Military Pics & Videos

[Schmidt Meister]

The French Air Force's Patrouille de France aerobatic team, flying red, white and blue Alpha Jet trainers, performed in the 2011 Dubai Air Show along with Al Fursan ("The Knights"), the aerobatic team of the United Arab Emirates, flying black and gold Aermacchi MB-339 trainers.

The picture shows Al Fursan leading Patrouille de France in front of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

[pipedreams]

Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer,

USS Roosevelt, visiting Tallinn, Estonia

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

USS Missouri entering Subic Bay, August 1990.

[pipedreams]

Photo by Lance Cpl. Michael Taggart

[pipedreams]

Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay boat crew getting some surfmanship practice.

(Photo credit: Out West Photography)

[Schmidt Meister]

Japanese Air Raid on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, June 4, 1942 during the Battle Of Midway. World War II.

[pipedreams]

3 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

Japanese Air Raid on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, June 4, 1942 during the Battle Of Midway. World War II.

My uncle who has passed away was at Dutch Harbor building an air strip when this happened.  I had a small notebook of his that he wrote in about this.  I have since passed the notebook onto one of his sons.

[Schmidt Meister]

Three F-111F's And An EF-111A Raven Over The Saudi Arabian Desert - Operation Desert Storm.

[kerbie18]

On 1/16/2023 at 1:48 PM, pipedreams said:

USS Missouri entering Subic Bay, August 1990.

Good lord, I love the Mighty MO. I took my two daughters to see her at Pearl Harbor. I will never forget it.

Also, there was the time she fought off an alien invasion force (kidding).

[pipedreams]

Surrendered German U-boats moored outside the Dora I bunker in Trondheim, Norway, May 1945.

[Schmidt Meister]

The largest caliber mortar ever constructed was the US Army's 'Little David', constructed for the invasion of Japan in 1945.
This incredible beast had a caliber of 914mm. (36 inches - a full yard!), and fired a shell weighing 3,650 pounds over a range of up to six miles.
It never saw military action, as the dropping of the atomic bombs led to Japan's surrender without the need for an invasion; but it's still an awesome piece of engineering. It was fired for testing.
The sole surviving Little David is today on display at the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
Just looking at the amount of excavation and preparation needed before firing it indicates to me that Little David probably wouldn't have been very useful in action . . . but one never knows. If the invading forces had had enough time to set it up, and enough targets within its limited range once they'd done so, the beast might have justified its cost and complexity.

Little David in operation during trials in 1945:

 

[kerbie18]

On 1/24/2023 at 2:31 PM, Schmidt Meister said:

The largest caliber mortar ever constructed was the US Army's 'Little David', constructed for the invasion of Japan in 1945.
This incredible beast had a caliber of 914mm. (36 inches - a full yard!), and fired a shell weighing 3,650 pounds over a range of up to six miles.
It never saw military action, as the dropping of the atomic bombs led to Japan's surrender without the need for an invasion; but it's still an awesome piece of engineering. It was fired for testing.
The sole surviving Little David is today on display at the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
Just looking at the amount of excavation and preparation needed before firing it indicates to me that Little David probably wouldn't have been very useful in action . . . but one never knows. If the invading forces had had enough time to set it up, and enough targets within its limited range once they'd done so, the beast might have justified its cost and complexity.

Little David in operation during trials in 1945:

 

Yep, that thing looks EXTREMELY difficult to move around. Especially for a relatively short range weapon.

[Schmidt Meister]

7 hours ago, kerbie18 said:

Yep, that thing looks EXTREMELY difficult to move around. Especially for a relatively short range weapon.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. It would have to be a top priority hard target for me, if I was a Cmdr, to want to go to all the trouble to set that thing up. Hard core close range bunker buster. In the video, it left some pretty impressive craters.

[Schmidt Meister]

B-24 Liberator Bombing The Train Yard In Nyíregyháza, Hungary - 1944

[Schmidt Meister]

B-24 Consolidated Liberator on its last mission to bomb Berlin. This bomber was shot down but the crew survived by bailing out and being taken POW - 6.21.1944.

