Military Pics & Videos

[Schmidt Meister]

The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on 20 December 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, 2nd Lt Charles "Charlie" Brown's B-17 Flying Fortress (named "Ye Olde Pub") was severely damaged by German fighters. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber but did not do so, and instead escorted it over and past German-occupied territory so as to protect it. After an extensive search by Brown, the two pilots met each other 50 years later and developed a friendship that lasted until Stigler's death in March 2008. Brown died only a few months later, in November of the same year.

Pilots:
2nd Lt Charles L. "Charlie" Brown ("a farm boy from Weston, West Virginia", in his own words) was a B-17F pilot with the 379th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) 8th Air Force, stationed at RAF Kimbolton in England. Franz Stigler, a former Lufthansa airline pilot from Bavaria, was a veteran Luftwaffe fighter pilot attached to Jagdgeschwader 27.

Bremen mission:
The mission was the Ye Olde Pub crew's first and targeted the Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft production facility in Bremen. The men of the 527th Bombardment Squadron were informed in a pre-mission briefing that they might encounter hundreds of German fighters. Bremen was guarded by more than 250 flak guns. Brown's crew was assigned to fly "Purple Heart Corner," a spot on the edge of the formation that was considered especially dangerous because the Germans targeted the edges, instead of shooting straight through the middle of the formation. However, since three bombers had to turn back because of mechanical problems, Brown was told to move up to the front of the formation.
For this mission, Ye Olde Pub's crew consisted of:
2nd Lt Charles L. "Charlie" Brown (October 24, 1922 - November 24, 2008): pilot / aircraft commander
2nd Lt. Spencer G. "Pinky" Luke (November 22, 1920 - April 2, 1985): co-pilot
2nd Lt. Albert A. "Doc" Sadok (August 23, 1921 - March 10, 2010): navigator
2nd Lt. Robert J. M. "Andy" Andrews (November 25, 1925 - August 3, 2013): bombardier
Sgt. Bertrand O. "Frenchy" Coulombe (March 1, 1924 - March 25, 2006): top turret gunner and flight engineer
Sgt. Richard A. "Dick" Pechout (September 14, 1924 - January 5, 2013): radio operator
Sgt. Hugh S. "Ecky" Eckenrode (August 9, 1920 - December 20, 1943): tail gunner
Sgt. Lloyd H. Jennings (February 22, 1922 - October 3, 2016): left waist gunner
Sgt. Alex "Russian" Yelesanko (January 31, 1914 - May 25, 1980): right waist gunner
Sgt. Samuel W. "Blackie" Blackford (October 26, 1923 - June 16, 2001): ball turret gunner

Bomb run:
Brown's B-17 began its ten-minute bomb run at 8,320 m (27,300 ft) with an outside air temperature of −60 °C (−76 °F). Before the bomber released its bomb load, accurate flak shattered the Plexiglas nose, knocked out the #2 engine and further damaged the #4 engine, which was already in questionable condition and had to be throttled back to prevent over-speeding. The damage slowed the bomber, Brown was unable to remain with his formation and fell back as a straggler, a position from which he came under sustained enemy attacks.

Fighter attacks:
Brown's struggling B-17 was now attacked by over a dozen enemy fighters (a mixture of Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Focke-Wulf Fw 190s) of JG 11 for over ten minutes. Further damage was sustained, including damage to the #3 engine, which would produce only half power (meaning the aircraft had at best 40% of its total rated power available). The bomber's internal oxygen, hydraulic and electrical systems were also damaged, and the bomber lost half of its rudder and its port (left side) elevator, as well as its nose cone. Many of the gunners' weapons then jammed, probably as a result of loss of the on-board systems leading to frozen mechanisms (the ground crew did not oil the guns correctly), leaving the bomber with only two dorsal turret guns and one of three forward-firing nose guns (from 11 available) for defense. Most of the crew were wounded: the tail gunner, Eckenrode, had been decapitated by a direct hit from a cannon shell, while Yelesanko was critically wounded in the leg by shrapnel, Blackford's feet were frozen due to shorted-out heating wires in his uniform, Pechout had been hit in the eye by a cannon shell and Brown was wounded in his right shoulder. The morphine syrettes onboard froze, complicating first-aid efforts by the crew, while the radio was destroyed and the bomber's exterior heavily damaged. Miraculously, all but Eckenrode survived.

