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Photos WW2 US Forces
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These Tuskegee Airman are the new graduates of Class 45A / Twin Engine.
Behind them is one of the Mitchell B-25s which they were now qualified to fly.
(LIFE Collections)
Behind them is one of the Mitchell B-25s which they were now qualified to fly.
(LIFE Collections)
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A Bell P-63A King Cobra...the product-improved version of the Bell P-39 Airacobra.
This particular example was photographed at NACA's National Engine Research facility in January 1944, where work was ongoing to improve the performance of the Allison V-1710 engine which was fine at medium to low altitudes but which suffered a significant drop in performance at higher altitudes.
The problem was never resolved entirely satisfactorily and the type was not accepted by the USAAF.
However, numbers were supplied to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease where they were apparently well-liked and performed well.
(NASA)
This particular example was photographed at NACA's National Engine Research facility in January 1944, where work was ongoing to improve the performance of the Allison V-1710 engine which was fine at medium to low altitudes but which suffered a significant drop in performance at higher altitudes.
The problem was never resolved entirely satisfactorily and the type was not accepted by the USAAF.
However, numbers were supplied to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease where they were apparently well-liked and performed well.
(NASA)
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A large crowd of mostly US Army officers gathered to watch a firing demonstration of the then new 37mm gun M3, circa 1940.
It was adopted as the standard a/t gun of the US Army in the immediate pre-war period and into the first year or so of the war until it became apparent that advances in armour technology were gradually eroding its effectiveness...a fate shared by all such guns of similar calibre fielded by the world's principal armies.
Versions of this gun also provided the armament for M3 medium and light tanks, as well as the M8 armoured car.
That said, apart from solid shot, the M3 also had a useful canister round capability which did extend its life somewhat, especially in the war against Japan.
The appearance of the officers and men was little different to how they looked in WW1 and immediately thereafter, but this would change dramatically within a very short space of time.
(LIFE Collections)
It was adopted as the standard a/t gun of the US Army in the immediate pre-war period and into the first year or so of the war until it became apparent that advances in armour technology were gradually eroding its effectiveness...a fate shared by all such guns of similar calibre fielded by the world's principal armies.
Versions of this gun also provided the armament for M3 medium and light tanks, as well as the M8 armoured car.
That said, apart from solid shot, the M3 also had a useful canister round capability which did extend its life somewhat, especially in the war against Japan.
The appearance of the officers and men was little different to how they looked in WW1 and immediately thereafter, but this would change dramatically within a very short space of time.
(LIFE Collections)
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Cairns, Queensland, Australia. US Army post office
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Humorous military signage # 9.
The sign, though small, contains some typically wry GI black humour!
The irony was probably lost on the unfortunate soldier charged with digging a drainage ditch in the pouring rain!
Italian theatre, 1944.
(LIFE / Bourke-White)
The sign, though small, contains some typically wry GI black humour!
The irony was probably lost on the unfortunate soldier charged with digging a drainage ditch in the pouring rain!
Italian theatre, 1944.
(LIFE / Bourke-White)
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"It is a sign from above, my son".
An airman and a robed priest examine the fins of a UXB protruding from the soft sand.
Tunisia, I943.
(LIFE / Elisofon)
An airman and a robed priest examine the fins of a UXB protruding from the soft sand.
Tunisia, I943.
(LIFE / Elisofon)
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Color Guard, Camp Hill, proceed down Chester Ave, Newport News, VA, on the 81st Emancipation Day, 16 Apr 44.
US Army Signal Corps via
@USNatArchives
US Army Signal Corps via
@USNatArchives
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Humorous military signage # 8.
Italy, circa 1944.
I suppose this could be likened to the WW2 "Kilroy was here!" type of grafitti?
"Venefro" (sic) is a commune to the south-east of Rome, so maybe the "GI Joe" in question had family roots there, or else it collectively refers to the group of engineers who erected it on the advance to the north?
(LIFE / Margaret Bourke-White)
Italy, circa 1944.
I suppose this could be likened to the WW2 "Kilroy was here!" type of grafitti?
"Venefro" (sic) is a commune to the south-east of Rome, so maybe the "GI Joe" in question had family roots there, or else it collectively refers to the group of engineers who erected it on the advance to the north?
(LIFE / Margaret Bourke-White)
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"Hi-ho! Hi-ho! It's off to war we go..."
Evidently staged for the camera, a pair of US Army engineers equipped with SCR-625 mine-detectors, Italy, circa 1944.
