Picture of the day. (1 Viewer)

[Lucky13]

Source: Interweb

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

This Day in History: World War II's most famous bomber, Memphis Belle
On this day in 1943, a B-17 Flying Fortress completes its 25th combat mission without losing a member of its crew. Memphis Belle would return to the United States, embark on a war bond tour, and become one of the most famous bombers to emerge from World War II.
She was nearly sold for scrap metal after the war, but Memphis mayor Walter Chandler saved her for $350. Today, she's been refurbished and sits at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
Memphis Belle's survival was no small feat.
"If you want just one word on how we were able to go through the hell over Europe 25 times and get back without a casualty," Captain Robert K. Morgan later said, "I'll give it to you. It is teamwork. Until you have been on a Flying Fortress in combat, you can't know how essential that is."
Indeed, the men on his crew were so focused on teamwork that they developed a ritual of sorts. They would gather around the plane before a mission and recite an informal pledge: "If only one airplane comes back today, it's going to be us." It reminded them, as Morgan would later say, "that we were no longer ten individuals but one interdependent unit."
Memphis Belle finished her 25th mission on May 17, 1943—a huge milestone! It meant everyone on the crew could go home. Nevertheless that 25th mission wasn't necessarily her toughest endeavor.
Her crew would never forget an earlier mission on January 23. The story concludes at the link in the comments.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

IJA garrison a vantage point overlooking the Chinese countryside, on the lookout for KMT and communist forces. 1939. No photo credit available.

 

[michaelmaltby]

Histomil.com

 

[syscom3]

Corsair, VF-33, NAS Atlantic City, Josiah Nj Note the wing rails for rockets. And the tail of a PB4Y on the left.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

From the cockpit. B-17 No photo credit available.

 

[Snautzer01]

Histomil.com

View attachment 582061

Is that not a ww1 helmet? No boots no rings. Plundered. Volkssturm i think.

 

[syscom3]

F6F-5N Hellcat #92 ''Butch'' of VMF(N)-511 on board the Commncement Bay-class escort carrier USS Block Island (CVE-106), near Okinawa, May 19, 1945.

 

[syscom3]

A party of armourers loading a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Hellcat fighter (808 Squadron) with rocket projectiles. These are for use against the Japanese against whom the HMS Khedive is operating with the East Indies Fleet. 18-19 May 1945.

 

[syscom3]

On this day 75 years ago. May 19 1945.

Jewish camp inmates at Bergen-Belsen hold an open air service to celebrate the Jewish Summer Festival of Thanksgiving.

 

[michaelmaltby]

Histomil.com

 

[syscom3]

SBD Dauntlesses of VB-42 during night flying training, USS Ranger, Atlantic. Note the landing light on the wing tips are illuminated.

 

[syscom3]

Lt.(jg) Ray Wallace, a TBM pilot, gives the cut for an Avenger torpedo bomber as it comes over the fantail and heads down for the flight deck of the USS Anzio (CVE-57), 20 May 1945.

 

[at6]

SBD Dauntlesses of VB-42 during night flying training, USS Ranger, Atlantic. Note the landing light on the wing tips are illuminated.

View attachment 582164

Also note that there woulld appear to be flames from the exhausts on the two lead aircraft.

 

[syscom3]

First Canadian Army generals in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on May 20 1945. Sitting, from left to right: Stanisław Maczek, 1st Polish Armoured Division; Guy Simonds, II Canadian Corps; H.D.G. Crerar, 1st Canadian Army; Charles Foulkes, I Canadian Corps; B.M. Hoffmeister, 5th Armoured Division. Standing, from left to right: R.H. Keefler, 3rd Infantry Division; A.B. Matthews, 2nd Infantry Division; H.W. Foster, 1st Infantry Division; R.W. Moncel, 4th Armoured Brigade; S.B. Rawlins, 49th British Division.

 

[Hardlydank]

 

[michaelmaltby]

Histomil.com

 

[syscom3]

Vought F4U-1A "Corsair" fighter (BuNo 55995)
COf fighter squadron seventeen (VF-17), on Bougainville in February 1944. This plane was flown by Lieutenant Junior Grade Ira C Kepford, and wears sixteen Japanese flags representing his total number of "kills". Note VF-17 insignia on the planes nose.

 

[Wurger]

 

[syscom3]

Sir Winston Churchill 75 years ago this week. One of the giants of Western Civilization.