Franz Stigler:
Brown's damaged bomber was spotted by Germans on the ground, including Franz Stigler (then an ace with 27 victories), who was refueling and rearming at an airfield. He soon took off in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (which had a .50-cal. Browning machine gun bullet embedded in the radiator, which risked the engine overheating) and quickly caught up with Brown's plane. Through the damaged bomber's airframe Stigler was able to see the injured and incapacitated crew. To the American pilot's surprise, Stigler did not open fire on the crippled bomber. He recalled the words of one of his commanding officers from Jagdgeschwader 27, Gustav Rödel, during his time fighting in North Africa, "If I ever see or hear of you shooting at a man in a parachute, I will shoot you myself." Stigler later commented, "To me, it was just like they were in a parachute. I saw them and I couldn't shoot them down."
Twice Stigler tried to get Brown to land his plane at a German airfield and surrender, or divert to nearby neutral Sweden, where he and his crew would receive medical treatment and be interned the remainder of the war. Brown and the crew of the B-17 did not understand what Stigler was trying to mouth and gesture to them and so flew on. Stigler later told Brown he was trying to get them to fly to Sweden. He then flew near Brown's plane in a formation on the bomber's port side wing, so German antiaircraft units would not target it; he then escorted the damaged B-17 over the coast until they reached open water. Brown, unsure of Stigler's intentions at the time, ordered his dorsal turret gunner to point at Stigler but not open fire to warn him off. Understanding the message and certain that the bomber was out of German airspace, Stigler departed with a salute.

Landing:
Brown managed to fly the 250 mi (400 km) across the North Sea and land his plane at RAF Seething, home of the 448th Bomb Group and at the post-flight debriefing informed his officers about how a German fighter pilot had let him go. He was told not to repeat this to the rest of the unit so as not to build any positive sentiment about enemy pilots. Brown commented, "Someone decided you can't be human and be flying in a German cockpit." Stigler said nothing of the incident to his commanding officers, knowing that a German pilot who spared the enemy while in combat risked a court-martial. Brown went on to complete a combat tour. Franz Stigler later served as a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet-fighter pilot in Jagdverband 44 until the end of the war.

Postwar and meeting of pilots:
After the war, Brown returned home to West Virginia and went to college, returning to the newly established U.S. Air Force in 1949 and serving until 1965. Later, as a U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer, he made numerous trips to Laos and Vietnam. In 1972 he retired from government service and moved to Miami, Florida to become an inventor.
Stigler moved to Canada in 1953 and became a successful businessman.
In 1986, the retired Lt. Col. Brown was asked to speak at a combat pilot reunion event called a "Gathering of the Eagles" at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Someone asked him if he had any memorable missions during World War II; he thought for a minute and recalled the story of Stigler's escort and salute. Afterwards, Brown decided he should try to find the unknown German pilot.
After four years of searching vainly for U.S. Army Air Forces, U.S. Air Force and West German air force records that might shed some light on who the other pilot was, Brown had come up with little. He then wrote a letter to a combat pilot association newsletter. A few months later he received a letter from Stigler, who was now living in Canada. "I was the one," it said. When they spoke on the phone, Stigler described his plane, the escort and salute, confirming everything that Brown needed to hear to know he was the German fighter pilot involved in the incident.
Between 1990 and 2008, Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler became close friends and remained so until their deaths within several months of each other in 2008.
The incident was later written about by Adam Makos in the biographical novel A Higher Call (released in 2012), as well as the Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton's seventh studio album Heroes, on the second track "No Bullets Fly". Franz's daughter and grandson both heard the song playing shortly after the release of the album, and sent a video to the band thanking them for honoring the story. They later met Sabaton in person.

