Posted on 03/19/2013 5:44:56 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Certainly not what these guys were doing. Of the two men I mentioned know one was 19, the other was 18. The pilot was 21. Trust me, a great many of men fighting every where in WW2 were teenagers. A lot of them lied about their age so they could enlist.
That plane is a B26 Marauder, my dad flew in one.
Bump for a great post.
I don’t buy it. I’ve seen enough from WW2 and the world was CLEARLY black and white. I’m not fooled by this.
At 22, I was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany.
I'm certainly not in the same class as these heroes-- I just thought it was ironic. :)
My dad was a B-17 pilot during WWII, stationed in England also, he would tell us some wild stories..... We lost him 1/8/2013
Miss him....
God bless him. My thanks to him for my freedom.
As far as ‘’carpet bombing’’ or ‘’area bombing’’ as the RAF called it being a failed terror tactic, keep in mind it was the Luftwaffe that first engaged in it. Warsaw, Rotterdam and Coventry to name a few. To the average Briton it didn’t matter much at all if ‘’Jerri’’ and his wife and kids and what any other German was getting theirs so long as, as the Brits put it ‘’We’re giving it to them back!’’.
Other beautiful planes:
B-25 Mitchell
A-12/SR-71 “Blackbird” (brilliant engineering)
XB-70 “Valkyrie” (incredible engineering for a plane now 50 years old)
B-52 (amazing that some of these planes were built before their pilot’s fathers were born)
Honorable mention: The Avro “Lancaster” (ugly as sin, but the only plane able to carry the “Tallboy” and “Grand Slam” bombs, which dramatically shortened the war in Europe)
Awesome stuff. My Dad left HS after turning 17, rode the bus to Butte Montana, then the train to San Diego to become a United States Marine, and eventually drive an amphib vehicle at Okinawa.
He lasted 45 days, before getting wounded severely enough to return to Honolulu to recover. He was ready to go back into combat service but the nukes saved him from that.
Mustered out still before his 20th birthday. But at his brother’s urging, later joined the Army reserves.
Along came Korea and worry of being called up, but wasn’t. My dad got out, but his brother served 27 years in the Army, retiring as a Lt. Col. - about as far as he could go without a 4 year degree. (Mormon guy, too - refuting what is sometimes falsely stated here).
My uncle did two or three tours in Vietnam, starting in the 1950s, again in 1960s.
Those palnes are beautiful. Most Brits know that we helped save them. I know they also did remarkable flying and strategy, tactics, technology and deceptions, to survive German attacks.
I shed no tears for German civilians killed. War is war. There is no excuse for our troops to lose life and limb, to spare civilians in muslim lands now, either.
Ironic when your dad fought Germans, is wearing a German parachute and listening to a German Jump Master yelling at you to hook up and prepare to jump out of a Luftwaffe plane.
“Am I the only one that sees the humor of the photo holding a Rolliflex - made in Germany - “
I noticed...oh for the days of the twin lens reflex...I remember when I wanted one...a Roliflex...
...but when I finally got a good camera, it was an AE-1...and I still have it and still use it...have taken thousands of pics with it...many places around the world...
Do you know if the Liberty Belle is based in Addison? If she is, I'll have to get over there and give her a visit. Thanks.
I know what u mean
A jewish buddy of mine lost nearly all his family older than him and his sister in the camps
Yet he always drives German
And wears a Lange and Sohne watch....
His wife bitches at him over it...
Nice fighter, but the best of war bird porn has to include the P-51!
I see those, and I immediate start singing, "We are poor little lambs who have lost our way....baa baa baa."
Without a doubt, my friend. Well stated.
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