That's something you don't see anymore...road side upright pianos. Why I remember when you couldn't drive but 5 miles and you would come upon SOME roadside musical instrument. Now mind you the roadside flutes and piccolo's were a little hard to spot, but tubas and pianos...oh boy...you couldn't miss em!
ATA Pilot Joan Hughes in front of a Short Stirling bomber during WWII. The first of Britain's 4 engine "heavies" the Stirling was specifically designed to bomb the Ruhr valley. Unfortunately thanks to some seriously bizarre decisions, such as shortening the wingspan so it could fit into existing hangers (even though later on new hangers had to be built for the Lancaster and Halifax anyway) and the huge bomb bay being fitted with compartments, limiting the type of bombs it could carry, this aircraft was effectively castrated. This pic gives us a great scale to sheer size of the aircraft though . And imagine the CO's surprise when a brand new heavy bomber was delivered to the airfield and this little lady jumps out! I heard some of the guys were so surprised they actually searched the aircraft for "the real pilot/crew" such was the disbelief that a woman could fly a bomber. But it's all true. Even pioneering female aviator Amy Johnston delivered aircraft during the war but was sadly killed when the plane she was flying crashed due to mechanical failure.
SS Maryland (BB-46) moored at berth F-5 alongside the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37). USS West Virginia (BB-48) is burning in the background. The unfortunate Oklahoma, an older ship with much less adequate protection against underwater damage, was hit by up to nine torpedoes. Her hull's port side was opened almost completely from below the forward gun turret back to the third turret, a distance of over 250 feet. She listed quickly, her port bilge struck the harbor bottom, and she then rolled almost completely over. Oklahoma came to rest less than twenty minutes after she was first hit. Some of her starboard underwater hull and the starboard propeller were now all that showed above the surface of Pearl Harbor. Some of Oklahoma's men were still alive inside her upturned hull, and their rescue became the focus of an intense effort over the next two days. Thirty-two Sailors were recovered alive, but over four-hundred were killed. In 1943, the capsized ship was rolled upright and raised in one of the salvage profession's greatest undertakings, but she was not further repaired. Maryland was hit by two bombs, which caused relatively light damage and some flooding forward. Four of her men lost their lives. The battleship was able to steam to the west coast for final repairs later in December and was fully returned to service in February 1942.