Picture of the day. (53 Viewers)

[syscom3]

Imperial Japanese Army Type 97 light bomber Mitsubishi Ki-30 flies over Ordos Desert for the bombing of Shenmu during the Sino-Japanese War on January 24, 1941 in China.

 

[Viking1066]

Three squadrons of Kawasaki Ki-32s at Hamamatsu AF set to appear in a film.Aircraft at right has 'Re" while the far right aircraft have "Zu" "Do" and "Ya" early 1940 MODE

 

[Viking1066]

The Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku, photographed from her sister ship Zuikaku, during the battle of the Eastern Solomons 1942 WIKI

 

[Viking1066]

Tachikawa Ki-54a unknown unit WWOR

 

[Viking1066]

Another view of the VMS-3 Dauntlesses INHG

 

[Viking1066]

Brewster Buffalo F2A 1 in McClelland Barclay camouflage design September 1940 ASBIZ

 

[CATCH 22]

Another view of the VMS-3 Dauntlesses INHG

And another one - IMHO the colours here are more realistic. Check for details about this photo in our forum here.

In the first photo above the first 2 a/c have a small tail wheel for carrier landings. The third one has the big one for real land landings. It was a kit supplied to the units to remove the navalized (carrier) parts and add the land-based ones. AFAIR there was a kit to transform USAAF A-24 into navalized SBD as well. The arrestor hooks are already deleted. All a/c are in a variation of the ASW scheme II, the so called "Norfolk scheme".
Here's a weathered S11 from the same unit:

P.S. And one more:

Note how the a/c identification (number) is not in black but in the same dark gull grey as the upper camo (as per some sources). This can be easily seen in the photo with the faded S 11.

 

[Warspite63]

Another view of the VMS-3 Dauntlesses INHG
View attachment 865121

They look great in the Atlantic scheme (if that's what it is....)

 

[Viking1066]

Bristol Blenheim Mk.I production line REDD

 

[Viking1066]

Vought O2U Corsair 5 VOUG

 

[FulmenTheFinn]

A cacophany of FAF aircraft undergoing maintenance or repairs at the Valtion lentokonetehdas (Finnish State Aircraft Factory) plant at Kuorevesi in 1943, colourised by T. Rossi in 2022. The original B&W photo can be found in the Vapriikki Photo Archive.

 

[Viking1066]

PM-1s of VP-9 flying over ships of Destroyer Squadron 20 during an exhibition for Movietone News off San Diego in September 1936 FACB

 

[Viking1066]

Squadron maintenance work on an F4U-1A Corsair of the famed VF-17 Jolly Rogers 1944 FACB

 

[FulmenTheFinn]

Nine I-153s likely at Parndorf Airfield, Germany (pre-1938 Austria), c. 8 December 1942.

A part of a purchase order of 11 I-153s from German war booty stocks, these 9 aircraft had been purchased by Finland on 18 November 1942, and got on their way to the country on 8 December 1942, flying the route Parndorf-Olmütz-Breslau-Bromberg-Danzig-Königsberg-Schauler-Riga-Tallinn-Helsinki-Kuorevesi.


The Germans had painted the 9 aircraft in a green and yellow livery for their transit.

One of the aircraft was damaged at Olmütz, and another at Riga, and had to be repaired and delivered later.


A/c no. 6627, later IT-24 in the FAF, damaged at Olmütz.

The other 2 purchased I-153s were stationed at Fliegerhorst Hildesheim in Lower Saxony and were delivered separately. The other one was wrecked en route in Pärnu, Estonia, due to engine trouble, and was seized by a local Flugplatz commandant and delivered to a war booty depot in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Finns disputed the matter and did not pay for the aircraft. Thus only 10 of the 11 ordered made it to Finland. Worth mentioning is that one secondary source puts the number of aircraft at 12 ordered and 11 arrived instead.

 

[GTX]

 

[SaparotRob]

View attachment 865338

No more buying aircraft carriers from Temu.

 

[MIflyer]

Cute airplane! Doesn't LOOK like deathtrap.

 

[Viking1066]

SBD-1 of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 132 (VMSB-132) operating from Quantico Virginia in 1941 INHG

 

[syscom3]

Air Marshal Richard Peirse, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Bomber Command, introducing pilots of either No. 300 or
No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadrons to Queen Elizabeth during the Royal Visit to RAF Swinderby, 27 January 1941.

 

[syscom3]

The newest Royal Air Force weapon, a backward-firing Vickers machine gun, it is fitted under the nose of the new Bristol Blenheim Mark IV fighter bomber,
and is designed to protect the tail and cope with any attackers who come up from below, shown January 27, 1941. It is aimed and operated by the navigator
through scales of mirrors.