WWII in color: Rare photos from 1942 show Flying Fortress

MailOnLine ^ | 03/19/13 | Snejana Farberov

[Doogle]

Millions of poignant black-and-white photos have come out of the World War Two era, but it is not often that scenes from the deadliest conflict in human history can be seen in living color.

In 1942, LIFE Magazine sent Margaret Bourke-White, one of its four original staff photographers and the first female photojournalist accredited to cover WWII, to take pictures of the VIII Bomber Command, commonly known as the Eighth Air Force or The Mighty 8th.

The photographs, executed in brilliant hues that make them look almost like oil paintings, put on full display the massive American B-24s and B-17s - or Flying Fortresses - that rained terror on Nazi-control cities often in tandem with the Royal Air Force.

In the early stages of the war, the Eighth Air Force and the bombers under its command were praised for the 'fantastic accuracy' of the attacks.

But as the conflict dragged on, the Flying Fortresses and their crews would face heavy loses, the most dramatic of which came in October 1943 when 60 bombers were destroyed and 600 pilots perished in a single raid in Germany.

[Doogle]

my old base in the background...*smiles*

[Doogle]

here ya go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6c3v9iihgw&list=FLopSmq3DBSSU3Q6YI3uljKw&index=33

[Chode]

NKP??? or Ubon?

[Doogle]

Ubon...but knew folks from Nakhon Phanom

[andy58-in-nh]

Thanks, man. My dad really would have loved to see that.

[yarddog]

There were beautiful airplanes from at least as far back as WWI. For some reason, military planes tend to be more aesthetically pleasing than civilian ones.

Everything from the Spad to the F-22 are great looking planes but to me, WWII was the Golden age. I think form must follow function as the better performing aircraft tend to also be the prettiest ones.

It is hard to believe how many different aircraft designs came out in WWII. The number must be in the hundreds. Now an aircraft is developed over decades or at least many years.

[hattend]

BTTT

[Doogle]

I told this story before...

Several years ago a friend of mine amused me by accompanying me to a local airshow she had absolutely no interest in. *smiles*. After a few hours of walking around I said let’s go sit somewhere...rest. (I was making my way down to where the 51’s were) I saw them preparing for their part of the show.
They were off within minutes, but went way out to make a sweeping turn (which told me they were going to be making a hot pass)...I told her to check out the people moving closer to the flight line (by the hundreds) and she asked whats up? I told her it was one of the reasons I wanted to come....she gave me that Charlie Brown wrinkled lip look...(that watevaa look)...then I saw all the people looking our way and pointing, I knew they were coming from behind us *smiles*....well they came by haulin with that glorious sound...and all she could say was WOW....WOW.....WOW....
...I smiled and said pretty good for a 60 year old plane huh?...she went WOW with a big smile...instant fan.

[yarddog]

I was at the Tulsa air show around 1986 or 87. There were a bunch of Air Force planes on static display with their pilots and crew with them. I guess they were answering questions etc.

We had gotten a bit tired and found a place sort of out-of-the way and sat down on some concrete. We were within about 20 feet of a hot dog stand.

The first interesting thing was that several of the Thunderbird pilots in their flight suits drove up (in Thunderbird cars) and bought hot dogs. I was surprised they would eat hot dogs just before performing.

The other thing which caught my attention was when a couple of P-51s performed, all the air crew quit answering questions etc. and got on top of their planes. That was the one thing which they really wanted to see.

[jmacusa]

Yup, the P-38. The plane the Japanese called ‘’two planes, one pilot’’.

[jmacusa]

“When I saw those P-51s over Berlin I knew the jig was up.’’— Hermann Goering, 1944. The single best, most lethal , piston-engine fighter plane of WW2, if not of all time.

[Windflier]

“When I saw those P-51s over Berlin I knew the jig was up.’’— Hermann Goering, 1944. The single best, most lethal , piston-engine fighter plane of WW2, if not of all time.

You betcha...

[tanknetter]

“When I saw those P-51s over Berlin I knew the jig was up.’’— Hermann Goering, 1944. The single best, most lethal , piston-engine fighter plane of WW2, if not of all time.

You do realize that statements like this have, on other discussion boards, led to arguments that run into the hundreds of pages ... right?

;-)

But, not wanting to contribute to that sort of thing, I'm not going to bring up the F4U-4 Corsair (which made it into combat near the end of the war). Nor the F8F Bearcat and Hawker Sea Fury (which just barely missed combat service ... but saw it elsewhere, like in Korea)

[Peter W. Kessler]

http://ia701207.us.archive.org/26/items/WinstonS.ChurchillsWarSpeeches/Churchill400820SoMuchTooSoFew.mp3

[Peter W. Kessler]

http://archive.org/details/MemphisBelle

[jmacusa]

As good as the Corsair was and it was(”Whispering Death’’, the Japs called it) because of that four-bladed prop, large nose and high landing gear it was a bitch to fly on and off carriers. The P-51 also saw service in Korea.

[jmacusa]

Beautiful!! Where are these from? I know there are a few still-flying B-17s and lots of P-51s but I've never seen these. Last year out here in Wall Township NJ there was a B-17, olive-drab color scheme on display at Allaire Airport. ($400 for a half-hour flight, little too steep for me.) It was beautiful. Took a tour actually, a ‘’crawl’’ through it for a $5.00 donation. I couldn't believe for such a large aircraft just how cramped it was inside! There wasn't any space or postion inside where you could stand upright and I'm only 5 ft. 8. Only standing in the top turret-gunners position was I able to just barely stand somewhat upright but not for long as it was very cramped. And those guys, little more than teenagers had to be in there in a heavy, fleece-lined leather flying suit, boots and parachute for 8 to ten hours in sub-zero cold, breathing oxygen through a rudimentary system fighting for their lives at times. It's no wonder when those things were hit and going down a lot of those poor guys couldn't make it out. MY God, what they went through. God bless them all.

[Windflier]

Beautiful!! Where are these from?

I found the image on a Bing search, but the source page is here:

http://www.free-hdwallpapers.com/aircraft.html

[jmacusa]

Thanks for the link!

[Windflier]

Thanks for the link!

You bet.