Military Pics & Videos

[pipedreams]

A pretty cool overhead shot of the Baltimore class heavy cruiser

USS Boston (CA-69) off the California Coast in 1945.

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Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - British Jaguar GR-1

[pipedreams]

Essex-class carrier USS Tarawa. Commissioned December 1945, decommissioned 1960. Used mostly during the Cold War in the Atlantic and Caribbean for ASW barrier patrols vs Red Navy submarines and for training.

[Schmidt Meister]

US armed forces have applied the principle to a devastating ‘shotgun’ round for their M1 Abrams tanks: the XM1028 120mm Canister Tank Cartridge. It contains over 1,150 (est.) 10mm. tungsten balls. There is no fuse on this round. While the dispersion pattern increases with range as the velocity of the balls decreases, the dense tungsten balls are used to minimize the velocity fall-off. These are fired from the smoothbore main gun of the M1 tank, leaving the container and spreading out as soon as they exit the muzzle. The complete round and a cross-section view of its container of metal balls are shown below.
The round is designed to be effective against "soft" targets (read: people, unarmored vehicles, etc.) at 500 to 700 meters. It's intended to take out enemies hiding behind inadequate cover, clear opponents climbing on friendly armored vehicles (sweeping them off like a broom - the balls won't penetrate the armor, so the crew inside will be safe), or bring down light structures through massive damage to the walls and roof.

 

[Schmidt Meister]

This is only a military video because of the airplane, but it is owned and flown by ex-military men.

I really hate to see the vintage warbirds crash. They're pretty much irreplaceable nowadays, so when one goes down, most of the time, they’re lost for all time.
However, near, Melbourne, Australia, the pilot of this 61-year-old Australian-built P-51 Mustang did a great job. His landing gear wouldn't come down properly, leaving one undercarriage door partly extended. He circled the airfield for forty minutes, burning up fuel and letting ground control check it out visually as he flew low over them, then came in for a belly landing on the dirt. Whilst the aircraft was damaged, it was minimally hurt, and it'll fly again. Great skills!
(This is one of the rare two-seater conversion Mustangs, and he had a novice with him who'd been given a flight as a birthday treat.)

 

[Batesmotel]

On 2/12/2023 at 3:26 PM, pipedreams said:

Essex-class carrier USS Tarawa. Commissioned December 1945, decommissioned 1960. Used mostly during the Cold War in the Atlantic and Caribbean for ASW barrier patrols vs Red Navy submarines and for training.

Thanks. My dad served on CV47. I love those old straight deck ladies. 

[Schmidt Meister]

U.S. Navy Battleship, USS Massachusetts (BB-2) off the coast of Pensacola, Florida being scuttled, 6 January, 1921.

[Schmidt Meister]

The largest ship recovered from the seabed using the parbuckling technique (prior to the salvage work on the Costa Concordia cruise liner) was the battleship USS Oklahoma, sunk at Pearl Harbor.
The salvors used a technique known as parbuckling or parbuckle salvage, where lines are fastened to and around a ship and used to haul her upright. The USS Oklahoma was righted in 1943 using the parbuckling technique.
The video is a series of pictures of salvage work on USS Oklahoma and USS Utah at Pearl Harbor during World War II. I recommend watching it in full-screen mode. After the USS Oklahoma was hauled upright, cofferdams were built around her to permit repairs to be made to her hull, restoring her watertight integrity. Refloated, she was taken into dry dock. Parbuckling was also attempted on the USS Utah, but failed when the ship slid along the seabed rather than turn upright. She was abandoned in place, and still lies there.

The first picture below the video I wrote the description below it. The second picture shows the Oklahoma being righted which took almost 3 months. The wreck of the Arizona, still leaking fuel is seen in the foreground - May 1943. (I may have posted the picture before, but not the video ??)

(The savage job on USS Oklahoma began in March 1943, and Oklahoma entered dry dock on 28 December. Decommissioned on 1 September 1944. Oklahoma was stripped of guns and superstructure and sold on 5 December 1946 to Moore Drydock Co., Oakland, Calif. During a storm at sea, Oklahoma parted her tow line and sank on 17 May 1947, 540 miles out, bound from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco.)
(The music in the following video is the Washington Post March by John Philip Sousa.)

 

 

[Schmidt Meister]

F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lighning II, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-16 Fighting Falcon - All Four Air Combat Command Demonstration Teams - Fort Lauderdale, FL.

