Picture of the day

No many people know that Superman joined the USAAF in 1943 and served for two years as a co-pilot on B26 Marauders. True story.

In far more real news, I walked/crabwalked/crawled through a B17 this summer. My God, but it's snug in there. One gains a great deal of sympathy for the lads who had to leave one in a hurry, on fire and over hostile territory. I'm by no means portly, but when I picture trying to get around in there wearing 50 pounds of kit, harness, and leather pants/jacket, I have to think it'd be pretty damn hard to do much of anything...
 
When the movie Memphis Belle was being made, one of the B-17s was brought through Frobisher Bay en route to Europe. On the apron with the likes of HS748, B737 aircraft, I was surprised at how small it was.
 
' but when I picture trying to get around in there wearing 50 pounds of kit, harness, and leather pants/jacket, I have to think it'd be pretty damn hard to do much of anything..."

A plane on fire creates a lot of motivation......

size of B17. yes, i recall one in a hanger beside a Canso. the Canso looked bigger.

Bomb load of B17 was rather small. too.
 
jwhc said:
Good day Gunnutz :) New day new picture :)

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Cheers
Joe
Click to expand...

The B-26 Marauder was a hot ship which was considerably less forgiving than it's stablemate, the B-25 Mitchell. The B-26 was taken out of service right after VE day, but the B-25 soldiered on in the USAF and RCAF into the late 1950s. RCAF reserve squadrons in Edmonton and Saskatoon were equipped with Mitchells. I remember seeing them operating out of Saskatoon along with other WW2 vintage aircraft incl Harvards, P-51 Mustangs, and of course, Expeditors.
 
Ya I also did the B-17 walk through in Edmonton this fall. Why do these planes look so much bigger on the screen. I always thought they were huge. Not the B-17 or the Lanc down at Nanton (got to walk through it when it was in the museum)
 
Ganderite said:
' but when I picture trying to get around in there wearing 50 pounds of kit, harness, and leather pants/jacket, I have to think it'd be pretty damn hard to do much of anything..."

A plane on fire creates a lot of motivation......

size of B17. yes, i recall one in a hanger beside a Canso. the Canso looked bigger.

Bomb load of B17 was rather small. too.
Click to expand...

i once heard a poem about how the american bombers had big guns and lots of armour, but not many bombs and british ones blew up everything for em, but i dont know how it goes
 
Probably a repost but I thought I'd put it up anyhow.
This .280 caliber Ross hunting rifle was presented as a gift from Lord Londonderry to a junior officer in the 2nd Durham Kight Infantry at Houplines, France, in 1915. Officers would often use their own personalized weapons, and hunting rifles made excellent sniping tools*

Scan_Pic0002.jpg

But it doesn't look like a Ross to me. It seems to have a bent bolt.
Any thoughts on the matter?
Edit - The author should have done a little more research, another pic show's a mirrored image ( flipped 180 degrees ) of a sniper fielding what I'd say is a P-14 type rifle which is misidentified as a Lithgow No. 1 MK III

*Quoted and picture from Kill Shot, the Deadliest Snipers of all time by Charles Stronge
 
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A few months later Fritz was probably resting easy in a Canadian Prisoner of War Camp and Tommy on the other hand was slogging his way up the the Italian Boot !
 
Here is one of my dad in Northern Italy. He was a jeep driver of an AA officer looking for new positions. He was in the 2nd Corp Polish Army part of the Commenwealth 8th. He fought in North Africa, Sicily and throughout the Italy's East cost including, the Poish vitory at Monte Cassino.
DadinItaly.jpg
 
There aren't many surviving Marauders. I've seen the one at the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH as well as the nose section of "Flak Bait" which is diaplayed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. There is another one in the fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, FL. France also flew the B-26. There is one in the Utah beach Museum in Normandy and another on display in Paris.

The B-26 was hard on inexperienced pilots. I was stationed at Macdill AFB, FL, which was a B-26 training base suring WW2, in the mid-'80s. B-26 training losses were so high that it gained the nickname of One- a- day - in Tampa Bay. Macdill was the home of the USAF F-16 OTU during my stint there. Training losses were still an issue.
jwhc said:
Good day Gunnutz :) New day new picture :)

1111.jpg


Cheers
Joe
Click to expand...
 
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