World War 2 In Review

USN PB4Y-1 over the Atlantic. This was the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator fitted for ASW and Maritime operations, many like this one received an ERCO nose turret. Almost 1000 were delivered to the USN during World War II. The transport has the neutral Portuguese flag painted on the ship’s sides.

A U.S. Marine Corps North American SNJ-3 Texan and a Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver assigned to the First Marine Air Wing in flight in early 1942.

Three U.S. Navy Douglas TBD-1 Devastators assigned to the Naval Operational Training Command at Naval Air Station Miami, Florida, in flight over South Florida, 1942/43. NAS Miami and NAS Ft. Lauderdale were home to Operational Training Units for the instruction of U.S. Navy torpedo-bomber pilots. The last TBD was retired in early 1944.

A damaged U.S. Navy Grumman TBF-1 Avenger assigned to Torpedo Squadron VT-8 makes a landing on board the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) without the benefit of a tailhook while the carrier operates off the Solomons. Note that the arrestor wire has caught the main undercarriage.

Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers practice a torpedo run during training exercises on the East Coast of the United States.

Miles Master Mark III, W8667, '3', of No. 5 Service Flying Training School based at Ternhill, Shropshire, in flight.

Supermarine Spitfire prototype (K5054) on its first flight on 5 March 1936.

Supermarine Spitfire prototype (K5054).

Spitfire prototype (K5054) in camouflage scheme.

Spitfire Mk I (K9795) of No. 19 Squadron RAF in 1938.

Spitfires of No. 222 Squadron take off during the Battle of Britain.

Spitfire Mk VB (BM590 AV-R) of No. 121 Squadron RAF.

Seafire Mk IIC (MB156 6G-O) Royal Navy on HMS Formidable.

Spitfires of No. 453 Squadron RAAF with invasion stripes.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I, with RAF aces, No. 92 Sqn., Manston, 1941.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk V Trop of 253 and 32 Sqdns. in Cannes.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk V Trop of 417 Sqdn. awaiting take-off at Gubin, Tunisia in 1943.

A Gloster Meteor in Belgium in early 1945, sent over to counter the Me 262. The Meteors were painted white so they were easy to identify.

Bombs explode on the northern dispersal area at Abbeville/Drucat airfield, France, during an attack by 18 Lockheed Venturas of No. 21 Squadron RAF and No. 464 Squadron RAAF.

Hawker Hurricanes, Vultee Vengeances and North American Harvards lined up for flight testing after assembly at No. 1 (India) Maintenance Unit, Drigh Road, India.

Heinkel He 111 operated by the Chinese Nationalist Government in the 1930s. The Chinese had 10 of these machines. Location and date unknown. This was the last operational He 111 they had. It needed new engines, however they had no water-cooled inverted V engines available. The general consensus is that Wright Cyclones were swapped in, however, it's also possible they are Pratt & Whitney Wasps.

French Lioré et Olivier LeO 451 bomber.

Caudron C.714-01.

Caudron C.R. 760.

Caudron C.R. 770.

Caudron C.R.760 C.1

Caudron C.R.770.

Caudron C.714.

Caudron C.710.

Caudron C.714 cockpit.

Caudron C.714.

Caudron C.R.760.

Caudron C.R.770.

Caudron C.714.

Caudron C.713.

Caudron C.714 after capture by the Germans.

Caudron C.R.760.

Caudron C.R.714.

Caudron C.R.760.

Caudron C.714 in Luftwaffe service.

Caudron C.714, Groupe de Chasse I/145.

Caudron C.714 fighter plane of Groupe de Chasse I/145, June 1940.

Caudron C.714s of Groupe de Chasse I/145 after capture by the Germans. Note that the Polish insignia on the fuselage sides has been cut away.

Caudron C.714, Groupe de Chasse I/145.

Caudron C.714, Finnish air force.

Focke-Wulf Fw 191A. The Focke-Wulf Fw 191 was a prototype German bomber of World War II, as the Focke-Wulf firm's entry for the Bomber B advanced medium bomber design competition. Two versions were intended to be produced, a twin-engine version using the Junkers Jumo 222 engine and a four-engine variant which was to have used the smaller Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. The project was eventually abandoned due to technical difficulties with the engines.

Focke Wulf Fw 191A.

Focke-Wulf 191 V-1.

