Posted on 10/12/2010 6:23:06 PM PDT by nuconvert
25 photos taken during WWII years done in high resolution.
(see link for photos)
God Bless him. I recently took a tour of a B-17. I could not believe how cramped it was inside. For such a big plane the crew compartments were tiny. I’m amazed these guys could get inside the plane. I’m not surprised they didn’t get out when they were hit.
“of course Korea, etc.”
I don’t see any photos at this link from The Korean War, do you?
Great photos of great MEN AND WOMEN!
“Humans” is a sour note smacking of PC gone too far - especially when referring to this great generation of our military MEN AND WOMEN.
Like it or not, there ARE 2 sexes and there is a difference between the two.
Viva la Difference!
Let’s not let “men and women” be discarded and replaced by ‘humans’ just because of a fringe of society that don’t like being either.
and ESPECIALLY, I say again, not THESE men and women.
Unfortunately, they gave birth to the Most Selfish Generation
I was born in 46 and I certainly disagree with the above statement. With respect.
mission. Fortress Under Fire The B17 depicted is the THUNDERBIRD..
The supposed Korean pictures I believe is not Korean, but somewhere in in the Asian theater, probably the Phillipines. notice the children are suffering from malnutrition bloated stomachs,
My grandfather mothers side fought at that Battle of the Bulge, injured captured and later escaped when killing the German guard. He passed away in 1995.
I have a brother-in-law whose father fought for the Germans, When Stalingrad was surrenered he served his time in Siberia till 1947. That is right 1947. he passed away in 2008.
I grew up in church whereby many of the men had immigrated to the Us and had served in the Armies of Germany, some were SS. some even where captured by the Americans and yes a couple were captured by the Russians, A german POW in Russia did not get out when the war ended, one guy was finally freed in 1951.
Not many of the guys are left at the church anymore some where only 14 - 19 when they served and others like my brother-in-laws father lived up to the age of 96.
thanks for the post on the pictures. brings back memories of the stories of soldiers whom served on both sides of WWII.
Crazy! My dad has this print in his den. Was the mission on 8-16-44? (Or about then?)
Yep...8/15/1944
*I have a brother-in-law whose father fought for the Germans, When Stalingrad was surrenered he served his time in Siberia till 1947. That is right 1947.*
Your brother in law got off easy—some of those guys didn’t get released by the Russians until the mid 50s.
From a wesite and it 25’ x 75’...
>Entering the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum’s World War II gallery, a visitor is plunged into a time warp by a wall sized mural. Suddenly it’s August 15, 1944. A Messerschmitt and several Focke-Wulf fighters roar through the blue sky 25,000 feet over Germany, trying to shoot down four Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses that have just bombed a Luftwaffe airfield at Wiesbaden. Snowy white contrails stretch behind the aircraft, providing a contrast to the black puffs of flak that dot the sky. Guns poised and Wright Cyclone engines roaring, the lead airplane Thunder Bird, seems ready to fly out of the wall into three-dimensional reality.
The 75 by 25 foot oil mural, titled “Fortress Under Fire,” was painted by aviation artist Keith Ferris. In 1975, the Museum commissioned Ferris to paint a mural on World War II aerial bombardment. B-17’s were to be the subject, but the Museum did not specify any particular craft or mission to be depicted. Says Ferris, “ That just wasn’t my way of doing things. I like to paint a specific moment in time.” So he enlisted the help of aviation historian Jeff Ethell, and they chose the mission Ferris finally portrayed.
Thanks to careful research by Ferris and Ethell, the painting is historically accurate down to the number of bombs - signifying completed missions - painted on Thunder Bird’s nose. Ferris chose that particular airplane, a B-17G from the Eighth Air Force’s 303rd Bomb Group, as his subject because it was a suitably battle-scared veteran and because its nose art was tasteful enough for display in the Museum (some bomber crews painted pretty risque illustrations on their aircraft). Working from slides and photographs, some supplied by a neighbor whose brother had once flown Thunder Bird, Ferris painted the mural in 75 days.
That August bombing raid was Thunder Bird’s 72nd mission of an eventual 116. In 1945 the airplane was declared war-weary and scrapped. “They made pots and pans out of her,” says Ferris.
Last summer Thunder Bird returned to the United States - at least in spirit. Another B-17G, bearing the same name and the same red, white, and black artwork on it’s nose, left England for a new home - the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, Texas. The airplane, which had been used by the French government after the war for photo-mapping, had been sold to the Texas museum by a vintage-aircraft dealer in England.
Glenn MacDonald, the Lone Star Museum’s director at the time, found the airplane in poor condition when he arrived in England to complete the purchase. Before he flew it back to the States, the aircraft received much-needed repair work - and a new identity. According to present Lone Star director James E. Fausz, the airplane was modeled after Thunder Bird fort he same reasons Ferris had used it for the mural; the paint scheme and history of the original aircraft were both rather dramatic.
Repaired, painted, and newly certified for airworthiness, Thunder Bird flew from Duxford, England, to Prestwick, Scotland - which had been the site of an Eighth Air Force base during World War II. From there MacDonald flew to former bomber bases in Iceland and Greenland, as well as several cities in Canada and the United States. After arriving at Teterboro, New Jersey, Thunder Bird made a flight around the statue of Liberty with Keith Ferris aboard as a passenger. “It was a real thrill because of my association with the airplane,” says Ferris.
During the week-long trip from England to Houston, the new Thunder Bird proved as trustworthy as the original. “We didn’t have any trouble at all,” MacDonald says. “It purred like a kitten.” Thunder Bird had made it home one more time.
Nope! LOL
That’s why I dropped out high school. So I could make a huge and hilariously dumb mistake like that.
(hangs head in shame)
Wow!
bookmark
I believe that’s a B-17G in Tubebender’s picture. The E model did not have a chin turret.
and I believe you are right!
Obviously, I was wrong about his being a B-17E. The chin turret should have been a clue. I used to know stuff like that.
That excerpt mentions Jeff Ethell. RIP.
You’re right. Thanks. They probably didn’t have many E models left by 1944?
Thanks to your brother for his service and glad he lived a long and happy life.
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