World War 2 In Review

Ingenuity of the American Airman

Total field mod. When your job is servicing the P-51s stationed on Iwo Jima, a motor scooter built from fuselage panels and cowling comes in handy. Notice the logo of North American Aviation on the scooter’s side.

On wash day at North Field on Guam, Marianas Islands. A homemade washing machine is driven by a rotating propeller.

While at war, there was understandably a shortage of chairs at camp. Luckily, some soldiers use the cockpit seats of inactive planes to keep themselves comfortable during their down time. It may not be a nice $400 leather office chair, but it certainly had the perks of a place to comfortably lounge.

Looking for a trim on a South Pacific island? Look for the Warhawk Barber Shop with its barber pole made of a bomb shell.

All air forces dropped their fuel tanks when empty, not just the Allies. This German tank was turned into a set of shelves by members of the 90th Photographic Reconnaissance Wing in Italy.

This bomber crew in Italy built a house from wooden crates salvaged from deliveries of drop tanks and unassembled aircraft.

Given a little downtime on Palau, a bomber crew of the 7th Air Force turned fuel tanks into racing sailboats.

United States Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38L Lightning aircraft (serial 44-25734 ) and a ground crew member of the 94th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, poses in his self-styled auto made from salvaged Lockheed P-38 Lightning parts including a fuel tank with wheels added and a Plexiglas windshield. This P-38 while assigned to 1st Fighter Group, 71st Fighter Squadron was shot down by AAA near Munich on April 15, 1945.

Sergeant Ray Petit of the 15th Air Force in Italy built a chair using the wood crate from a belly tank. His chair is equipped with a reading light, ashtray, magazine rack, and a radio that turns off on a timer once he dozes off.

German WW2 Luftwaffe RLM Paint Colours: A Guide for Scale Modelers (website link)

German WW2 Luftwaffe RLM Paint Colours: A Guide for Scale Modelers

"When modeling German WW2 aircraft, one of the most important aspects of achieving historical accuracy is using the correct Luftwaffe RLM paint colours. These standardized colours were issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) — the German Air Ministry — and evolved throughout the war in response to changing operational requirements and material availability.

"In this guide, we’ll break down the key RLM colours, their usage on specific aircraft types, and how they changed from the early war period through to the late war years."

The World War II Convoy Atlas (website link)

The World War II Convoy Atlas

The World War II Convoy Atlas is a collection of convoy maps in an interactive dashboard. Included in the Atlas so far are the routes of 100 convoys. Aside from the maps, the dashboard includes summary information on each convoy and a listing of any ships that were sunk along its route. Though there were 18,461 Allied convoys that sailed during World War II I don’t expect to be mapping them all. But do expect to see the number of convoys mapped increase over the next few months.

Included on the map are the following convoy routes:

HX 153 – 190, 192 – 239, 245
MW 12
ON 23, 127, 154, 166, 202
ONS 5, 18, 24
PQ 13
SC 103, 107, 121, 122

Answering for Atrocities

In the post–World War II Pacific, the U.S. Navy used rigorous legal standards to see justice served in the wake of Japanese war crimes.

By Michael Eastman

February 2026 Naval History

Conservationists Working to Recover WWII Torpedo Plane from Pacific Sea Floor

The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command and the Air and Sea Heritage Foundation are working to recover Bureau Number 1515, a Douglas TBD-1 Devastator submerged off Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the conservation organizations announced Friday. The TBD-1 Devastator was the Navy’s first carrier-based all-metal plane with a singular pair of foldable wings for carrier stowage. The aircraft, which was the most modern at the time, played a critical role during the opening months of the Pacific campaign, including the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway.

Beyond the Gold Stars: Giving a Voice to the Fallen

In the quiet plaza of the National World War II Memorial, 4,048 stars shimmer on a wall. Each star represents about 100 American lives lost. For the 421,000 Americans who never came home, a Gold Star in a window was often the only story their community knew. Today, a passionate group of volunteers is on a mission to change that. They believe that no hero should be a statistic – and they need our help.

THE SHIPS OF TORA! TORA! TORA!

The ship models used in the movie were very large, some 30 feet long or more, and were highly accurate. And the Arizona was a full-scale replica so that live actors could be filmed on the "ship".

The models were sold at auction after the movie was completed and some sold for as little as 10% of their cost to make the model.

A contact of mine purchased two of these models and sent me photos of them. One was an American tugboat and the other was a Japanese destroyer, which barely fit in his swimming pool. Unfortunately, I have lost the photos - that happens when you move three times!

In 1984 I was with an aunt and her grandkids at an amusement park in upstate New York (the park no longer exists). At one point it started to pour so we ducked inside one of their exhibit buildings. Inside there were two halls and we walked down one of them which was lined with old automobiles. As I turned to go into the other side, I stopped short. I was literally shocked to see several of the model ships from the movie. One of them was an aircraft carrier, possibly the Akagi, with the various Japanese aircraft on the flight deck. The Akagi model was about 30 feet long (!). I am 6'4' tall and I could barely see the top of the flight deck the model was so huge.

Sadly, I didn't have a camera that day and I never got a chance to go back.

And check out this Blog post on the making of the movie:

TORA, TORA, TORA: Oscar winning expertise recreates day of infamy at Pearl Harbour