[Schmidt Meister]

The Dilbert comic strip character from Scott Adams (from the 1990's to present), was named for the character Dilbert Groundloop in WW2 Navy aviation training manuals. Those are related to the Army training films by ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc, and Frank Capra and also the training manuals by Will Eisner.
The WWII military was large enough to fight a two ocean war, and that meant men were conscripted into military service beginning in 1940, however, 50 percent of men reporting for induction were rejected for military service due to physical or mental deficiencies.
After the nation was at war, standards for induction into the military were relaxed and rejection rates dropped to 29 percent for the duration.
Of those accepted for military service, 70 percent had dropped out of school, 500,000 had less than a fourth grade education, and 4.4 million had less than an eighth grade education.
On the other end of the spectrum were the college graduates, who made up only three percent of the army’s ranks.
To educate young soldiers with minimal formal education on military subjects and to improve morale, a series of cartoons were created by the US War Department.
Today, the Private Snafu cartoon series is part of the public domain and can be viewed on YouTube, or free of charge on Amazon Prime for members. Just be warned, the series does contain outdated cultural depictions that were common during the war. Also, because they were property of the US War Department, the series was not subjected to the Motion Picture Production Code, so they are edgy by 1940s standards. Nonetheless, watching the series is a great way to experience a tiny snippet of our fathers’, grandfathers’, or great-grandfathers’ military experience during World War II.

‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel (wrote) and Chuck Jones (illustrated) made animated cartoons about Pvt. Snafu, who was voiced by Mel Blanc of course https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Snafu and they were directed by Frank Capra.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/private-snafu-cartoon-series
The ‘Dr. Seuss’ Standard Oil ads: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/10/dr-suess-in-advertising-in-20s-and-30s.html
The ‘Dr. Seuss’ Ford ads: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/01/ford-ads-by-dr-suess.html
Dilbert Groundloop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_Groundloop 
Dilbert Cartoon character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_%28character%29

And did you know that ‘Dr. Seuss’ wrote two ‘adult’ books? I have no understanding of the meanings of the ‘Lady Godiva’ cartoons … I guess it must of been cartoons of the era. It was called ‘racy’ at the time but the cartoon illustrations are not racy at all by today’s standards.

https://flashbak.com/the-seven-lady-godivas-dr-seusss-book-of-nudes-for-adults-27181/

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USS Boxer ~ helo carrier

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Conducting night live-fire platoon assault training

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Guided missile destroyer USS Decatur

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M1A2 Abrams tank assigned to the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team,

maneuvers during training at National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California

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[Schmidt Meister]

[Schmidt Meister]

The Battle of Olustee was the only major battle fought in Florida and was a decided victory for the Confederacy. There are re-enactments every year there and there is usually quite a showing.

[Schmidt Meister]

December 29, 1939. 1st flight of the prototype of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator Bomber. San Diego, CA.

[Schmidt Meister]

