k
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=450225342912962&set=gm.1689193411266075
Source :
http://www.historicalwarmilitariaforum.com/search/?q=sepp%20dietrich&type=forums_topic&item=6937
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/213/Dietrich-Josef-Sepp.htm
Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=272816367649866&set=gm.1685740691611347
https://normandyallies.org/d-day-allied-divisions/u-s-4th-infantry-division/
https://www.usmilitariacollection.com/boutique/bouee-de-sauvetage-m-1926-3-pressions-1942-neuve-de-stock/
Source :
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/3531
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Green