Gotha Go 147B (D-IQVI). The Gotha Go 147 was a German experimental prototype reconnaissance aircraft designed in 1936. Designed by Gothaer Waggonfabrik and Albert Kalkert, construction of the two-seater aircraft was abandoned before the end of World War II. Featuring an unconventional design, it was built to test how an aircraft without a tail would fly, with the hope of using the experience to produce a future version for military use. Construction was suspended after the prototype proved to have poor flight characteristics.

Gotha Go 147.

Heinkel He 46 S7+A18. The Heinkel He 46 was a German World War II-era monoplane designed in 1931 for the close reconnaissance and army co-operation roles. While it served with the Luftwaffe's front-line units only briefly at the start of World War II, the He 46 served as late as 1943 as a nighttime nuisance bomber and with the Hungarian Air Force.

Heinkel He 46 BB+CK reconnaissance aircraft.

Gotha Go 145A, KE+WF, tandem two-seat training biplane.

The fuselage of a German Heinkel He 111 bomber shot down near Hazebrouck being transported on a trailer towed by a French half-track through the town of Roye, November 1939.

Heinkel He 111 with V-1.

He 111 ready to tow a Go 242 glider, Russia, January 1943.

Me 321 being towed by a Heinkel He 111Z.

A five-engine Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling (Twin) and, just coming in to land in the background, a six-engine Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant (Giant), possibly Sicily, 1943

Horten XIII Tailless Aircraft in flight. The crew is in the crew cab at the rear of the aircraft.

Horten III-c with added wing foil. The man sitting on the aircraft is identified as Pilot Blech.

Horten H Xb (Piernifero II) on its nose on a cart being pulled by a car.

Deutsches Luft Hansa (DLH) Junkers F 13 bi "Dommel" (r/n D-582) on the ground, loading passengers; circa 1926-1933.

Me 163 variants.

Captured Ilyushin Il-4 (earlier designation DB-3F) (DF-25) medium bomber in Finnish service, 1 April 1944.

Captured Ilyushin Il-4, Finnish Air Force.

Captured Il-4 with LaGG-3 in foreground in Finnish service.

Captured Ilyushin Il-4 in Luftwaffe service.

Fiat Cansa FC.20 Regia Aeronautica.

1934 photo of a French Amiot 143. This type was thrown into the battle to destroy the Meuse bridges.

Waist gunners on a B-24.

French Breguet 690, photographed in July 1939.

Ryan STM, S-26, Morokrembangan, Surabaya, circa 1940-41.

Ryan STM, S-13, Morokrembangan, Surabaya, circa 1940-42.

Schweizer TG-3A (Schweizer SGS 2-12) training glider.

Seversky XP-41.

Spartan C-71 (42-38367), one of 16 purchased by the Army from private owners.

Stinson XR3Q-1, 9718.

Stinson XR3Q-1, 9718, NAS Sunnyvale.

Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault of Flying Tigers fame, center, at an airfield in Kweilin, China.

U.S. Navy Vought O2U-1 Corsair floatplane (BuNo A7819) from Scouting Squadron 6 on the port catapult of the light cruiser USS Concord (CL-10), in 1932.

O3U-3 (9300), from the battleship Colorado, visiting Oakland, 1939.

Actors and naval aviators worked together on the motion picture Hell Divers, directed by Spig Wead. Pictured on the set at NAS North Island, California, in September 1931 are (from left) actor Cliff Edwards; Lt. John Thatch, U.S. Navy; actors Clark Gable and Wallace Beery; and Lt. Herbert Duckworth, U.S. Navy.

Vought V-143. The Vought V-141 (which was later redesignated V-143 after modification) was a prototype American single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s. It was a development of the unsuccessful Northrop 3-A design, but was itself a failure, being rejected by the United States Army Air Corps. The sole prototype was sold to the Japanese Army in 1937, but no production followed, with the type proving to be inferior to existing Japanese fighters.

Vought XTBU-1 (2542).

USAAC 1st Lieutenant standing in front of Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic training aircraft on the ground, at an unidentified flying school somewhere in the United States, circa 1943.

Vultee BT-13.

Major James A. Elisson returns a salute to Mac Ross, as he reviews the Tuskegee cadets, lined up in front of their training aircraft, a Vultee BT-13, 1941.

Vultee BT-13 Valiant.

Pilots of F6F-3 Hellcats who shot down 21 Japanese enemy planes in less than 15 minutes over Truk Atoll, 29 April 1944, aboard USS Langley (CVL-27).

Air Power In View