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina

Airplanes given the most credit for winning World War II include such famous warriors as the P–51 Mustang, the B–29 Superfortress, and the Supermarine Spitfire. A not-so-glamorous airplane, the Consolidated PBY–5A Catalina, also deserves inclusion in this elite group, not because it had single-purpose supremacy, but because it had such multifaceted utility.
The PBY is heralded for its yeoman work in search-and-rescue operations, especially by the thousands of sailors and downed airmen who owe their lives to one.
A heavy cruiser, the USS Indianapolis, was sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the Philippine Sea on July 30, 1945, leaving 900 men struggling to survive in shark-infested waters without food, drinking water, or rafts. A scream piercing the air meant that another sailor had been taken down by shark. The ship was not missed, and when the survivors were accidentally discovered four days later, only 316 remained alive. First to arrive on the scene was Lt. Adrian Marks, flying a PBY. His landing in the churning sea was so hard that rivets popped from the hull. Throughout that night, he and his crew valiantly pulled 56 sailors from the bloodied water. When the fuselage was full, survivors were hauled onto the wings. Men were prevented from falling off by tying them in place with parachute cord. All were rescued the next day by a destroyer escort; the PBY had to be scuttled.
The Catalina’s remarkable range made it effective for patrol, enabling PBY pilots to discover the Japanese strike and invasion forces approaching Midway Island in June 1942. A PBY was first to torpedo a Japanese ship at the onset of the Battle of Midway. This was the turning point of the Pacific War, and resulted in the sinking of four of the six Japanese aircraft carriers responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor six months earlier.
Later in the war, a group of PBYs was painted flat black, dubbed the Black Cats, and used to locate and attack Japanese shipping at night. They were effective in attacking ships attempting to land reinforcements at Guadalcanal. In the European theater, a PBY crew found the German battleship, Bismarck, leading to its destruction.
When retracted, the electrically operated floats form the wing tips, and their struts blend into the undersides of the wings. A Land-Sea switch is used to ensure that a warning light indicates correctly prior to landing. With the switch in the Land position, the light glows red unless the landing gear has been extended and the floats are retracted, and vice-versa with the switch in the Sea position.
Some say that the Pig Boat was so slow that navigators needed calendars more than they did chronographs. Typical true airspeed is 115 knots with a fuel burn of 86 gph at 5,000 feet. Maximum endurance is more than 20 hours. The Navy described the PBY as “breathlessly hot in the tropics and achingly cold in the Arctic, and at once hated and loved. In spite of her shortcomings, the rugged PBY rarely failed to bring her crew home despite all that the enemy or the weather could muster to bring her down.”
The PBY was the first production airplane with wet wings and has remarkable range, 2,338 nm on a no-reserve fuel capacity of 1,750 gallons. In the war, Qantas Empire Airways operated “Double Sunrise Flights,” so-called for the obvious reason. These PBYs carried VIPs and mail nonstop between Perth, Australia, and Galle, Ceylon, 3,592 nm that required 33 hours, a record for an airline flight using an airplane. Average flight time was 28 hours.
The design leading to the PBY was the Consolidated XPY-1, which had four open cockpits and first flew in 1929. The prototype PBY first flew on March 28, 1935. The PBY–1, –2, –3, –4, and –5 were long-range flying boats that operated strictly from water. Beaching gear was needed to roll them ashore and back into the water. The primary difference between the PBY–5 and its predecessors is that waist-gun blisters replaced sliding hatches. The PBY–5 morphed into the PBY-5A with the addition of tricycle landing gear. This amphibious flying boat first flew in 1939 and was the largest of its day. The PBY also became the world’s most successful flying boat. More were built (3,272) than all others combined, a standing record. Almost half of these were amphibians.
A pilot since he was 16, Slattery is fascinated with history, especially World War II in general and the Pacific Theater in particular. He founded the Greatest Generation Naval Museum with the intention of “humanizing the Greatest Generation in a way that inspires young people to rise above whatever obstacles they might encounter during whatever pursuits they might undertake.”
The museum thus far has 42 warbirds that have been or are being restored. Some are quite rare, and all are kept airworthy.
The engines are mounted unusually close to one another. The good news is that this eases directional control following an engine failure. The bad news is that it reduces the effectiveness of differential power for steering on water. When desired, one main landing-gear leg may be lowered in the water to help tighten a turn in that direction. The hydraulically operated landing gear also is extended in the water for taxiing up a ramp onto land. Like most multiengine seaplanes, the PBY does not have a water rudder. Differential power instead is used for steering.
Wing flaps? There are none. Systems-wise, the PBY is a relatively simple airplane. Cowl flaps are operated with hand cranks.
You steer the Cat onto the runway using differential braking. Differential power is then used initially to track the centerline during takeoff while advancing the throttles to 48 inches and 2,700 rpm. (The 1,200-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 radial engines are supercharged.) The rudder soon becomes effective and the big boat lifts off at a surprisingly low 70 knots.
The airplane goes from looking almost ungainly on the ground to somewhat graceful in the air, which belies its handling qualities. The PBY has heavy flight controls. To fly it, you use muscles you never knew you had. The control wheel rotates 1.5 full turns from one limit to the other, or three-fourths of a turn from neutral to full. You don’t just move the wheel; you wrestle with it. Castillo says, “It is like driving a cement truck in soft sand without power steering.”
It’s not bad in smooth air, but in turbulence the Cat wallows all over the sky. It seems that if you’re not always moving the controls, you’re doing something wrong. At times, the airplane inexplicably yaws one way or the other, and you admonishingly shove a rudder pedal as if to say, “Don’t do that!” The airplane seems to have a mind of its own and doesn’t always do what you expect, as though a sadistic simulator instructor is messing with you. You anticipate that because the ailerons are so far outboard there would be lots of adverse yaw effect, and there is. Other than being oddly unstable at times, a beast to maneuver, and underpowered, it is marvelously capable and, strange as it may seem, fun to fly. It puts a smile on your face. It is difficult, though, to imagine young men going to war in these aircraft.
An approach to stall is signaled by a slight tail shake, which increases as the stall deepens. The humongous wing makes the stall benign, typically a nose-high, mushing descent from which recovery requires only releasing back pressure.
The parasol wing is high above the fuselage. This provides outstanding cockpit visibility and makes the P-boat particularly effective for search and patrol missions. Such a high wing also helps to protect the propellers from damaging sea spray.
The pylon supporting the wing was where the flight engineer sat. He operated the engines, propellers, floats, and landing gear. Sight gauges indicated fuel quantity. Civilian PBYs are modified to eliminate the engineer by relocating his controls and instruments to the cockpit. His seat is still there, and riding in the pylon and peering out the small side windows offers a unique perspective.
Originally intended for defending the coasts of the United States, PBYs also served as bombers, sub killers, recon platforms, convoy escorts, and liaison transports. Pilots affectionately referred to them as Cats, P-boats, Pig Boats, and Dumbos.
The designation PBY meant that the aircraft was a patrol bomber built by Consolidated Aircraft. The final letter of Navy aircraft designations represented the manufacturer. Y stood for Consolidated, F for Grumman, and so forth. Consolidated merged with Vultee Aircraft in 1943 to form Consolidated Vultee, or Convair.
Most PBYs were built in San Diego, but the Catalina on these pages, N427CV, was manufactured under license by Canadian Vickers in 1945. It served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and eventually became a fire bomber. It worked its way to Europe and then South Africa, where it wound up dilapidated and parked in the weeds at Johannesburg’s Rand Airport.
The airplane was discovered and rescued by James Slattery, a self-described “aviation enthusiast” from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who financed a meticulous restoration. “I wanted the airplane for our museum, the Greatest Generation Naval Museum at Gillespie Field in San Diego.”
The airplane was certified for civilian use and flown to San Diego by Bob Franicola and Mike Castillo. The 12,000-mile journey began Christmas Day 2012, took 125 hours of flight time, and ended 16 days later. Franicola said that the airplane performed flawlessly. San Diego seems an appropriate home for a PBY. Most were built near the edge of San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, and Naval Base San Diego is home of the Pacific Fleet.
Slattery’s PBY–5A is painted in prewar colors. Even though a 1930s design, it presents an intriguing and appealing appearance. The hull and rear fuselage are an artful blend of nautical and aeronautical form and function. It is all metal, except that the aft portions of the wings and all control surfaces are fabric-covered.
You board a PBY from land or water by climbing a small ladder and entering through a waist blister. The fuselage has five compartments separated by bulkheads with watertight doors. A military PBY had a crew of eight: two pilots, a flight engineer, a bow gunner/bombardier, two waist gunners, a navigator, and a radio operator. This PBY, though, accommodates 15, two pilots and 13 passengers. Seats of choice in the cabin are by the blisters, which may be open in flight and are wonderful places from which to cast a rod when on water.
Like most flying boats, throttles and propeller controls are overhead to simplify routing control cables to the engines.