[Schmidt Meister]

On May 9th, 1942, the German submarine U-352 was sunk off North Carolina by the US Coast Guard cutter Icarus. The submarine was much larger and more heavily armed than the small, light cutter; but the U-boat Commanding Officer: Kapitänleutnant Hellmut Rathke was inept, while the Lieutenant in command of the cutter, Maurice David Jester, was an experienced, determined seaman.
The 33 survivors were the first German prisoners of war taken by the United States after the declaration of war with Germany. U-352 was the fourth U-boat sunk by the U.S.

One of the earliest submarines to reach the Coast under Operation Drumroll was U-352. The sub had made an earlier trip off Iceland but failed to sink any ships. U-352 left Europe for its second war sortie on April 4th and arrived off the American coast on May 2nd after a four week crossing. The sub's commander, Kapitänleutnant Hellmut Rathke, was determined to do better his second time out. Three days after taking station off the American coast, he attacked a refrigerator ship with no success. Rathke attacked three more freighters but all escaped without harm. On May seventh, U-352 was nearly caught on the surface by an airplane and a crash dive barely saved it from the plane's bombs. The plane radioed the sub's position and now the hunter had become the hunted.
When U-352 arrived off the East Coast the largest anti-submarine combatant in the immediate area to oppose it was the diminutive 165 foot cutter Dione. The cutter's patrol area extended from Norfolk, Virginia, to Morehead City, North Carolina, one of the busiest areas for shipping off the East Coast and also an active submarine hunting ground. It was here that the U-boats performed their most damaging work. For several months the daily routine of the patrol vessels off North Carolina was filled not only with hunting submarines but also with the rescue of hundreds of men from torpedoed ships. There were so many torpedoings that these small cutters spent much of their time shuttling between reported attacks and sinkings.
The German submarines began moving their attacks further south, therefore the Navy shifted anti-submarine vessels in this direction. The 165 foot Icarus, a sister of the Dione, received orders to proceed to Key West, Florida. Here the cutter would work the southern end of the “Bucket Brigade Convoys.” Icarus had spent the first months of the war making patrols out of the New York area and left for Florida early on May 8th. The small cutter began the routine trip south, passing a couple of convoys, and arrived off the Coast of North Carolina a day later. Armed with obsolete sound detection gear, a World War I era Y-gun, stern depth charge racks, a 3-inch deck gun and a combination of six .50 caliber and Lewis machine guns, Icarus was much less of a threat to a U-boat than a destroyer.
U-352 meanwhile continued to hunt for its first victim. Kapitanleutnant Rathke thus far had been either the unluckiest U-boat commander or the poorest shot. On the 9th of May he thought his luck would change. Shortly after 4 p.m. the radioman on board U-352 heard propeller noises. Relaying the news to Rathke, the commander decided to attack, even though it was daylight and thus more dangerous. Looking through the periscope Rathke saw a mast and passed the word for two bow tubes to be loaded. Making a crash dive, Rathke, ordered the attack periscope up and fired two torpedoes. Several moments later, the sub shuddered from an explosion. Rathke thinking he had finally succeeded in sinking a ship, ordered the sub back to periscope depth. Looking through his sights, he discovered that instead of sinking a merchantman, the Coast Guard patrol vessel Icarus was heading straight for him.
The Icarus was commanded by Lieutenant Maurice D. Jester. Jester was not a young officer lacking experience. He was 52 years old, having enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1917 as a surfman. During the next twenty years he served on five cutters, advancing to Chief Boatswain in 1935. In December 1941, he received a commission as a lieutenant and a month later was given command of the Icarus.
About the time that Rathke spotted the mast of Icarus, Jester retired to his quarters. With the U-352 nearby, the soundman on board the cutter picked up a “mushy” sound contact. The sound came from off the port bow at a range of about 1900 yards. Jester was called on the bridge. The sharpness of the contact improved and its location began to draw abaft of the beam. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the little cutter and Jester ordered the crew to battle stations and turned the Icarus hard aport toward the suspect sound. Everyone on the bridge realized that they had just been missed by a torpedo that struck the ocean bottom. Icarus steamed toward the contact and for the first time picked up propeller noises on the listening gear.
