American Air Power in View

 

Grumman F4F Wildcat of VF-6 testing out machine guns aboard USS Enterprise, 10 April 1942.

Ensign Darrell Bennett stood beside his Grumman FM-2 Wildcat 'Smokey's Lucky Witch', USS Gambier Bay, 1 August 1944

A Grumman F6F Hellcat carrier-based fighter aircraft of VF-12 on the flight deck of USS Saratoga (CV-3) in November 1943.

F6F-5, 23, flown by Ens. Ardon R. Ives crash lands on the USS Lexington, February 1945 (Ives survived the crash but died in a dogfight in May 1945).

VMF(N)-533 F6F Hellcat night fighters seen from an R5C guide plane on the way from Engebi to Saipan.

Lieutenant Ronald P. Rip Gift relaxes with other pilots in a ready room on board USS Monterey (CVL-26), after landing on her at night following strikes on the Japanese fleet, 20 June 1944. Note admonition "Get the Carriers" on chalk board in the background. Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 1944.

Bell YFM-1A Airacuda.

Bell XFM-1 cockpit. Left sub-panel contains electric switches; propeller controls are below magneto switch. At extreme right are wobble pump, flap and gear controls. Note the early LEAR nav-aid and auto-pilot installation.

Ryan FR-1 Fireball.

Ryan FR-1 Fireball.

Beech GB-2 Traveler.

The Beechcraft Traveler was an adaptation of the five-seat civil Model 17. Shown here are a flight of the U.S. Navy GB-2 version. It was known as the UC-43 in the USAAF. Commercial Model 17s were also impressed for war service with designations ranging from UC-43A to K. Thirty UC-43s and 75 GB-2s from U.S. contracts were supplied to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease where they were known as the Traveler I and used for light transport and communication duties.

Curtiss-Wright CW-21B, NX19441, 1939. The Curtiss-Wright Model 21 (also known as the Curtiss-Wright Model 21 Demonstrator, the Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Interceptor, the Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon) was an American fighter-interceptor developed by the St. Louis Airplane Division of Curtiss-Wright Corporation during the 1930s. The prototype first flew on 22 September 1938, carrying the civil experimental registration NX19431. Although the CW-21 was not commissioned by the U.S. military, it was test flown at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The Army Air Corps immediately rejected the aircraft, with one officer commenting that it took a genius to land it. Model 21 Interceptor. One prototype built in 1938 (c/n 21-1 / NX19431). Three production units and a total of 27 sets of components shipped to the Republic of China to be assembled by CAMCO. Easily identifiable by the Seversky P-35 type of main undercarriage fairings; 31 built (unknown number assembled and flown).

Vice President Henry A. Wallace, with Colonel N. S. Vasin (USSR) and Colonel Russell Keillor, Ladd Field commander, at dinner during Wallace’s stopover at Fairbanks during his 1944 mission to the Soviet Union and China via the ALSIB route.

C-47 Skytrain crash landed after dropping supplies to Bastogne, Belgium, December 1944.

Douglas C-54 Skymaster under construction.

Noorduyn YC-64 Norseman IV (42-5046), probably at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Noorduyn YC-64 Norseman IV (42-5046), probably at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Noorduyn UC-64 Norseman, interior set up for two stretcher cases, January 15, 1944.

Two U.S. personnel moving an aerial bomb at a ammunition dump somewhere in the UK prior to the impending D-Day invasion of France. May 1944. Note the bombs are missing their tail fins and nose fuses, which were added just prior to a mission.

Curtiss C-46 Commando.

Curtiss C-46 Commando with Curtiss P-40 in background.

Curtiss C-46 Commando (42-101211).

Curtiss C-46 Commando.

Japanese "giretsu" commando killed on runway of Yontan Airfield. Destroyed C-46 Commando in background.

A Goodyear dirigible of the M Class, which had a helium capacity of 725,000 cubic feet.

K Class patrol airship.

K Class patrol airship gondola.

K Class patrol airship gondola during landing.

WAVES on a K-2 Class airship.

