Military Pics & Videos

[Schmidt Meister]

After the official removal of all personal nose art from aircraft usually of scantily clad females, A-10 pilots merely moved their art to the inside of the ladder access doors, but scantily clad females had been 'seriously' discouraged by this time.

[pipedreams]

[Schmidt Meister]

[pipedreams]

[Schmidt Meister]

South Weymouth NAS / Shea Field, South Weymouth, MA
South Weymouth was eventually commissioned in 1942 as one of the Navy's ASW blimp bases.

One of South Weymouth 's massive blimp hangars was the world's second largest blimp hangar, measuring 956' across.
The base had a 2,000' diameter blimp mat, 6 mooring circles, and a 4,500' grass runway.
South Weymouth operated a complement of 12 blimps.

Following WW2, South Weymouth was downgraded to a Naval Air Facility.
It was used to store surplus amphibian aircraft, and it was placed into caretaker status in late 1945,
being designated as a Naval Aircraft Parking Station.

Photo #1 - A 9/14/44 photo of Navy K-class airships of Airship Patrol Squadron ZP-11 & over a dozen TBM Avengers in hurricane storage inside a NAS South Weymouth blimp hangar.

Photo #2 - This photo might have been taken during “the hurricane of 1944, or Hurricane Carol in 1954, when they crammed as many, if not all, of the base aircraft inside for protection.”

South Weymouth was substantially rebuilt & then reactivated during December 1953
to take over the Navy & Marine Corps reserve operations from NAS Squantum,
which was closed due to airspace conflicts with the Commonwealth Airport in East Boston (modern-day Logan International Airport)
and short runways that were unsuitable for routine jet operations.
During South Weymouth's reconstruction for the Reserve program
the wooden blimp hangar, Hangar Two, was demolished & 3 paved runways were built.

NAS Squantum was closed and decommissioned in November of 1953
and the next day Naval Air Defense Unit was relocated to NAS South Weymouth. The Naval Air Defense Unit was stationed [at NAS Squantum]
and as their fleet expanded into Super G Constellations (WV-2) & ZPG-2W, the worlds largest blimps, it was necessary to relocate to South Weymouth as they had a much longer north/south runway and a blimp hangar with a fine blimp mat at the northeast end of the runway.”

Photo #3 - A 12/8/53 photo of ceremony (change of command?) inside the South Weymouth blimp hangar.
Aircraft visible include a Douglas R4D-6 Skytrain BuNo 50755 c/n 26138 'Z-755', Chance-Vought F4U Corsairs, and a Grumman TBF Avenger.

Photo #4 - August 1954 photo showing an amazing assemblage of aircraft, including 2 blimps, and dozens of jet & piston-engine aircraft, stored inside the massive South Weymouth blimp hangar in preparation for hurricane Carol.

Photo #5 - A circa late 1950s / early 1960s aerial view looking northeast at 2 Navy blimps in flight over South Weymouth, with Hangar 1 in the background, and what appear to be 2 P-2 Neptunes & 2 Lockheed WV-2 Warning Stars on the ramp.

Photo #6 - An aerial view looking north at South Weymouth's Hangar #1 during the 1962 Open House Air Show,
with the F11F-1 Tigers of the Blue Angels lined up in front of the crowd.

Rick Jones observed, “It cost $800 in 1966 each time the hangar doors were opened & closed.”
Hanger #1 at South Weymouth was dismantled in late 1966 and replaced with a concrete arch hanger.

[Schmidt Meister]

11 hours ago, pipedreams said:

Was there a link to an article or was there just the one picture?

[pipedreams]

31 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

Was there a link to an article or was there just the one picture?

