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B-17's of the 384th Bomb Group readying for take off.

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Notice the boots those troops are wearing , split toed .

When I was in Japan in 1966, the carpenters wore boots like that also.
I had been a carpenters helper when I was on summer vacations in high school, so I was very interested in their different tools , and methods.
They said it helped them keep their balance better, on beams and rafters .
 
A veteran, who had been on Okinawa, told about three Japanese soldiers who slipped into the tents where the new P-51 pilots were sleeping and killed several before being killed themselves. He said two wore split toe shoes, he thought hand made, and the other was barefoot. Because the roads had just been made and graded, the tracks the Japanese left allowed M.P.s to backtrack to where they had hidden. Conformation for me came two weeks later while watching a documentary on Okinawa. Although I had seen this program before, this time I paid attention to the dead Japanese soldier's feet and some indeed had split toe shoes.
 
The antennas indicate that this is a GCA (microwave 3cm Ground Controlled Approach) setup, a blind landing system used during fog or otherwise poor visibiliy. Another fine product of the MIT Radiation Laboratory (RADLAB). The aircraft only needed a radio connection to the operator inside the van and no other special equipment. The operator 'talked' the aircraft down until he could see the runway. Sources indicate it was accurate to +/- 5ft horizontal and vertical. It had the first 'glide path' CRT displays ever developed and is the grandfather of all 'blind approach' systems in use today. Since it was developed during the war it was required to be 'mobile', i.e. transportable.
 
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Scratch off the airplane roster, one Lightning. Wreckage of Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning 42-12937, after Colonel Kelsey was forced to bail out, 9 April 1943. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies guard the scene at the southwest edge of the San Fernando Valley. This is the present location of the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, just north of the Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) and Parkway Calabasas, Calabasas, California.

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The Battle of Shanghai (1937), known in Chinese as the Battle of Songhu, was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army of the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the entire war.
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