Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

[BravoZulu]

Two Chinese boys known as 'Big Wings' and 'Little Wings' who were adopted by 132 Squadron at Kaitak airfield, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Here 'Big Wings' demonstrates to his younger brother how a Spitfire peels off in flight.

When the squadron took over the airfield from the Japanese, the children, who are brothers, presented themselves at the orderly-room. One could speak English, and he informed the corporal that his father had been murdered by the Japanese, and his mother was seriously ill. A visit was made to the mother, and she was told that her children would be “adopted.”

She was delighted, and the station medical officer who examined her said that the news may speed her recovery.

 

[BravoZulu]

M4A2 Sherman (Sherman III) knocked out at Castelforte, Italy in 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Churchill tank "COURAGEOUS" after being used as a 17 pounder test target in November 1943

 

[Hiryu2.0]

A British convoy column masquerading as a herd of elephants from 1941.

 

[BravoZulu]

Avro Lancasters under construction at the A V Roe & Co Ltd factory at Woodford in Cheshire, 1943.

 

[colin traveller]

Midget Sub .. Port Bannatyne , Bute , the other training in Loch Striven

 

[BravoZulu]

Over the body of a dead comrade, Canadian infantrymen advance cautiously up a narrow lane in Campochiaro, Italy, on November 11, 1943.

 

[BravoZulu]

First group of Indian pilots arrive in London, 8 October 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

A Fairey Swordfish of 824 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm about to land on the deck of HMS Argus is seen just about to carry the trip wire whilst the aircraft carrier is at Gibraltar. Another arrestor wire can be seen in the foreground.

 

[BravoZulu]

Hawker Sea Hurricane Mark I, V6733, of the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, on the fo’c’sle catapult on board Catapult Armed Merchantman (CAM ship) SS EMPIRE DARWIN, in a convoy heading for North Africa. Note the flaps pre-selected in the take-off position. The catapult was angled to starboard over the ship’s bows to prevent the blast from its rockets hitting the superstructure, and to reduce the risk of the pilot being run over by the ship, should the aircraft ditch after launch.

 

[BravoZulu]

North African Campaign. October 1941. A Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk of No. 3 Squadron RAAF

 

[BravoZulu]

A Universal Carrier towing a six-pounder anti-tank gun of the 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (R.C.A.), Gouy, France, 30 August 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Feb 13, 1945. One-armed Capt A.J. Marshall, OIC of "Jock Force", lights a cigarette for WOII Edwards. "Jock Force" was a patrol of 2/2nd Australian Battalion which spent 40 days behind Japanese lines near Aitape, New Guinea. Marshall lost his left arm in a prewar shotgun accident.

 

[LimaCharles]

I really have no idea where to place this one, the search using the name Corsair led me to use this out of the other ones presently listed.

In 1963 students from Cranfield Aeronautics College decided to wheel their Corsair down from the college to the local village pub under the cover of night. This naturally caused a buzz of amusement in the village and the college sent out to retrieve the bird with a tractor.

This aircraft is KD431, the only surviving Fleet Air Arm Corsair of around 2,000 delivered. It survived the chopping block whilst waiting for scrapping in 1946 when Cranfield requested a modern aircraft with hydraulic wing-fold as a learning aid for it's students.

Shortly after the incident it was transfered to the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton. In 2000 restoration begun, removing layers of paint from a quickly and thickly applied 1963 repainting and bringing it back to the layers of paint seen in 1946.

 

[BravoZulu]

An Achilles 17-pdr tank destroyer uses a building as cover in Hassum, near Goch, 20 February 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

An ambulance jeep of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), Vaucelles, France, 20 July 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Private Don Glover, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, near Nijmegen, Netherlands, 5 February 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

Canadian Gunner Howard Potter has a shave near his 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, while other members of the crew scan the skies over Ortona, January 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

Canadian infantrymen of the North Shore Regiment boarding an Alligator amphibious vehicle during Operation VERITABLE,(also known as the Battle of the Reichswald), near Nijmegen, Netherlands, 8 February 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

'Acorn Inn', a self-propelled 75mm gun M3 half-track of the 27th Lancers, NorthWest of Mezzano Italy - February 18, 1945