(LIFE / Margaret Bourke-White)
Evidently staged for the camera, a pair of US Army engineers equipped with SCR-625 mine-detectors, Italy, circa 1944.
(LIFE / Margaret Bourke-White)
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Humorous military signage # 7.
Basically just a sign about signs!
Location unknown.
Basically just a sign about signs!
Location unknown.
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A US soldier with Springfield rifle guards Japanese American citizens being sent to Interment camps in 1942, For the duration of World War II they ordered to evict from west coast neighborhoods due to fears of sabotage following Pearl Harbor.
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USAAF Bombing Raid on Tunis Tunisia - March 1943
The first B-17 is B-17F-35-BO 42-5147 Old Ironsides 414BS/97BG, which went Missing in Action on a mission to Frascati Italy September 8, 1943
LIFE Magazine Archives - Margaret Bourke-White Photographer
The first B-17 is B-17F-35-BO 42-5147 Old Ironsides 414BS/97BG, which went Missing in Action on a mission to Frascati Italy September 8, 1943
LIFE Magazine Archives - Margaret Bourke-White Photographer
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A-36A Mustang aircraft 'Judy' of 522nd Fighter Squadron, US 86th Fighter-Bomber Group after a forced landing at Gaudo Airfield, Southern Italy, Feb 22, 1944.
Per David Stubblebine: "Lt Charles Dills was pulling out of a dive on a practice flight when the upper canopy came loose and struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. He remembers nothing until he awoke while sliding to a stop across his home airfield. He must have had some awareness in between since his landing gear was down and he was properly lined up on the field. The plane was written off but Dills returned to the flight schedule the following day."
United States Army Air Forces
Per David Stubblebine: "Lt Charles Dills was pulling out of a dive on a practice flight when the upper canopy came loose and struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. He remembers nothing until he awoke while sliding to a stop across his home airfield. He must have had some awareness in between since his landing gear was down and he was properly lined up on the field. The plane was written off but Dills returned to the flight schedule the following day."
United States Army Air Forces
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Within the cramped confines of the fuselage of their B17 "Little Bill", in Tunisia c. 1943, and having just returned from a mission, a pair of aerial-gunners begin the process of removing the outer-layers of their flight clothing.
The standard shearling B3 / A3 jacket and trousers combination was both heavy and bulky but absolutely necessary to keep them warm and alive in the freezing temperatures which prevailed at operational altitudes...especially with the slipstream howling through the open waist positions!
The airman in the foreground...the ball-turret gunner... has stripped down to his F1 "blue bunny suit" a one-piece electrically heated under-garment which plugged into a rheostat on the aircraft's bulkhead...a connector can be seen on his arm.
Over this would often have been worn an A-4 flight suit and beneath it OD wool pants and shirt, and finally a wool under-shirt and "long-johns"!
Obviously, the number of layers the airmen elected to wear would have been determined by the duration and altitude of the mission ahead of them.
He wears a Type A9 flying helmet with added leather ear-cups, and Type B7 goggles.
(LIFE / Bourke-White)
The standard shearling B3 / A3 jacket and trousers combination was both heavy and bulky but absolutely necessary to keep them warm and alive in the freezing temperatures which prevailed at operational altitudes...especially with the slipstream howling through the open waist positions!
The airman in the foreground...the ball-turret gunner... has stripped down to his F1 "blue bunny suit" a one-piece electrically heated under-garment which plugged into a rheostat on the aircraft's bulkhead...a connector can be seen on his arm.
Over this would often have been worn an A-4 flight suit and beneath it OD wool pants and shirt, and finally a wool under-shirt and "long-johns"!
Obviously, the number of layers the airmen elected to wear would have been determined by the duration and altitude of the mission ahead of them.
He wears a Type A9 flying helmet with added leather ear-cups, and Type B7 goggles.
(LIFE / Bourke-White)
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An F6F Hellcat prepares to lauch from a USN carrier somewhere in the Pacific.
The whole event is being observed by a considerable number of crewmen both on and around the carrier's island...including a movie cameraman who is filming the action from his vantage point on the searchlight platform!
The camera has frozen the whirling of the propeller which imparts a great sense of movement!
(LIFE Collections)
The whole event is being observed by a considerable number of crewmen both on and around the carrier's island...including a movie cameraman who is filming the action from his vantage point on the searchlight platform!
The camera has frozen the whirling of the propeller which imparts a great sense of movement!
(LIFE Collections)
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US Marine on Mount Suribachi, with landing craft in the background, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb 19-23, 1945.
United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
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