Picture of the day. (73 Viewers)
- Thread starter syscom3
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Viking1066
Major
That is correct.
Viking1066
Major
USS Long Island (AVG-1) View on the flight deck while operating in the vicinity of Argentia, Newfoundland, January 1942 Behind the palisade, are Curtiss SOC-3A Seagull types LASS
Viking1066
Major
USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) while anchored off Okinawa 1945 REDD
I have seen several photos, mainly (if not only) from the Pacific, with people posing in front of Army planes (USAAF) but looking like sailors/mats. The guy on top of wing has that specific cap ("dixie cup"). Were those "Seabees" (the people who served in the naval construction battalions=CB), who built the landing strips on the islands or did some mats serve temporarily with the army (e.g. technicians, armorers etc.)?Also from Flight Journal
I enlisted in the Navy in '61, serving with a lot of WWII sailors, including SeaBees who wound up by that time being assigned to shore base maintenance duties. In Naval practice of the day, you may have a specialist rate, but you often worked out of your specialty ... many times almost full time, filling the needs of the mission where manpower was needed the most. (in boot camp, they impressed on you that aboard ship, EVERY one is a fire fighter!)
CBs told of not just ground handling airplanes in SoPac, China, N. Africa, UK, etc. but being utilized in a/c maintenance, assembly from crates, engine changes.
I quickly got a taste of that, assigned to Antarctica then MACV Vietnam, where we were small units, working out of rate and rank often to support the mission. Even officers did FOD walks, shoveled, helped in the Mess ... civilians, and ALL services chipping in according to need, not rate or badge. (In MACV in '63/4, our unit had members of all services, including Coasties, all wearing similar working uniforms in the field, with only rank and service badges and occasional caps to differentiate ... sometimes!)
(btw - some features like editing DON'T LIKE FIREFOX, and I have to switch to MS Edge)
CBs told of not just ground handling airplanes in SoPac, China, N. Africa, UK, etc. but being utilized in a/c maintenance, assembly from crates, engine changes.
I quickly got a taste of that, assigned to Antarctica then MACV Vietnam, where we were small units, working out of rate and rank often to support the mission. Even officers did FOD walks, shoveled, helped in the Mess ... civilians, and ALL services chipping in according to need, not rate or badge. (In MACV in '63/4, our unit had members of all services, including Coasties, all wearing similar working uniforms in the field, with only rank and service badges and occasional caps to differentiate ... sometimes!)
(btw - some features like editing DON'T LIKE FIREFOX, and I have to switch to MS Edge)
Last edited:
special ed
1st Lieutenant
- 6,576
- May 13, 2018
A bit of trivia as we have mentioned CBs. A model club member/friend, now passed away, drove tractor trailer gravel haulers in V.N. He told of some drivers coming down the road where he was headed receiving shots from apparently groups of VC in the ditches alongside the road. As I understand these rigs, they had lengthwise clamshell doors in the belly of the trailer and if fully opened on level ground, they would hit the surface so partial opening was normal for spreading. After they had received radio warnings from fellow drivers coming down the road with full loads, our fellow club member with others driving the opposite way empty, straddled the ditches at the problem area, fully lowered the dump doors and completely cleaned the ditches.
Good shots!
MIflyer
Captain
From Flight Journal. An SBD-3 over Henderson Field.
MIflyer
Captain
From Flight Journal. SBD-5 over the Big E in 1944, after hitting Palu.
MIflyer
Captain
From Flight Journal. SBD on the Big E in Feb 1942, for their first combat op.
Viking1066
Major
F4B-4 assigned to VF-3B aboard USS Saratoga tied down with outrigger booms USNA
Viking1066
Major
F4B-4s from VF-9M on the ramp at Marine Corps Air Station Quantico during 1935 JBIN
Viking1066
Major
F4F-3 Wildcat VF-6 'Black 6F9' durign machine gun tests aboard USS Enterprise April 1942 REDD
Viking1066
Major
F4U Boneyard Rukuhia, New Zeland REDD
MIflyer
Captain
I read in the USAFM newsletter a pilot said that when they added the underwing .50 cal it screwed up the flight characteristics of the P-39Q, making it rougher flying at higher speeds. But on a Youtube video a Soviet pilot said that he loved the P-39, and especially liked the Q-5 model, since it was lighter. Some Q models were built without the underwing .50's but the Q-5 was not one of them. The Q-5 was indeed lighter than the others of that vintage, having over 100 lb less armor, but it was the Q-20 that had some built without the underwing guns.
Greg Boeser
1st Lieutenant
That's an F4F-4. Note the six gun bays and wing fold seam. F4F-4s were brought aboard prior to the Doolittle mission.
Viking1066
Major
That is correct as four online sources all list it as an F4F-3, which is wrong. Good eye Greg!
Viking1066
Major
F6C-3 (BuNo A-7140) of VB-1B aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) SDAM