There wasn't any link but I found these.

https://horse-canada.com/horses-and-history/the-sand-pounders-the-u-s-coast-guard-mounted-patrol/

http://offbeatoregon.com/1503c.sand-pounders-uscg-ww2-330.html

https://www.horseandman.com/people-and-places/sand-pounders-during-ww2-have-you-heard-of-these/06/29/2019/

https://blog.theveteranssite.greatergood.com/coast-guard-beach-patrol/

[Schmidt Meister]

GMC Purpose Built USAF Missile Transport Vehicle - 702 V12 Gas Engine

[Schmidt Meister]

During naval exercises off Key West in April 1956, a US Navy Sikorsky H-34 helicopter, serial number 51, made an emergency landing on the deck of submarine, USS Corporal SS-346, because it experienced serious main transmission problems during an anti-submarine warfare exercise (dipping sonar trials) in which the Corporal had been serving as the opposing force. After close cooperation by radio and hasty preparations by the submariners, the distressed helicopter managed to touch down safely aft of the submarine's sail. The incident marked "the first time a helicopter made an emergency landing on a submarine." At the time of that emergency landing, the submarine was under the command of Lieutenant Commander E. O. Proctor, and those aboard the helicopter were Commander W. F. Culley and Lieutenant J. K. Johnson.
The ad hoc helipad was reportedly only two inches wider than the tread of the chopper's tires.
USS Corporal SS-346, a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the corporal, an alternate name for the fallfish, found in streams of the eastern United States. Corporal was launched 10 June 1945 and decommed in '73.

[Schmidt Meister]

M1A1 Abrams Tank With Mine Roller

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[Schmidt Meister]

B-24J Liberator, 30th Bomb Group, 'Ginny Lynn', being resupplied at Funafuti, Ellice Islands, c. May 1943.

[pipedreams]

An F/A-18C Hornet launches off the waist catapult

aboard USS George Washington (CVN 73).

[Schmidt Meister]

XB-35's, Northrop 'Flying Wings' - Northrop Plant - Hawthorne, California - 1949.

[Schmidt Meister]

Old military informational poster.

[Schmidt Meister]

1943 NSU Kettenkrad

[Schmidt Meister]

US Army Air Force Pilot Shoots Down Wife

Why a P-51 pilot, flying a fighter named “Bad Angel”, shot down an American C 47, and has a USA flag on his kill roster, in addition to Japanese, Nazi and Italian flags.

1st Lt Curdes led four P-51s from Mangaldan in Central Luzon to perform reconnaissance of the southern tip of Formosa. Their mission was to locate a small temporary airfield being used by the Japanese. Finding nothing there, they continued on to the northernmost of the Bataan Islands. Curdes and his wingman, Lt. Schmidtke flew over the northern half and the two other P-51s flown by Lieutenants. Scalley and La Croix took the southern half.
Suddenly La Croix’s aircraft was attacked and he had to bail out. Curdes saw La Croix’s parachute open as his Mustang went into the water. La Croix climbed into the life raft rubber dingy that was part of the parachute pack. Curdes ordered Scalley back to base in order to get another flight out to provide cover for La Croix and see if a rescue PBY amphibian aircraft was available. He told Schmidtke to climb to 15,000 feet and broadcast a “Mayday” and to provide cover for Curdes. Curdes would stay low to make sure that the Japanese didn’t try anything. Curdes made another strafing run on the airfield.
When he pulled up, he saw a twin engine aircraft heading for Japanese held territory. Although it looked like a C-47, he wasn’t sure that it wasn’t a Japanese copy of a DC-2. He closed in and saw the American insignia on the aircraft. He attempted to contact the pilot of the aircraft using various VHF frequencies, but received no reply. The aircraft now went into its final approach glide to land on the strip below. Curdes dove in front of the aircraft three times to try and spoil the C-47s landing, but the pilot continued to try and land. Curdes fired a burst of machine gun fire across the nose of the aircraft, but the transport pilot ignored it. Finally Curdes decided that he would force the transport to ditch into the ocean.
Closing to within approximately twenty yards, he shot out the right engine, then the left. The plane hit the water and came to a stop with 50 yards from La Croix’s raft. Two large rubber dinghies inflated and twelve personnel including 4 women climbed in. 2 Army nurses, 2 Red Cross girls. Curdes flew above the rafts and dropped a note that said “For God’s sake, keep away from shore. Japs there.” After seeing that they were safe, Curdes returned to flying protective cover. La Croix paddled over to the two dinghies and tied them together.
The pilot of the transport became lost in bad weather, his radio had gone out and his fuel gauge read empty when he had sighted the landing field on Bataan. La Croix explained the situation to them.
Curdes continued to fly cover until four more Mustangs arrived to replace him and Schmidtke. A PBY came out at dawn the next morning to rescue La Croix and the others. After Curdes returned to base, he was in for a shock when he saw the names of the survivors of the transport. One of the nurses aboard that plane was the very same nurse that he had a date with the night before!
They later married, and this true story is in the book “US Army Air Force Pilot Shoots Down Wife,” by retired Air Force Col. Ken Tollefsen.

