The War in View #22

British destroyers race through the Straits of Gibraltar, the western gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. In the foreground is a battleship, while above a Fleet Air Arm seaplane surveys the far horizon.

Allied soldiers wade out to rescue vessels, Dunkirk, May 1940.

A crowd gathers to see the new British battleship HMS Howe following its completion. Glasgow, Scotland, July 1942.

British ocean liner RMS Queen Mary returns U.S. troops from Europe. New York, 20 June 1945.

Bell P-63A-10-BE Kingcobra (42-70255) “Edyth Louise,” USAAF. Probably taken at Freeman Field, Indiana. Stored at the Paul Garber facility of the NASM at Silver Hill Maryland.

Bell P-63 Kingcobra in flight. Modified by the Navy with sweptback wings to test their suitability for carrier planes, circa 1945.

Bell RP-63A-9-BE (42-69501), Kingman, Arizona, February 1947.

Boeing Y1P-26 Peashooter (XP-936).

Boeing P-26A Peashooter.

Boeing P-26A (33-125), 94th Pursuit Squadron, Oakland, California, May 1936. Pilot Lt. John S. Chennault.

Boeing P-26A US Army Air Corps.

Boeing XP-936 (32-412) US Army Air Corps.

Boeing P-26 (32-414) US Army Air Corps. Photographed at Barksdale Field, Shreveport, Louisiana, January 23, 1934.

Boeing P-26C US Army Air Corps.

Boeing P-26B US Army Air Corps, Seattle, Washington, 1933.

Boeing P-12E (32-56), AC Reserve, Oakland Airport, 1939, when the Army Air Corps had half of Hangar One.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher was a catapult-launched observation floatplane.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher on catapult on rear of Alabama.

Aviation cadets in training with a Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane.

A Vought OS2U Kingfisher spots the fall of gunfire while dodging enemy anti-aircraft guns.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher launching from turntable catapult aboard heavy cruiser USS Quincy CA-71.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher approaching recovery sled alongside USS Quincy CA-71.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher being hoisted back aboard battleship USS Missouri BB-63.

John Burns’ overloaded Vought OS2U Kingfisher carrying a total of nine men in Truk lagoon.

Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane.

Curtiss YO-40 Raven prototype recon aircraft. The YO-40 was the main prototype of the O-40 Raven recon aircraft. It was developed starting in 1931 and the prototype first flew in February of 1932. The aircraft was powered by a 653 hp Wright R-1820E Cyclone radial engine. The aircraft was subsequently ordered into production in 1932/33.

Curtiss O-40B Raven observation aircraft.

Douglas O-38B, assigned to the Maryland National Guard's 104th Observation Squadron, parked on the flight line on 9 May 1934. The Maryland National Guard was equipped with O-38Bs from February 1932 to March 1937.

Douglas O-38E.

Douglas O-38E (33-4), California National Guard, Alameda, 1939.

Douglas O-38B.

Douglas O-38E.

M6A1 Seiran Navy Experimental 17-Shi Special Attack.

M6A1 Seiran Navy Experimental 17-Shi Special Attack.

M6A1 Seiran Navy Experimental 17-Shi Special Attack.

Three of the Boeing F4B-3 aircraft that the US Marine Corps used in 1933. These craft are shown in flight on 30 October 1933.

Boeing F4B-3 (A-8892 c/n 1596) US Navy. The F4B-3 was the USN production equivalent of the P-12E with the semi-monocoque metal fuselage, and 21 were ordered on April 23, 1931, together with 92 F4B-4s, the latter differing only in having enlarged vertical tail surfaces, and life raft stowage in an enlarged streamlined headrest on the last 45 examples. Both were designated Model 235 by their manufacturer.

Boeing F4B-4 US Navy.

Boeing F4B-2 (A-8635 c/n 1414), Fighting Squadron Six, US Navy.

Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 BuNo 9852.

Berliner-Joyce XOJ-3 BuNo 9196 Anacostia.

Berliner-Joyce XOJ-3.

Allied LRA-1 (BuNo 11648) on its beaching gear.

Allied XLRA-1 amphibious glider.

British armored vehicles pass a Supermarine Spitfire that crash landed, Normandy, 1944.

