Picture of the day.

[syscom3]

US B-25D Mitchell bomber 'Here's Howe' of the 'Grim Reapers' 3rd Bombardment Group, 'Pair-O-Dice' 90th Bombardment Squadron executing a low level attack on Japanese shipping, Rabaul, New Britain, Nov 2 1943

I think I read that the squadron commander and his assistant were removed from command after this mission for incompetence or cowardice. Your choice.

 

[Njaco]

Spend an hour or two looking at photos and accounts of Nazi atrocities and then tell me you wouldnt have some choice words for what Germany was responsible for. **k em.

I said that was enough. If not I'll lock the thread and give out vacations. Lets get back to the pics.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[Milosh]

181 Squadron Typhoon IAs with a WAAF keeping her butt warm by sitting on the engine cover.

What airfield?

 

[vikingBerserker]

Good catch, I did not even notice that.

 

[Lucky13]

No.181 Squadron was one of the first squadrons to receive the Hawker Typhoon, and flew that aircraft to the end of the Second World War, helping to turn it from a flawed fighter into an excellent fighter-bomber.

The squadron was formed at Duxford on 1 September 1942 as a fighter squadron, and received its first Typhoon one week later. The squadron suffered from the Typhoon's many teething problems, but despite this operations began on 28 November 1942, and the squadron was used to fly defensive patrols against low level enemy fighter-bomber squadrons, taking advantage of the Typhoon's impressive low level speed.

The first offensive sweeps were flown in February 1943 and saw the squadron attack enemy coastal shipping. Targets in northern France were added later in the year.

The squadron joined Second Tactical Air Force in the summer of 1943 and became part of a fighter-bomber wing operating from advanced landing grounds in southern England, bringing it closer to its targets in France. The first Typhoon rocket attack was made by aircraft from No. 181 Squadron, against Caen power station on 25 October 1943.

In January 1944 the squadron began to attack V-1 launch sites as part of the wider campaign against the new mystery weapons. In February the squadron introduced its own 'secret' weapon when rocket attacks on German camps and communications began.

On 10 June the squadron took part in a set piece attack on the HQ of Panzer Group West at the Chateau of La Caine, providing part of a force of 40 Typhoons that took part in the attack. Two weeks after D-Day the squadron moved to Normandy, and was used to attack German tanks and communications targets. By early September the squadron had reached the Low Countries, where it remained across the winter of 1944-45. The squadron moved into Germany before the final offensives, ending the war at Lubeck on the Baltic. The squadron was disbanded on 30 September 1945.

Aircraftt
September 1942-September 1945: Hawker Typhoon IB

Locationt
September-December 1942: Duxford
December 1942-March 1943: Snailwell
March 1943: Cranfield
March 1943: Snailwell
March-April 1943: Gravesend
April-June 1943: Lasham
June-July 1943: Appledram
July-October 1943: New Romney
October-December 1943: Merston
December 1943-January 1944: Odiham
January-February 1944: Merston
February 1944: Eastchurch
February-April 1944: Merston
April-June 1944: Hurn
June-August 1944: B.6 Coulombs
August-September 1944: B.30 Creton
September 1944: B.48 Amiens/ Glisy
September 1944: B.58 Melsbroek
September 1944-January 1945: B.78 Eindhoven
January-February 1945: Warmwell
February-April 1945: B.86 Helmond
April 1945: B.106 Enschede
April 1945: B.112 Rheine/ Hopsten
April-May 1945: B.120 Langenhagen
May 1945: B.156 Luneburg
May-July 1945: B.158 Lubeck
July 1945: B.160 Kastrup
July 1945: Manston
July-August 1945: Warmwell
August-September 1945: B.160 Kastrup
September 1945: B.166 Flensburg
September 1945: B.164 Schleswig

Squadron Codes: EL

Duty
September 1942-Summer 1943: Fighter Command
Summer 1943 onwards: Fighter Bomber Squadron, Second Tactical Air Force

Part of
June 1943: 2nd Tactical Air Force
6 June 1944: No.124 Wing; No.83 Group; Second Tactical Air Force; Allied Expeditionary Air Force

 

[Airframes]

Good one, and another showing the Ford or Dodge (can't remember which) American tractor.

 

[Lucky13]

Clarktor 6 Flight Deck Tractor.
The US Navy started to use Clark tractors on its aircraft carriers since mid 1942. The Clarktor 6 -model tractors, already in service on USAAF airfields at the time, helped to tow and position aircraft on the carriers' busy flight decks and saw success in this role. These vehicles were in use on Lexington, Essex and Midway class carriers. Replaced by newer flight deck tractors in mid 1950s, Clarktors continued to serve ashore on some Naval Air Stations until the late 1960s.

BNO-40 Flight Deck Tractor.
This type of flight deck tractor, based on a pre-war commercial model, entered service with the US Navy in 1943. These ubiquitous vehicles served on most USN carriers, including veterans like USS Enterprise (CV-6), Essex and Midway class attack carriers, Independence class light carriers and even the smaller Bogue, Sangamon, Casablanca and Commencement Bay class escort ships. After seeing through both the World War II and the Korean war they were replaced on US carriers by newer tractors in mid 1950s, while some went to work for the French Navy on the decks of R96 La Fayette (ex USS Langley) and R97 Bois Belleau (ex USS Belleau Wood).

This what I've found so far....

 

[Lucky13]

Sniffing around a bit more, these two tractors seem to a 1942 Clarktor 6 MILL-44 Heavy Aircraft Tug...

 

[razor1uk]

Cool, the vaguely ledgable writing on the fuelling up tractors frontal splinter shield looks like 'Lady Spencer/Lade Spincter' to me; without zooming in that is, than akin to the RAF vehicle code on the bombing up tractor below it.

..maybe I should have a brew to refresh (of tea, not a brewski.)

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Jan. It's that BNO type I was thinking of - saw a restoration of one on the 'net recently, and it was basically the same thing, but either a Dodge or Ford produced version. Certainly Clark is the manufacturer I now remember, along with Cleveland Tractor Company (Cletrac) for their tracked, heavy tractor.

 

[Lucky13]

Think that I saw Ford did those BNO's old chap, while sniffing around, I also saw something that the USS Yorktown, CV-5, also had Willys jeeps for the job...
.....and it is one of these in the Tamiya 1/48 kit of the F4U Corsair, innit?

 

[Crimea_River]

Yes it is.

 

[Flightpath]

There were 656 Mark V and Mark VIII Spitfires delivered to the RAAF during the war, here are some of them waiting to be scrapped at Oakey, Queensland.

 

[syscom3]

Here's something you don't see everyday. A flight of B26's over London on their way to their target.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[GrauGeist]

Here's something you don't see everyday. A flight of B26's over London on their way to their target.

Took me a moment to find 'em all!

This must have been shortly after D-Day because they moved the B-26 BGs to France after it's liberation, didn't they?

 

[Crimea_River]

Took me a moment to find 'em all!

Me too. Kinda like Where's Waldo?

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Good catch, I did not even notice that.

You're slipping David.

 

[syscom3]

We would have to look up the B26 group records to find out when they did move to France, but considering the allies didnt even breakout of Normandy until Aug 1944, the moves had to have been made in the late fall of 1944.

B26's over London might have been due to congested airspace over East Anglia.