Some old Photos for your enjoyment

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
That is a hard sell for that poor SeaBee. Trying to compact that ancient coral into a hard stand must have been a real job.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Though later in time, I had a Radio Flyer scooter similar to the one pictured.

Toured "Fifi" 4 1/2 years ago. B-17s, B-24s or B-25s were midgets compared to the B-29. To give it a bit of perspective, I'm a fraction over 6' tall, and the air intake of an inboard engine was well over the top of my head.
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RBHarter

West Central AR
PBY-5A_VPB-6(CG)_over_Narssarsuak_Greenland_1945.jpeg

It was often joked that the PBY aka Catalina or Albatross didn't fly by the watch they used a calendar .

A quick search didn't turn up the story I thought I had heard but several others ....... Talk about a flying gas tank , they had a mail/passenger run in Australia that took 28-32 hours .

The Japanese didn't much care for them . The crew of one scored the first air to air combat kill of a Zero by the Navy entering WWII . I didn't know they were used as torpedo bombers and gun ships .....
 

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
I have a recipe for Corned Beef, corned beef tongue is outstanding. I am definitely NOT a finicky eater. Tongue, menudo(tripe) made in Mexico, very good. Raw oysters, all kinds of sushi, sashimi, ceviche, bring it on. I love brains and eggs.

I vacationed in Australia and New Zealand and ate camel and kangaroo steaks. They were as good as any beef I have ever had.
 

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
I got to meet Tuck Smith. He was my Dad’s neighbor until he passed on. He flew Catalinas before we declared war in WWII.

My father told me that for the rest of his life after the war a personal representative of Queen Elizabeth would come to his front door and wish him a Happy Birthday!

He was the pilot who spotted the Bismarck and led in the British Navy that eventually sunk the great ship. We weren’t in the war yet. He never got a medal, he couldn’t, he “wasn’t supposed to be there”. He was “familiarizing” the British pilots, wasn’t supposed to be “fighting”.

There is a whole Wikipedia page about him.
Edit: He did get a medal, I was wrong.
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
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It was often joked that the PBY aka Catalina or Albatross didn't fly by the watch they used a calendar .

A quick search didn't turn up the story I thought I had heard but several others ....... Talk about a flying gas tank , they had a mail/passenger run in Australia that took 28-32 hours .

The Japanese didn't much care for them . The crew of one scored the first air to air combat kill of a Zero by the Navy entering WWII . I didn't know they were used as torpedo bombers and gun ships .....
"Flying Boats" were super cool! There are videos on You Tube covering most of the better known models.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
PBY Catalina was a cool plane. Kinda armored amphibious tank. Anti-aircraft/ship strafing/rescue missions. Martin built a larger and more 'modern' one but not much armament.
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I watched a piece on U-tube on the "Most underrated Plane in WWII" that made a convincing case for the PBY.

 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
PBY Catalina was a cool plane. Kinda armored amphibious tank. Anti-aircraft/ship strafing/rescue missions. Martin built a larger and more 'modern' one but not much armament.
Martin Mariner. Much larger plane IIRC. There was a whole mess of flying boats from the 20's through the 50's. I don't think there were any made after then.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
They just cost too much in fuel for pound of cargo carried. Plus they were incompatible with jet engines. The 707 was faster, cheaper and "modern".
 

BudHyett

Active Member
Martin Mariner. Much larger plane IIRC. There was a whole mess of flying boats from the 20's through the 50's. I don't think there were any made after then.
The flying boats were built to land in harbors and use the harbor facilities for the passengers where there were no large airports. Many harbors had the customs offices and train stations to act as a hub. World War II brought many new airports and expanded the existing airports. The commercial trade could use these airports after the war ended and large land planes became economically feasible. Lockheed, Boeing, Douglas, all built large four-engine aircraft to get a part of the trade. Then Boeing built the 707 and the world of passenger air travel changed forever.
 

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
not the one on State Street and like 2nd south?
Don't remember. We moved out in 1965 after only living Murry for just over a two years. My father was a minor partner in a Tire shop on State St. Long time ago.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Now We Know why the mail is Slow! Thank shorpy.com:

1938. Washington, D.C. "400-subject two-way postage stamp perforating machine at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein.

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Just love the alien protection hats!
 

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Those print dresses remind me of the 50 lb. flour sacks that were made of fabric like that and were sold in the grocery store I worked in (high school, Centreville, AL). People ate a lot of biscuits in the South in those days, and made clothes from the sacks.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
those hat's were to keep the bits of paper fluff out of their hair, the newspaper printer operators wore them too, but usually folded them with little cuffs at the edges.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Here Is an interesting one just posted at Shorpy.com:
Clinton Engineer Works, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1944. "Calutron Girls -- Gladys Owens (foreground), one of the workers monitoring 'Calutron' mass spectrometers at the Y-12 uranium isotope separation and enrichment plant. Like many of these women, she did not realize the significance of her work in the development of the first atomic bomb until long after the war had ended." Photo by Ed Westcott, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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