Some old Photos for your enjoyment

Snakeoil

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Worked with a great guy who went to Clarkson right after WWII. The college had many students from other countries now that the war was over. Many of the students had been soldiers during the war. A common discussion was who had the best what during the war. In his class were several German students and at least one had been in the German Army.

During one of the bull sessions, the subject of what was the best plane of WWII. The P51 Mustang and the ME 109 Messerschmidt were the two top contenders and the debate went on and on. Finally, one of the other Americans asked, "What about the P38 Lightning?" One of the Germans responded "Ahhh... the fork-tailed devil." We hated that plane. He went on to say that he was stationed in Holland and was part of an anti-aircraft unit. He was part of a gun crew. One morning as the sun was just starting to rise, they could hear planes coming but could see nothing. The planes were just off the surface of the water and had the rising sun at their backs. He said that by the time they could see them, they had done what they came to do and destroyed the installation he was protecting. He said his battery never fired a shot as they were gone before they knew it.

Another American was sitting there and asked, "Do you happen to remember what the date of that attack was?" The German said he did for some reason and gave the date. The American replied back, "I was one of those Lightning pilots."
 
P

popper

Well-Known Member
FIL was a B24 navigator and nose gunner - after the nose gunner got shot up. Belly flopped in the desert someplace. Only talked about it after a few too many rum & coke.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I attend church with a 96 year old lady who survived WW2 in Germany. She told me the only thing that kept them alive was their goats. No food other than what they could scrounge on a bombed out farm outside a small village. She was also the one that made me aware that the Germans/Japs/Italians lost sons and felt the same as we did when she talked about her cousin dying on the Russian front. I think she said he was 16 or 17. War sucks, no doubt about it.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Wine lover . The B25 was the medium Bomber . The belly was all bomb bay , no turret .

Soldiers and families weren't so different regardless of who's colors they wore .
Mike Kawato , Flight in to Conquest aka Bye Bye Black Sheep, said it wasn't really until late in the war when he hooked wings with a P39 and they spun in that it occurred to him that he wasn't "just destroying equipment" . He was the Ace that shot Greg Boyington down when he was sent to the mainland POW camp . They signed books at the Reno air races . Like the German on AA and the P38 pilot they were telling a story about a dog fight ......same fight different cockpits 50 yr after the fact . Drinks at Harrah's Reno were exchanged . While the story wasn't in either book it happened.
Mike was reported KIA and his parents mourned for nearly 2 2 years keeping the "fruits of the dead" tended . They were in shock and denial when he returned home . He was listed as KIA , declared dead and was very literally a man w/o a country . He lamented "so I did what any Japanese dead son would do . I sat at my (I don't remember the word , memorial shrine) and ate the fruits of the dead , I was after all dead and they were placed for me , and contemplated what I should do with my life ."

I watched a deal about the air war in Europe. They didn't get it quite right . We were fighting Luftwaffe pilots that flew their first combat missions in the last quarter of 1939 and were writing the book as they perfected the art of air combat . They had 5 yr of engineering, 3 yr of flight tests, and 18 months of combat by the time we got there . The claim by the presentation was that Germany was running out of veteran pilots and depending on rookies . Stuka Pilot tells a different story of cut supply lines and being overwhelmed by men and machine resources. He was decorated by Hitler in person. He had taken a 20mm shell through his cockpit and broken his ankle on a tank sorte and had his crew carry him up his wing during a scramble the following afternoon. He mostly flew the Ju 88 but occasionally would fly a FW 190 . He went out in the 190 and engaged a bomber flight but pulled off at the flak line . He ground looped at the base on his return.....his cast was getting soft it had soaked through with his own blood . His first mission was 9/30/39 over Poland , he surrendered the morning after the surrender in 45' in Italy to Allied troops with 4 of his wing and one of their girlfriends. Something about the British and Americans not holding such a hard grudge as the Russians. He was welcomed home but not as warmly as he had hoped . Some because he fought so long in a losing war , and fewer because he didn't fight hard enough..... Sounds a little bit like Vietnam.
 
462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Hmmm . . . Aldrin's shadow is pointing Southwest and that of the reflected flag pole Northwest.

Don't know the why of it, just saying . . .
 
Snakeoil

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
462 said:
Hmmm . . . Aldrin's shadow is pointing Southwest and that of the reflected flag pole Northwest.

Don't know the why of it, just saying . . .
Click to expand...
You piqued my curiosity. So, I look closer and even made a diagram. Basically, Aldrin's face shield is acting like a fisheye lens... well fisheye mirror actually. So, it will make things look different because the lens bends the reflection. The big shadow in his face shield is his own shadow. The shadows of the other things all point in the same basic direction but are altered slightly because they are on either side of the center of the face shield. So, this turns them a bit.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I remember my folks waking me up (I was 9) to watch the live TV of the event. At least I think that was it, they were always waking us up for "important events" like The Northern Lights, eclipses of the moon, etc. As a kid it didn't seem that important!
 
RicinYakima

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Bret4207 said:
I remember my folks waking me up (I was 9) to watch the live TV of the event. At least I think that was it, they were always waking us up for "important events" like The Northern Lights, eclipses of the moon, etc. As a kid it didn't seem that important!
Click to expand...
It was a day like many others in Viet Nam. Didn't even hear about it until we got back to camp and they were still talking about it at the EM club, likely about the 1st of August.
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Ran across these a few days ago. They were among a few more that hung on the wall in my office in the old MGM (Sony Pictures at that time) Studio Machine Shop.
Forgive the mediocre quality. I just captured with my phone.

The one immediately below is the Culver Blvd. gate. Time frame is mid 1940s. You can make out the BUY BONDS sign. I think the one with Leo the Lion is also '40s; obviously a war picture being shot.
IMG_1512.JPGIMG_1514.JPG
 
glassparman

glassparman

"OK, OK, I'm going as fast as I don't want to go!"
I had an M37 like that with a winch and an M43 Ambulance . . . when I was young and single.
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
A "proper lady" never rode "astride", always sidesaddle.

I'm guessing that photo is from the '30s and the notion that a "proper lady" never rides "astride" had long since passed into history.
 
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