[Schmidt Meister]

On 16 February 2023, the Naval History and Heritage Command confirmed the identity of a wreck located off the shore of Hokkaido as the USS Albacore, based on documented modifications made to her prior to her last patrol.
According to Japanese records, the USS Albacore, with a crew of 85 men on board, likely struck a mine just off the shore of Hokkaido on Nov. 7, 1944.
On 25 May 2022, a Japanese team lead by Dr. Tamaki Ura of the University of Tokyo began a search for the wreck of Albacore off Hokkaidō in waters about 4.3 mi. (3.8 nmi.) east of Hakodate. During the day, the team's sonar detected what appeared to be a submarine hull 164 ft in length on the seabed at a depth of 820 ft. On 26 May 2022, the team used a remotely operated underwater vehicle to photograph the wreck, capturing an image of what appeared to be the bridge and periscope of a submarine. The team concluded that the wreck very likely was that of Albacore, based on its position and the shape of its hull. The team planned to conduct a more detailed survey of the wreck in August 2022. On 16 February 2023, the Naval History and Heritage Command confirmed the identity of the wreck as Albacore, based on documented modifications made to her prior to her last patrol.
USS Albacore (SS-218) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, winning the Presidential Unit Citation and nine battle stars for her service. During the war, she was credited with sinking 13 Japanese ships (including two destroyers, the light cruiser Tenryū and the aircraft carrier Taihō) and damaging another five; not all of these credits were confirmed by postwar Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) accounting. She also holds the distinction of sinking the highest warship tonnage of any U.S. submarine. She was lost in 1944, thought to be sunk by a mine off northern Hokkaidō on 7 November.  
Albacore′s keel was laid on 21 April 1941 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 17 February 1942 and commissioned on 1 June 1942.
USS Albacore was presented:
Presidential Unit Citation for her second, third, eighth, and ninth war patrols.
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars for World War II service.

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

What it was like fighting on Iwo Jima, according to a Marine Medal of Honor recipient

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/wwii-medal-of-honor-hershel-williams-iwo-jima/

What is it that you think makes a good Marine?

Number one: loyalty.

Number one, number two, number three: loyalty.

That could cover a lot of ground: Loyalty to purpose; loyalty to the Corps; loyalty to the self. You could go on and on, but loyalty to me, is number one.

[Schmidt Meister]

B-17 Flying Fortress "The Memphis Belle" On Her Way Back To The United States After Successfully Completing 25 Missions From Its Airbase In England - 6.9.1943

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B-17G “Wee Willie” down: the story behind the dramatic photo of the Flying Fortress with one wing blown off, plummeting to its doom.
The B-17G Flying Fortress “Wee Willie” had completed 127 missions and was destroyed on its 128th.
The main picture in this post shows one of the most dramatic photographic images of World War II, “Wee Willie,” Boeing B-17G-15-BO Flying Fortress 42-31333 going down after it was hit by antiaircraft artillery over Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on Apr. 8, 1945.
As explained by Dan Sharp in his book Spitfires over Berlin, this horrific picture is part of a photo sequence taken by the automatic bomb strike camera of a B-17. The photo sequence shows the final 18 seconds of B-17G 42-31333 ‘Wee Willie’ (which was the 302nd Boeing B-17G to roll of the production line at Boeing Plant 2, King County Washington) over Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, after it was hit by an 88mm flak burst.
In the first picture (#1), Willie’s port wing has already sheared off and is spinning over its tail, gouting in flames.
The second photograph (#2), that as we have mentioned above is frequently used to show the horrors faced by American air crews during the daylight bombing campaign over Germany, shows the aircraft during the final seconds of its death dive. All nine crew members are still inside.
In the last photograph (#3), ‘Wee Willie’ has exploded. Fragments of debris, wings, tail and fuselage fall burning to the ground.
‘Wee Willie’ was part of a 73-bomber raid on the locomotive repair shops at Stendal and was flown by Lt Robert E Fuller for this sortie.
The mission was a great success, the 322nd’s official report noting: “The high squadron was furnished by the 322nd, led by Lt Johnson. Strike photographs for the high squadron’s bombs show an excellent concentration of hits covering the aiming point.
“Almost the entire concentration lies within a 1000ft circle over the MPI. Meagre to moderate tracking AA fire on the bomb run which was extremely accurate resulted in minor damage to 13 aircraft and major damage to four in the group. The high and lead squadrons each lost one aircraft in the target area from flak damage.”
The aircraft lost from the lead squadron, the 401st, was B-17G-50-B0 42-102504 Times A-Wastin’, flown by Lt Peter Pastras. Its demise was witnessed by Lt Mike Fodroci, a navigator aboard another B-17. He saw the four gun batteries on the ground tracking bursts of flak through the lead formation, getting closer and closer to Times A-Wastin’ until the fourth one went directly into the aircraft’s still-open bomb bay.
In his report he states: “The pilot must have been killed instantly; for the ship pulled up and veered to the right, climbing directly over our ship. Captain Shelby put our ship into a dive so steep that I was thrown up against the astro hatch of the ceiling in the nose — seems I hung there for a brief second or two.
“I also observed that a bad fire was burning on the aircraft’s forward bomb bay area and that the co-pilot was trying to climb out of the small window with his back pack on. Somehow, we saw three chutes emerge from #504 as she spun toward the earth.”
Times A-Wastin’s co-pilot, Bob Morris, was killed when the B-17 exploded in mid-air, along with all but two of its crew, engineer Lyle Jones and radio operator Bob A Smith, who were taken prisoner on the ground.
The aircraft lost from the high squadron was 42-31333 ‘Wee Willie’.
In the Missing Air Crew Report S/Sgt George Little, a gunner aboard a 401st B-17, states: “I observed 42-31333 receive a direct flak hit approximately between the bomb bay and the number two engine. The aircraft immediately started a vertical dive. The aircraft fuselage was on fire and when it had dropped approximately 5000ft the left wing fell off.
“It continued down and when the fuselage was about 3000ft from the ground it exploded, and then exploded again when it hit the ground. I saw no crew members leave the aircraft or parachutes.”
There was another witness to `Wee Willie’s’ end that was able to offer an even more accurate account of what happened. About a third of the B-17s flying on any given mission were equipped with bomb strike cameras. These were fitted under the floor in the radio room and the lens cone was exposed to the elements.
The cameras were automatically operated from ‘bombs away’ until they ran out of film or automatically stopped after a predetermined number of exposures. They took an exposure every six seconds, with the mechanism then winding the film on, ready for the next shot.
In this way, the success or failure of a mission could sometimes be determined by examining the photographs.
The automatic camera on another B-17, flying beside or below ‘Wee Willie’, captured the aircraft’s violent final 18 seconds in [the above] three photographs.
Shortly before the last of the three, Willie was torn apart by an explosion that ripped right through the fuselage and blew Lt Robert E Fuller clear out of the cockpit. Somehow, he managed to get his parachute open and survived the descent. The remainder of his crew were all killed.
Although he is recorded as having been taken prisoner, Fuller’s final fate remains unknown and in some sources he is listed simply as ‘killed in action’ alongside his crew. `Wee Willie’ had completed 127 missions and was destroyed on its 128th.