Firefighters put out a blaze caused by a round of German bombings in London, 1941.

The Warsaw gas works after an attack by the Luftwaffe, September 1939.

German bombers strike the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland, September 1939.

The German Aviatrix, Captain Hanna Reitsch, shakes hands with German chancellor Adolf Hitler after being awarded the Iron Cross second class at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, in April 1941, for her service in the development of airplane armament instruments during World War II. In back, center is Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering. At the extreme right is Lt. Gen. Karl Bodenschatz of the German air ministry.

Across the Channel, Britain was being struck by continual bombardment by thousands of V-1 and V-2 bombs launched from German-controlled territory. This photo, taken from a fleet street roof-top, shows a V-1 flying bomb “buzzbomb” plunging toward central London. The distinctive sky-line of London’s law-courts clearly locates the scene of the incident. Falling on a side road off Drury Lane, this bomb blasted several buildings, including the office of the Daily Herald. The last enemy action of British soil was a V-1 attack that struck Datchworth in Hertfordshire, on March 29 1945.

A Messerschmitt Me 410 armed with a BK 5 50mm cannon breaks away after attacking a 388th Bomb Group B-17 over Europe in 1943. The damage can just be seen at far right, inboard of the wing marking, a white “H” on a black rectangle. The Me 410 was easy meat for Allied fighters.

Boeing B-29-15-BW (42-6358 “Ding How”) (ex-468 BG) in Soviet Hands but still bearing its AAF serial number and last three digits (468th practice) on the fin.

Former 462nd BG (perhaps this is why the formerly red rudder looks darker in this picture) B-29-5-BW (42-6256 “Ramp Tramp”) takes off carrying “Samolet (Aircraft) 346” ( actually the captured German DFS 346 rocket-powered research aircraft), possibly in May 1947. “Samolet 346” reached a maximum speed of Mach 0.95.

Boeing B-29-15-BW (42-6358 “Ding How”) (ex-468 BG) in Soviet Hands with USAAF markings removed.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-6 captured by the Russians.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 captured by the Russians.

Messerschmitt Me 163S trainer captured by the Russians.

A captured Stirling behind an Me 109 on a German airfield.

This RAF Stirling four-engined bomber of 7 Squadron landed with a damaged nose near Gorcum, Holland, on 16 August 1942.

The captured Stirling bomber received German markings and was flown to Gilze-Rijen.

Russian Petlyakov  Pe-2 captured and flown by the Luftwaffe.

Captured Fw 190, possibly Sicily, 1944.

Junkers Ju 88 captured by British forces, the original German markings were overpainted with RAF markings, and now those markings have been replaced with German ones.

Junkers Ju 52/3m – 450 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force. This Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52/3m transport aircraft was captured intact by Australian forces at Ain-El Gazala, Libya, repainted with the Royal Australian Air Force’s roundels and nicknamed “Libyan Clipper”. The aircraft was used by 450 Squadron RAAF to transport mail, food supplies and small items from Cairo and back to the front line, doing two or three trips each week. Lord Casey, Governor General of Australia, came in this aircraft to see the men of the squadron in 1943.

The starboard side of the Libyan Clipper had a different layout for her lettering. The Junkers Ju 52 was built in very large numbers—nearly 5,000. Their Luftwaffe crews lovingly referred to them as Tante Ju (Aunt Ju).

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka captured by British forces from the original Italian owners and now carrying both Italian and British markings.

A Ju 88G-1 night fighter captured by the British and undergoing testing by the RAF. The original German markings have been overpainted and British roundels and fin flashes applied together with RAF serial number TP190.

Captured Ju 88 night fighter undergoing testing by the British.

Captured Messerschmitt Bf 110 (WNr 4035), "Belle of Berlin". This aircraft originally wore Iraqi markings and was captured after belly landing near Mosul in Iraq. Despite the Iraqi markings, it belonged to II/ZG 76 of the Luftwaffe. It was test flown at Habbaniyah in September 1941 after being restored to airworthy condition using captured parts. Later it was flown to Egypt and flown by 267 Squadron, RAF. Ultimately it was to have been transferred to South Africa but was written off in a belly landing when the undercarriage failed to lock down.