This is the K-112, the first K-class blimp to land on continental Europe. Commander Sullivan made two landings at Gibraltar on 18 July in the initial service test of facilities established there for handling airships. The 1,396-foot “Rock” with its attendant wind “spill” coupled with the rudderman’s ticklish job of avoiding neutral Spanish territory during the approach makes a Gibraltar landing a task for seasoned pilots. Fifty ratings from RAF activities directed by an airship pilot and three LTA enlisted men ground handled the ship. The landings were made successfully in a 19-knot cross-“Rock” wind and a British Vice Air Marshal taken for a short hop. A duty blimp pilot is kept at Gibraltar for liaison purposes.

US Navy K-class airships of Airship Patrol Squadron ZP-11 and several TBM Avengers in hurricane storage at NAS South Weymouth, Massachusetts, 14 September 1944.

Bellanca XSE-2 (A-9186 c/n 502) US Navy. This aircraft made its first flight on December 23, 1934 and was delivered to the USN on April 26, 1935. Although intended to operate from aircraft carrier, tests revealed that it could not and only one was built. Its fate is unknown.

Bellanca 77-140 Bomber. The 77-140 was descended from Bellanca's Aircruiser single-engined passenger aircraft. Designed in the early-1930s, the 77-140 was given reinforced wings and two (instead of one) 650 hp Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engines situated on the inner-wings. The Bomber could make 156.4 knots and carry 2,200 lbs of bombs; defensive armament was two .30 cal machine guns. The 77-140 first flew in 1934. After testing, the United States military lost interest in the aircraft, but Bellanca gained the interest of the Colombian Air Force. A small number of aircraft were thus exported.

Bristol Beaufighter, USAAF.

The Bristol Beaufighter was widely used as a night fighter by the U.S. Army Air Forces in the European Theater from 1942 until V-E Day. This Mk VIF, with Al Mk IV radar, belonged to a First Tactical Air Force squadron, Grottaglie, Italy, November 1943.

Barrage balloon at Parris Island, South Carolina. May 1942.

The U.S. Army Air Corps’ 1st Balloon Squadron prepares to launch one of the first World War II barrage balloons at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 4 April 1941.

Barrage balloon, USMC.

Woman workers inspect a partly inflated barrage balloon in New Bedford, Massachusetts on May 11, 1943. Each part of the balloon must be stamped by the worker who does the particular job, also by the work inspector of the division, and finally by the “G” inspector, who gives final approval.

B-29 Superfortress (41-38880 in foreground).

B-29 Superfortress of the 499th Bomb Group over Mount Fuji, 1945.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Boeing B-29 Superfortresses.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress 44-87775.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress landing. P-51 in foreground.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Chinese workers building runway for B-29s.

Marauder 41-17790 sits forlornly on a beach on the Dutch island of Noord Beveland, surrounded by admiring Germans. The pilot, Clarence Wall, was lured off course by fake radio directions from Germans and, having an engine fire, made a picture perfect wheels up landing. The aircraft was quickly jacked up and removed.

Martin B-26 Marauder (41-31669).

Martin B-26B Marauder (41-17876) USAAF.

Martin B-26 Marauder.

Martin B-26 Marauder (41-17747).

AT-21: Fairchild advertisement.

General Patton with Major General Otto P. Weyland, commanding general of the XIX Tactical Air Command. Under him this combat unit gained fame for its close air support of General George Patton's U.S. Third Army in the successful movement across France in August 1944 and Germany in the spring of 1945. By January 1945 Weyland had become a major general and finished the air war against Germany, participating in six major campaigns and called by Patton "the best damn general in the Air Corps."

Surplus B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder bombers stored at Cal Aero Field, Chino, California. Other aircraft visible in the distance.

R2800 engines at the factory awaiting shipment.

Torpedo Five’s attack on Jaluit airdrome.

Before light comes, seven bright fires burn on Marcus airstrip after American aerial attack.

The seven fires, from seven planes strafed and set afire by Commander Crommelin, still smoke. Marcus is burning elsewhere, too.