Spitfires over Berlin is published by Mortons Books
https://www.mortonsbooks.co.uk/product/list/category/aviat/source/MBCAVG?utm_source=AVG&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=MBC10Percent&utm_term=MBCAVG

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"Five Grand" - B-17G, 43-37716 - In Flight To Britain With Over 35,000 Signatures - 1944

In May 1944 5 Grand was officially delivered to the US Army Air Forces at Boeing Field and a bottle of champagne was ceremonially broken over the aircraft's nose. The USAAF even made sure that the crew assigned to 5 Grand were made up of locals from the Puget Sound area with Edward C. Unger of Seattle selected as the aircraft commander/pilot. 5 Grand was then flown to Kearney AAF depot in Nebraska for further modifications to make her combat ready. When she left the United States for the Eighth Air Force's bomber bases in Britain, over 35,000 signatures adorned the bare metal finish of 5 Grand. Some thought that the plane should be stripped as the Luftwaffe might make special effort to shoot down 5 Grand, but it was decided the signatures would stay in place. On the trans-Atlantic flight, the crew found the B-17G was about 7 mph slower than a stock B-17G due to the weight of the ink and paint used on the signatures and the surface roughness from some of the more colorful applications! The fuel consumption was higher and stronger-than-forecast winds aloft resulted in one of 5 Grand's engines cutting out on landing in the UK due to fuel starvation.

[Schmidt Meister]

B-17F "Nut Cracker" - 8.1.1943

After successfully completing their bomb run, the 414th squadron was attacked from behind by 8 to 10 German ME-109 fighter planes over Naples, Italy. A burst of flak immediately after bombs away blew off the right wing off of the B-17 ‘Nut Cracker’ at the #1 engine. 
Pilot Rast could not see that the wing tip was gone from his left seat. The bombardier bailed out at 25,000 feet knowing the plane could not fly. He free fell to the altitude of oxygen. Rast could not get the plane righted but held it steady while the four men that were alive could get out. The plane went into a spin and crashed. It is seen belly-up in the #1 frame below. Pilot Rast was the last to leave the plane. Five crewmen died either from the initial explosion or by a second 88 mm shell that hit the rear.

[Schmidt Meister]

MQ-25A Boeing Stingray Unmanned Tanker (Still In Testing)

MQ-25A Boeing Stingray Unmanned Tanker (In Testing) Refueling A Navy E-2D Hawkeye Command And Control Aircraft

MQ-25A Boeing Stingray Unmanned Tanker (In Testing) Refueling A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet

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Right before our road trip back from the Balkans.

 

 

[pipedreams]

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