Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Sergeant Lincoln Orville Lynch DFM, a West Indian air gunner serving with RAF No 102 Squadron, photographed wearing his flying kit by the rear turret of his Halifax at RAF Pocklington, February 1944.
Lynch, from Jamaica, volunteered for service in the RAF in 1942, and in 1943 won the Air Gunner's trophy for obtaining the highest percentage of his course during his training in Canada. On his first operational flight with No 102 Squadron he shot down a German Junkers Ju 88.
The historian Mark Johnson described this incident:
"He was a gentleman. He shot the night fighter’s engine with his machine guns, then he realized it was on fire and he then held fire while the German pilot and his crewmen climbed out and jumped off the back of the airplane and then he resumed firing and shot the rest of the airplane out of the sky".
In August 1944 he was promoted to Flight Sergeant, a rare promotion for a gunner. In September 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. The citation noted his "high standard of determination and devotion to duty", exemplary conduct and declared him "a worthy member of a fine crew" who had "defended his aircraft with great skill on several occasions against enemy fighters".
In May 1947, Lynch was promoted to Flight Lieutenant.
In 1951, Lynch left the RAF and emigrated to the United States, taking up a role as Airline Flight Operation Officer.
But in 1962 when his children were denied access to a largely white Long Island elementary school, he took the school district to court. The failure of the case inspired Lynch to become "one of Long Island's most ardent and audacious civil rights activists.
In 1967, Lynch joined the New York Urban Coalition as Vice President and formed the Alliance of Minority Group Leaders. In the 1970s he taught community organisation and activism at Stony Brook University and testified before Congress.
Lynch remained politically active and was one of many hundreds of people arrested during protests in Manhattan following the 1999 Shooting of (an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean immigrant) Amadou Diallo.
Lynch passed away in 2011.
Colour by Jake Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Source: iwm.org.uk
Thanks for this marvelous bio. Obviously a good man.
The Wizard
CGN Regular
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
A US C-46 aircraft of the 5th Air Force is conducting an aerial evacuation of wounded American troops from Manila, the capital of the Philippines, shortly after US forces retook the city after intense fighting with the Japanese.
Thirty Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadrons served in World War II in every combat theater. In all, 1,172,000 patients were transported by air. About half were ambulatory patients (the “walking wounded”) and half were litter patients. Only 46 patients died in flight, although several hundred did perish in crashes. By 1944, 18 percent of all Army casualties were evacuated by air.
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was the workhorse of air evacuation. A C-47 carried 18-24 patients, depending on how many were on litters.
For transoceanic flights, the four-engine Douglas C-54 Skymaster was used. These flights carried patients from the combat theater stateside when the patient required 90-180 days of recovery or was eligible for medical discharge.
The Curtiss C-46 Commando was used less frequently. Although it could carry 33 patients, the cargo door made loading difficult, and the plane had an unsavory habit of exploding when the cabin heater was used.
Manila was officially liberated, albeit completely destroyed with large areas levelled by American bombing. The battle left 1,010 U.S. soldiers dead and 5,565 wounded. An estimated 100,000 to 240,000 Filipinos civilians were killed, both deliberately by the Japanese in the Manila massacre and from artillery and aerial bombardment by U.S. and Japanese forces.
Colour by Jake
Cation: https://www.sarahsundin.com/medical-air-evacuation-in.../
Watch "Flight Nurse" 1953 starring Joan Leslie and Forrest Tucker
And this:
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In 1940, guards on five-man patrol the gate at the Kananaskis Internment Camp in Alberta, Canada.
Following its declaration of war on Italy on June 10th 1940, the Canadian government designated Italian nationals and Italian Canadians naturalized after 1922 as Enemy Alien.
The camp detained combat officer personnel and enemy merchant seamen from late 1942 until 1946 when the camp closed.
Following its declaration of war on Italy on June 10th 1940, the Canadian government designated Italian nationals and Italian Canadians naturalized after 1922 as Enemy Alien.
The camp detained combat officer personnel and enemy merchant seamen from late 1942 until 1946 when the camp closed.
The Wizard
CGN Regular
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
In 1940, guards on five-man patrol the gate at the Kananaskis Internment Camp in Alberta, Canada.
Following its declaration of war on Italy on June 10th 1940, the Canadian government designated Italian nationals and Italian Canadians naturalized after 1922 as Enemy Alien.
The camp detained combat officer personnel and enemy merchant seamen from late 1942 until 1946 when the camp closed.
Are those Ross Rifles?
The Wizard
CGN Regular
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Two us soldiers in Algeria north Africa in opération called TORCH 1942
The guy on the left is the squad's grenadier
Kiwi Troops of 3rd New Zealand Division, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force with their 40mm AA gun named 'Ngaire' on Nissan Island, Papua New Guinea.
Alexander Turnbull Library photo
Colourised by Daniel Rarity
Alexander Turnbull Library photo
Colourised by Daniel Rarity
In this photo, Corporal Allan Bartlett scans the ruins through the scope of his Lee-Enfield No.4 MkI (T).
Every time he was questioned about the number of enemy soldiers he had killed, Corporal Bartlett simply replied: “Several…”
This week in 1944, with the Third Battle of Cassino over, two British correspondents from the AFPU (Army Film and Photo Unit) entered the ruined town under the cover of darkness.
Accompanying them were the men of C Company, 25th New Zealand Battalion, on their way back to the northern sector of Cassino after a two-day rotation in reserve.
Although shot 3 days after the offensive had been called off, their photos and cine footage represent the most authentic images of the third Battle collected by the Allied side.
Every time he was questioned about the number of enemy soldiers he had killed, Corporal Bartlett simply replied: “Several…”
This week in 1944, with the Third Battle of Cassino over, two British correspondents from the AFPU (Army Film and Photo Unit) entered the ruined town under the cover of darkness.
Accompanying them were the men of C Company, 25th New Zealand Battalion, on their way back to the northern sector of Cassino after a two-day rotation in reserve.
Although shot 3 days after the offensive had been called off, their photos and cine footage represent the most authentic images of the third Battle collected by the Allied side.
steamy teabag
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Inside Carneys Reich
Tough day at the office. What a story they carry.
What a great picture of a shop worn B24 (and yes I knows its been colourized) showing the HUGE difference between restored and immaculately painted fighters and vintage aircraft and how things looked back in the day. One would be hard pressed to see oil stains, muddy boot prints, scuffed/chipped paint today. I just finished the book Target Ploesti and found it a great read as the author is trying to rack up his 50 missions as the losses make the odds against getting there all in the houses favour.