Louis Curdes joined the Army Reserves on March 12, 1942. He was commissioned a 2nd Lt, and rated a pilot on December 3, 1942 at Luke Field, Arizona. He joined the 329th FG, but transferred to the 82nd FG, 95th FS, where he saw action over North Africa, Sardinia and Italy flying P-38Gs.
On April 29, 1943 he shot down three German Me-109s and damaged a fourth near Cap Bon, Tunisia. Two more Me-109s fell to his guns near Villacidro, Sardinia on May 19. On June 24 he brought down an Italian Mc.202 over Golfo Aranci, Sardinia. Another Me-109 was damaged on July 30 at Pratice di Mare, Italy. His last two victories in the Mediterranean Theater were two Me-109s over Benevento, Italy.
During that action he was forced down and taken prisoner. He escaped from the POW camp on September 8, 1943 and managed to survive behind German lines until crossing into Allied territory on May 24, 1944. He requested combat duty in the Pacific, and joined the 4th FS (Commando), 3rd FG (Commando) in August 1944. On February 7, 1945 he shot down a Dinah while flying a P-51D thirty miles SW of Formosa. This feat made him one of three aces to have shot down enemy aircraft of all three Axis Powers.
On February 10, 1945 he shot down the American C-47. An American flag was added to the German, Italian and Japanese flags painted on his P-51D. After the war he transferred to the Air Force. He was promoted to Major on September 1, 1951, and retired from the Air Force as a LtCol in October 1963.
LtCol. Louis Edward Curdes passed away on Feb. 8, 1995 in the city of his birth, Fort Wayne, IN.

[Schmidt Meister]

V-22 Osprey

[Schmidt Meister]

Douglas TA-20H - Equipped With Experimental Tracked Main Landing Gear - 1943 (U.S. Air Force Photo)

[janice6]

On 9/10/2022 at 2:22 PM, Schmidt Meister said:

XB-35's, Northrop 'Flying Wings' - Northrop Plant - Hawthorne, California - 1949.

Went to Lockheed F-16 plant on business.  Around the advent of the public use of GPS.  I had the coordinates of the plant and a hand held receiver pointing the way.  The said no one had visited them using GPS instead of maps before.  Driving through their property I passed a flying wing with props, off to the right side of the road.  Fascinating!  Smaller than I had anticipated.

[Schmidt Meister]

M-37 Dodge 3/4T Truck that has experienced terminal parachute failure. 1960. And a M-37 not on jump status, lol.

[Schmidt Meister]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

This is a mass burial at sea, on the USS Intrepid in 1944 following a kamikaze attack.  A poignant reminder of the true costs of war. Thanks to all those who served and, especially, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the United States. An entire nation, and world, stand on the shoulders of your service.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40860/these-sailors-throwing-their-shipmates-bodies-into-the-sea-is-worth-thinking-of-this-memorial-day     USS Intrepid’s darkest day is a reminder of how so many gave so much.