Rathke saw the speeding cutter in his periscope and knew that his vessel had been detected and that he had to try to escape. He maneuvered U-352 toward the area where the torpedo exploded hoping to hide in the sediment and the disturbed water that was stirred from the bottom. The nose of the submarine pushed into the soft bottom where Rathke planned to wait until the warship made one pass. Since his adversary was only a patrol craft, he thought he might escape or surface to periscope depth and use torpedoes and possibly the deck guns to destroy the Coast Guard vessel. The spot where the torpedo struck, however, was where Jester and Icarus began the search.
With U-352 on the bottom, Jester temporarily lost contact. Calculating the sub's location he made a pass and dropped five depth charges in the shape of a diamond with one charge in the middle. Icarus dropped one charge from a rack, followed by two from the Y-gun, releasing another single charge from the rack and finishing the pattern with another rack charge. Jester then reversed course and detected the submarine moving west. Moving to intercept, three more depth charges were dropped in a V pattern at a point on the U-boats apparent track. Large bubbles began to break the surface and the Icarus doubled back to drop a single charge on this spot. Not satisfied with the results Jester had one more charge dropped to the right side of the previous spot.
The U-352 took a pounding! During the cutter's first run, two of the depth charges fell near the conning tower, one near the deck gun, one over the engine room and the last fell astern. All the gauges in the control room shattered, the lights went out, the attack periscope was damaged, the motors had been knocked off their mounts, the deck gun was gone and the conning tower officer was dead. Rathke knew he could not attack now. His remaining hope was to remain motionless on the bottom and hope the cutter would not be able to detect his boat and then leave. Icarus, though, had not finished. The soundman still hearing the sub moving slowly across the bottom prompted Jester to order subsequent attacks.
Shortly after the last charge was dropped Rathke decided that the Icarus knew where his sub lay and ordered the ballast tanks blown to bring the sub to the surface. He ordered the men into their life jackets and diving lungs and gave instructions for the vessel to be scuttled. The submarine broke the surface forty-five minutes after the battle began only one thousand yards from the cutter. The gun crews of the Icarus immediately opened fire with all six machine guns to prevent the sub's crew from manning their deck guns. Turning Icarus, Jester put it on a course to ram the sub if necessary. Now the three-inch gun on the cutter's bow bore on U-352 and opened fire. The first round was short but ricocheted through the conning tower. The second round passed over the sub, but the next twelve rounds either hit or came close to their mark.
Moments after the sub surfaced, the German crewmen began pouring onto the deck in clock-like precision. The Icarus did not secure its guns and fired on the hapless crew as they abandoned the vessel. After realizing that they did not intend to fight back, Jester ordered his men to cease fire. The sub's crew continued to jump in the water as U-352 sank beneath their feet. The Icarus continued to circle the spot where the sub sank and unleashed one last depth charge over the wreck of the U-352.
Sinking an enemy sub fell within the orders issued to Jester, but none were in force for rescuing German survivors. Calling both Norfolk and Charleston, Jester finally received permission to pick the men up thirty minutes after the sinking. Icarus picked up thirty-three prisoners but one died enroute. Among them was Kapitanleutnant Hellmut Rathke. Several of the crew spoke English and talked freely with the American sailors. The prisoners arrived at the Charleston Navy Yard the next day providing the Coast Guard with opportunities to photograph the first U.S. captured German U-boat officers and men.
This action was notable because the U-352 was larger, faster and more heavily armed than Icarus.

For his actions in sinking the U-352, Lieutenant Maurice Jester was awarded the Navy Cross. Jester was the first person to be awarded the Navy Cross for bravery in WWII.

Of course, U-352 is also a war grave; 15 of her crew died in the fight.

