Picture of the day. (16 Viewers)

[syscom3]

USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch its air wing during the Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944. In the background the carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) is straddled by 14-inch gunfire from the Japanese battlegroup

 

[Wurger]

 

[Greg Boeser]

If that doesn't get you motivated, I don't know what does.

 

[syscom3]

F4U-1A Corsair Fighter (Bu# 55995) piloted by Tug Ira Kepford of VF-17. Possibly taken over Bougainville in early March
1944.

 

[syscom3]

An electronic warfare Fortress III of 214 Squadron with nose-mounted H2S radome.

 

[syscom3]

A jacket worn by a crewman of the 401st bomb group (B17's), 8th AF.

 

[syscom3]

Two P-51 Mustangs 'Tiny Gay Babe' & 'Three Of A Kind' Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. 21St FG, 72nd FS. 1945

 

[Frog]

USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) prepares to launch its air wing during the Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944. In the background the carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) is straddled by 14-inch gunfire from the Japanese battlegroup

View attachment 771523

CVEs being small carriers, as a normal rule did not have an air group, but a mere composite squadron (VC) roughly 1/3 TBM or TBF, 2/3 FM-2.

 

[syscom3]

The prototype A6M Zero fighter took its maiden flight at Kagamigahara airfield, Japan. Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K.
(Mitsubishi Aircraft Company) Chief Test Pilot Katsuzo Shima made the first flight of the prototype Mitsubishi
A6M1 Navy Type 0 fighter at the Kagamigahara air field (now, Gifu Airbase). Completed about ten days earlier,
at the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company factory at Nagoya on the island of Honshu, the prototype fighter had been
disassembled so that it could be transported by road approximately 22 miles (36 kilometers) to the airfield. B
eginning late in the afternoon with taxi tests and a brief "hop" to check control response, at 5:30 pm, Shima took off on what would be a successful test flight.

After the success of the A6M1's initial flight tests, a second prototype, c/n 202, was built and testing continued.
In September 1939 the Japanese Navy accepted the new fighter, the Rei Shiki Sento Ki, or "Rei-Sen," and it was
ordered into production with few changes.

 

[SaparotRob]

The prototype A6M Zero fighter took its maiden flight at Kagamigahara airfield, Japan. Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K.
(Mitsubishi Aircraft Company) Chief Test Pilot Katsuzo Shima made the first flight of the prototype Mitsubishi
A6M1 Navy Type 0 fighter at the Kagamigahara air field (now, Gifu Airbase). Completed about ten days earlier,
at the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company factory at Nagoya on the island of Honshu, the prototype fighter had been
disassembled so that it could be transported by road approximately 22 miles (36 kilometers) to the airfield. B
eginning late in the afternoon with taxi tests and a brief "hop" to check control response, at 5:30 pm, Shima took off on what would be a successful test flight.

After the success of the A6M1's initial flight tests, a second prototype, c/n 202, was built and testing continued.
In September 1939 the Japanese Navy accepted the new fighter, the Rei Shiki Sento Ki, or "Rei-Sen," and it was
ordered into production with few changes.

View attachment 771756

This must be the first picture of a Zero with a 2 blade prop I've ever seen.

 

[syscom3]

This must be the first picture of a Zero with a 2 blade prop I've ever seen.

Good eye!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[syscom3]

This F6F Hellcat entered a low altitude spin just before the ramp of this aircraft carrier, USS Charger, in August 1943. The Hellcat hit the rear of the deck and fell down onto the stern of the ship. Somehow, the pilot survived!

 

[Wurger]

 

[N4521U]

Dio!!!!!!!

 

[syscom3]

Nauru Island under attack by Liberator bombers of the Seventh Air Force

 

[syscom3]

A formation of B-17s takes flak over Debrecen, Hungary, 21 September 1944.

 

[syscom3]

USS Farragut (DD-348) underway during manouvres staged for Movietone News, off San Diego, California, 14 September 1936. She is being overflown by five patrol planes. At left is a PBY-1 of Patrol Squadron Eleven-F (VP-11F). The other four are P2Ys of Patrol Squadron Seven-F (VP-7F).

 

[syscom3]

August 9, 1945: A Supermarine Seafire of 880 Squadron FAA assigned to HMS Implacable, pilot Sub-Lieutenant
Mike Banyard, RNVR, seen with a collapsed landing gear on the flight deck of USS Essex CV-9. The two aircraft
(this one and the one below) landed on Essex due to low fuel. However, the arrester wire on the U.S. carrier
was too taught for the light aircraft and both planes were damaged on landing. Neither pilot was injured.

 

[Wurger]