Another view of captured Messerschmitt Bf 110 (WNr 4035), "Belle of Berlin".

Messerschmitt Bf 110 E-1 (HK846 c/n 4035) Royal Air Force. Produced early 1941 in a batch of 104 Bf 110 E-1s (c/n 4013 to 4116) this aircraft was assigned to 4./ZG 76 (Zerstörergruppe, Destroyer Group). In early May 1941 it was one of twelve aircraft assigned to Sonderkommando (Task Force) Junck under command of Oberst (Colonel) Werner Junck in support of the Iraqi Nationalist cause and it was operated in Iraqi markings from Mosul, Iraq. On May 25, 1941 it made a forced belly landing in the Mosul area when the undercarriage failed to lock down and was abandoned, as the Sonderkommando left Iraq. Subsequently it was found by British Froces, repaired and allotted the British serial HK846. Named “Belle of Berlin” it was test flown in September 1941 and used by No. 11 Squadron at Habbaniyah. Later it was transferred to Almaza near Cairo, Egypt, from where it was used by No. 267 (and later No. 89) Squadron for reconnaissance and liaison duties. Ultimately it was to be transferred to South Africa as part of a program to train pilots on enemy equipment but in the process of transfer was written off in northern Sudan in another belly landing, again due to failing undercarriage.

Captured Bf 110 night fighter during British testing.

Me 163B-1, formerly of II/JG400, captured by the British, with British serial VF241. Captured and tested by the RAF as a glider during 1946, in connection with a Royal Aircraft Establishment transonic research aircraft project.

A twin-seat nightfighter Me 262B-1a captured by the RAF and undergoing evaluation in Britain.

A captured Me 262A-1 in British markings.

This is the same exact photo as the previous one, except the photo has been retouched to delete the British markings and add German markings.

Another view of the captured Me 262A-1, Werke Nummer 111690, in Britain.

Me 262B night fighter.

Saint Croix Sur Mer, Normandy, 1944.

Japanese victims wait to receive first aid in the southern part of Hiroshima, Japan, a few hours after the U.S. atomic bomb exploded in the heart of the city. The explosion of the first A-bomb, known as “Little Boy,” instantly killed 66,000 people and injured another 69,000 people. August 6, 1945.

The expanding fireball and shockwave of the Trinity test explosion, seen .025 seconds after detonation in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945.

The devastated remains of Hiroshima, Japan just days after U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb on the city, killing upwards of 140,000, on August 6, 1945.

Battered religious figures stand amid the rubble of Nagasaki, Japan on September 24, 1945, six weeks after the U.S. destroyed the city with an atomic bomb.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan by the U.S. on August 9, 1945.

U.S. Army inspection teams examine the results of a raid by the USAAF on a factory in Japan.

View of Nagasaki showing the destruction wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on 9 August 1945.

Smoke rises from factories in Tokyo after first U.S. carrier strike on the city on 16 February 1945.

Japanese wartime painting by T. Ishikawa shows American and Japanese carrier-borne aircraft dueling over the South Pacific—probably Coral Sea.

ASM-N-2 Bat missile is carried by a U.S. Navy Grumman TBM Avenger. Note the folded tail fines which, when the BAT is released, would open into proper flight position.

P-39 Airacobra pilot in the cockpit.

P-39Qs of the 46th Fighter Squadron at Makin Island, December 1943.

Tech Sgt Donald Birdsall in the top turret of his B-24 "Bag of Bolts" from the 448th Bomb Group. On a February 21, 1944 mission to Germany the aircraft was heavily damaged by flak and fighters, including Birdsall's turret. Amazingly he only received minor injuries.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator with large portion of upper fuselage destroyed, circa 1944.

M3 medium tanks being manufactured at the Chrysler factory.

 Sturmgeschütz III with a long 75 mm gun is on the move on the Russian front.

A Type 97 "Chi-ha" maneuvering in a oil palm tree plantation, collapsing one of the trees in the process during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, circa December 1941.

"Men in tanks must eat quickly and well" Armour and Company advertisement.

Creighton "Abe" Abrams, still a young Lieutenant Colonel sitting at his desk in Mannheim, Germany, during 1949. This was taken after his graduation from the Command and General Staff College, located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.