RE: More WWII aviation photos......

[brad kaste]

Hi All,
Most of us have observed plenty of the same aviation photos,...both naval and army.....from WWII. So I was a bit surprised to see many 'new' ones I had not viewed before. Sure,..there will be some you're already familiar with. What I like most are the pre-WWII photos of USN aircraft displayed in their glorious color. My favorite being the Curtiss Helldiver SBC-4 showing off it's plumage.

Here (http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=14428&finish=15&start=0)

[beana51]

Thanx very much brad...Words cannot describe the impact of those Pictures and of those days.Seeing this in the real world then, is a enlightening compression than to see them in a Museum or a Bone yard some where....These are alive! One Milli second from actual movement!!..Frozen in time forever!!....So I just will again say thank you...However one Pic caught my attention,and it was of that"GIRL" pilot ,ferrying that P-19 over Texas in 1943..Women pilots in that War never really got the recognition they deserved. Happy to see at least one Represented here.....Vin!!

[SSI01]

Those photos sure do make you think - that young pilot standing next to his FM-2 on the Gambier Bay - if he remained on that ship, in just a couple of months he would have the fight of his life on his hands near the Philippines, and even if he survived it his ship would not . . .

Those photos of the prewar deck activity on the Enterprise are extremely interesting. I recall the water of the Pacific Ocean to be that shade of blue exactly. It would seem many of the aircraft shown on the Big E are mounting what appear to be cameras on their upper wings or on the right side of the fuselage, just ahead of the cockpit. Also - an interesting shot of one of the TBDs shows a vestige of a bygone era - there is what appears to be a Chief Aviation Pilot (CAP) in the front seat. There were a few of those around when these photos were taken, I believe the rate/rank were phased out during the war. Most of the TBDs on that ship had only a few months of existence left before their end.