[pipedreams]

Another relic of World War II brute force engineering and design, is the Grumman G-21 Goose. There a few of these planes still flying in places like Alaska.  I made several trips from Long Beach to Catalina Island in one years ago.  I think that service was discontinued a long time ago maybe around 1970.  A much smaller aircraft holds about eight passengers.  Of the 345 Grumman Goose aircraft made, an estimated 30 remain airworthy.

After WWII ended, most of the Grumman Goose planes were removed from military service and began making a big splash in the passenger transport category. They became very popular with small airlines carrying passengers from coast to island, and vice-versa, such as in the Caribbean, California, and Alaska.

[Pogey Bait]

On 12/23/2022 at 10:09 AM, Schmidt Meister said:

The Dilbert comic strip character from Scott Adams (from the 1990's to present), was named for the character Dilbert Groundloop in WW2 Navy aviation training manuals. Those are related to the Army training films by ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc, and Frank Capra and also the training manuals by Will Eisner.
The WWII military was large enough to fight a two ocean war, and that meant men were conscripted into military service beginning in 1940, however, 50 percent of men reporting for induction were rejected for military service due to physical or mental deficiencies.
After the nation was at war, standards for induction into the military were relaxed and rejection rates dropped to 29 percent for the duration.
Of those accepted for military service, 70 percent had dropped out of school, 500,000 had less than a fourth grade education, and 4.4 million had less than an eighth grade education.
On the other end of the spectrum were the college graduates, who made up only three percent of the army’s ranks.
To educate young soldiers with minimal formal education on military subjects and to improve morale, a series of cartoons were created by the US War Department.
Today, the Private Snafu cartoon series is part of the public domain and can be viewed on YouTube, or free of charge on Amazon Prime for members. Just be warned, the series does contain outdated cultural depictions that were common during the war. Also, because they were property of the US War Department, the series was not subjected to the Motion Picture Production Code, so they are edgy by 1940s standards. Nonetheless, watching the series is a great way to experience a tiny snippet of our fathers’, grandfathers’, or great-grandfathers’ military experience during World War II.

‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel (wrote) and Chuck Jones (illustrated) made animated cartoons about Pvt. Snafu, who was voiced by Mel Blanc of course https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Snafu and they were directed by Frank Capra.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/private-snafu-cartoon-series
The ‘Dr. Seuss’ Standard Oil ads: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/10/dr-suess-in-advertising-in-20s-and-30s.html
The ‘Dr. Seuss’ Ford ads: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/01/ford-ads-by-dr-suess.html
Dilbert Groundloop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_Groundloop 
Dilbert Cartoon character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_%28character%29

And did you know that ‘Dr. Seuss’ wrote two ‘adult’ books? I have no understanding of the meanings of the ‘Lady Godiva’ cartoons … I guess it must of been cartoons of the era. It was called ‘racy’ at the time but the cartoon illustrations are not racy at all by today’s standards.

https://flashbak.com/the-seven-lady-godivas-dr-seusss-book-of-nudes-for-adults-27181/

My Dad was a College Graduate and drafted into the Army in 1942.  He served in the Chemical Warfare branch, stationed first in Iceland and later in the U.K.  He was sent to Officer Candidate School at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.

 

[Schmidt Meister]

18 minutes ago, Pogey Bait said:

My Dad was a College Graduate and drafted into the Army in 1942.  He served in the Chemical Warfare branch, stationed first in Iceland and later in the U.K.  He was sent to Officer Candidate School at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.

 

SALUTE !!

[Schmidt Meister]

AU-1 Corsair Assembly at Vought-Sikorsky Plant - Stratford, CT - Ca. 1942.

[Schmidt Meister]

HMS Sussex, a heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy, on July 26, 1945, just before the end of the war shows the impact mark of a kamikaze (suicide) attack by a Mitsubishi Ki-51 light bomber on its side.
Fortunately, being a heavy cruiser, Sussex's sides were armored against enemy shellfire, with her main belt on the side of the ship being 4½" thick. The armor stopped the light, slow attacking aircraft without allowing it to penetrate the ship's side. A smaller, less protected ship would have suffered serious damage. Sussex was probably also helped by the fact that the attacker is said to have bounced off the surface of the sea before striking the ship, which would have slowed down the aircraft considerably.  As it was, it looks as if the aircraft's engine penetrated the armor belt, or at least left a very deep dent in it.

[Schmidt Meister]

Two USAF And Two RAAF F-35A Lightning II's during a training op for the RAAF. From Luke AFB, AZ.

[minervadoe]

Putin Would Flip Out: JAS 39 Gripen Fighter Jet to Ukraine? (msn.com)

[Schmidt Meister]

Douglas C-47 Skytrain Or "Gooney Bird" - 1940 Chrysler Army Staff Car

[Schmidt Meister]

Modified M35 ... Sweet.

[Schmidt Meister]

[Schmidt Meister]

Yakovlev Yak-130

One of the aircraft that performed in the flight displays at the Farnborough Airshow in England was the Yakovlev Yak-130 advanced trainer.
Yakovlev vice-president Konstantin Popovich said that on the first day of the show, air traffic control initially refused to allow the Yak-130 to take off, because its air intakes were closed. ATC thought this indicated a problem with the aircraft.
As you can see from the first photograph, in the case of the Yak-130, the air intakes are closed. Popovich stated “That's not a bug, that's a feature!" It's designed to operate from poor-quality airfields if necessary, so the air intakes (circled in red in the second photo) are masked by retractable covers during taxiing and take-off, to avoid ingesting debris into the twin jet engines.  They draw air instead from a series of vents that open above the air intakes (also visible in the red circle in the photograph above). When the jet is safely off the ground, the 'normal' air intakes open and the upper ones close.

[Schmidt Meister]

Russian Zubr (NATO - 'Pomornik') LCAC - Largest LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion) Ever Commissioned - 187' L, 84' B.