In the afternoon five of the seven Japanese torpedo planes are burned out. Below, to the left, a bomb explodes on the airstrip.

Munda Point, New Georgia, November 1942. This early U.S. reconnaissance photo suggests nothing amiss, but clever Japanese camouflage conceals new airstrip already being built under the palms at right.

Major General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, USAAF. Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg (January 24, 1899 – April 2, 1954) was a United States Air Force general. He served as the second Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and the second Director of Central Intelligence. During World War II, Vandenberg was the commanding general of the Ninth Air Force, a tactical air force in England and in France, supporting the Army, from August 1944 until V-E Day. Vandenberg Space Force Base on the central coast of California is named after him. In 1946, he was briefly the U.S. Chief of Military Intelligence. He was the nephew of Arthur H. Vandenberg, a former U.S. Senator from Michigan.

Major General Elwood R. ("Pete") Quesada, USAAF. Elwood Richard Quesada, CB, CBE (April 13, 1904 – February 9, 1993), nicknamed "Pete", was a United States Air Force Lt. General, FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball. As a junior officer, Quesada became interested in the concept of close air support of ground forces, which was thoroughly developed by the 9th AF during his time as commander in North Africa and Europe.

Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, seen from the air.

Aerial view of the Segi airstrip built by Bill Painter, finished on time. Photographed in July 1943 by a U.S. bomber returning from a raid on Munda.

View of Naval Air Station Ford Island, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii, 8 December 1941; note OS2U, SOC, PBY-5, F4F-3, and TBD-1 aircraft.

View of Naval Air Station Ford Island, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii, 8 December 1941 from the Ford Island water tower; note PBY aircraft on the ramp and USS Nevada after her move from Hospital Point to the Waipio Peninsula.

Two soldiers sit on the wreckage of a bomber, surrounded by dirt and sandbags, on Hickam Field after the Japanese attack, December 7, 1941.

A sailor runs for cover past flaming wreckage hit by dive bombers, Kaneohe Bay Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941.

Aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) an LSO guides a pilot in with the paddles.

Eighth Air Force, UK, 1942.

Aerial view of Naval Air Station Ford Island, Oahu, US Territory of Hawaii, 10 December 1941; note damaged PBY aircraft, USS Curtiss, and USS Shaw.

Painting the U.S. star on a factory-fresh plane.

Atlantic kit: Gold ring and coins used by aircrews as barter when shot down.

Retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel Delmar R. Mineard examines a World War II vintage Norden bombsight received for display in the Castle Air Museum. Colonel Mineard was a lead bombardier during World War II while flying in B-26 Marauders, B-17 Flying Fortresses, and B-24 Liberators. He also used the equipment during the Korean War.

Lieutenant Delmar R. Mineard rests casually across the Norden bombsight in the nose section of his B-17G Flying Fortress during World War II. Mineard spent two combat tours in England during the war, flying B-24s with the Sperry bombsight during the first, and B-17s with the Norden during the second.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Delmar R. Mineard demonstrates the operation of a Norden bombsight to, from left to right, Captain Tom Moss, Major Mickey Woods, CMSergeant Jerre Albright, Major Tim Bonin, and Lieutenant Colonel Jim McGuire. Colonel Mineard, a veteran bombardier, was on hand when the bombsight was brought to Castle. The bombsight was acquired by officials of the Castle Air Museum for display.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Delmar R. Mineard explains the function of a component of the Norden bombsight to, from left to right, CMSergeant Jerre Albright, Lieutenant Colonel Jim McGuire, and Major Mickey Woods.

Charles A. Lindbergh with a Luftwaffe officer and Major Truman Smith, right, a U.S. military attaché in charge of Army and air intelligence in Berlin (American officer in background unidentified) at an airfield in Germany.

A member of the 2107th Ordnance-Ammo Battalion inspecting a store of 4000-pound bombs, some under camouflage netting, along the roadside at the Sharnbrook Ordnance Depot, Bedfordshire, England, UK. July 1943.