Coast Guard Commander Maurice David Jester, 68, of Chincoteague, MD passed away Aug 8, 1957 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Ft. Meyer, VA

USCGC Icarus Lands Survivors/POW's From U-352 At Charleston Navy Yard - May 10th, 1942:

[Schmidt Meister]

The Tupolev TB-3, Heavy Bomber, (civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early years of World War II. It was the world's first cantilever wing four-engine heavy bomber. Despite obsolescence and being officially withdrawn from service in 1939, the TB-3 performed bomber and transport duties throughout much of World War II.
The TB-3 served extensively as a cargo and paratroop transport, carrying up to 35 soldiers in the latter role. In the first five months of the war, the aircraft transported 6,166,000 lb. of cargo and 2,300 personnel.
The TB-3 was also used in several special projects as a fighter mothership in the Zveno project. Zveno, Russian for a military unit "Flight”), was a parasite aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. It consisted of a Tupolev TB-1 or a Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber mothership and two to five fighters. Depending on the variant, the fighters either launched with the mothership or docked in flight, and they could refuel from the bomber. Zveno operations ended in the autumn of 1942 due to the vulnerability of the motherships.
The TU-3 was also used for delivering light T-27, T-37, and T-38 tanks.

Picture #1: Tupelov TB-3
#2: T-37A Light Tank Transport
#3: Zveno SPB Mode With 2 Polikarpov I-16 Fighter W/ FAB 250 Bombs
#4: Paratroopers sliding off of the wings.

[Schmidt Meister]

US Navy CMV-228 Refueling From A USAF KC-10.

[kerbie18]

34 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

US Navy CMV-228 Refueling From A USAF KC-10.

Okay, that is just cool. Those huge props could so easily chew the hell out of the fuel line. It would only take one second of inattention.

[Schmidt Meister]

Ford Motor Company's Consolidated B-24 Liberator assembly line at Willow Run, near Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Though Ford did not design the massive, slab-sided, utilitarian-to-the-bone, four-engined heavy bomber, the company's 40 years of assembly-line experience was brought to bear and Willow Run became perhaps the greatest example of America's military industrial might, ingenuity, determination, and commitment. Ford acquired the license to build Liberators, took the already well-developed science of the aircraft assembly line and elevated it to gargantuan, robotic and almost nightmarish (for the enemy anyway) proportions. At its peak, the plant employed 42,000 people.
At full operational capacity, Willow Run produced 650 B-24 Liberators in one month, one an hour in two shifts. By 1945, despite there being two other Liberator plants, Willow Run accounted for 70% of monthly B-24 production. The B-24 was built in staggering numbers, more than 18,000 in all. Willow Run, only a licensed manufacturing facility, produced 8,700 of them. Pilots and crews slept in a dormitory with 1,300 cots, awaiting the near hourly birth of a new bomber. Not only did Willow Run have barracks for up to 1,300 air crew members, but it had the equivalent of a community college, training young unskilled workers, both male and female, to build one of the most modern combat aircraft of its day.

#'s 1, 2, & 3: Views Of The Huge Assembly Line.

#4: Installation Of Engine Components, Turrets, And Machine Guns

#5: Inspection Of Rear And Forward Fuselages Prior To Mating Together

#6: Rear View Of Forward Fuselage With Wiring And Other Components Ready To Be Connected

#7: Primed And Marked, Finished Liberators Ready For Final Painting

#8: Two Days Of Production Liberators, Painted And Awaiting Test Or Delivery Crews

#9: Assembly Line Workers Pose With Willow Run's 7,000th Ford-Built B-24 Liberator (s/n 44-50267, Known As The 'The Lucky 7')

[Schmidt Meister]

[janice6]

11 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

The Japanese dare to tell us to apologize for the Atomic Bomb.  What hypocrites.

[Schmidt Meister]

Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless of Marine Scouting Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241) in flight over Midway Atoll - 1942.

[Schmidt Meister]

F-22 Raptor refueling from a KC-10 Extender Tanker.