Military Pics & Videos

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Batesmotel]

25 minutes ago, Eric said:

Normandy?

[Eric]

5 minutes ago, Batesmotel said:

Normandy?

Dunkirk, after the evacuation.

[pipedreams]

 

[Schmidt Meister]

F-16I - IAF "Barak" The Scorpion - 105th Squadron

[Schmidt Meister]

1942 GMC G-506 2 1/2 T (CCKW)

[Schmidt Meister]

This would have been posted earlier this month but it took me a while to find out what day it was that Bong actually earned his 26th kill. It was the 12th. I wanted to post this on the day he actually became our top ace. So I'm two days late.

It's arguable that the most famous aircraft from World War II was the Memphis Bell, a B-17F, or, the Enola Gay, a B-29. Have you ever heard of Marge, the P38? Have you heard of Richard Bong? Major Richard Bong (September 24, 1920 - August 6, 1945) is America’s top flying ace. (Marge was named for Bong’s girlfriend, Marjorie Vattendahl, who he married on February 10, 1945. Marjorie Vattendahl Bong married again in the 1950’s after the death of Richard. She passed away in 2001 after a struggle with breast cancer and her ashes were buried on the Bong family farm next to the ashes of Richard.)
Bong was a deft pilot who seized the P-38’s monster weaponry to claim his first two aerial kills in December 1942 over Buna, New Guinea. At five aerial victories a month later, he earned the title “ace.”
On April 12, 1944, he exceeded the 26 aerial kills claimed by America’s top World War I ace, Edward Rickenbacker, making Bong the highest scoring ace in U.S. history, a title still standing.
Along the way he was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross and Medal of Honor.
On March 24, 1944, another pilot, 2nd Lt. Tom Malone, was flying Bong’s plane on a weather reconnaissance mission over New Guinea when electrical malfunctions forced him to bail out at about 11,000 feet. The plane crashed, and it's location are unknown, so, the search will begin soon to find it.
Bong, who was promoted to major, went on to fly more missions in other planes, racking up 40 aerial victories before he was brought back to the U.S. mainland in early 1945. There, he married, hawked war bonds and became a test pilot for the first jet fighters.
Bong’s untimely death later that year should have been major news, but it was eclipsed by a cataclysmic event. He crashed while flying a P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter shortly after taking off in Southern California on Aug. 6, 1945, the same day America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2024-04-11/richard-bong-marge-wreckage-ww2-13535214.html

[pipedreams]

16 April 1945: The USS Laffey (DD-724) survived six kamikaze hits and two near misses while serving on picket duty off Okinawa.

The Japanese launched 50 kamikaze aircraft to attack the U.S. fleet that had been supporting operations on the island since the initial landings on 1 April--the largest amphibious operation of the entire Pacific War.

ILLUSTRATIONS: (1) A Val dive bomber aims at the USS Laffey's stern shortly before hitting the already burning aft 5-inch gun turret. (2) A Judy dive bomber is about to crash into the Laffey's starboard side.

[Schmidt Meister]

On April 14, 1918, six days after being assigned for the first time to the western front, two American pilots from the U.S. First Aero Squadron engage in America’s first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft. In a battle fought almost directly over the Allied Squadron Aerodome at Toul, France, U.S. fliers Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow succeeded in shooting down two German two-seaters. By the end of May, Campbell had shot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first American to qualify as a “flying ace” in World War I.
The First Aero Squadron, organized in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I, undertook its first combat mission on March 19, 1917, in support of the 7,000 U.S. troops that invaded Mexico to capture Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Despite numerous mechanical and navigational problems, the American fliers flew hundreds of scouting missions for U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing and gained important experience that would later be used over the battlefields of Europe in World War I.

Lt. Douglas Campbell on 14 June 1918 near Tour, France.

Lt. Douglas Campbell beside his Nieuport 28 fighter.

Lt. Campbell’s first downed aircraft, a German Jasta 64w.

[Schmidt Meister]

During WWII Liberty ships carried weapons, ammunition, food, tools, hardware, vehicles, and other things for the war effort. They could also be equipped to carry a large number of troops by rigging bunks in the holds similar to those used by the armed guard. Liberty ships began taking troops and materials wherever they were needed, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Like other Liberty Ships, John Burke transported war materials between the United States and the rear areas of the Pacific War, often calling at Pearl Harbor, Australia, Guadalcanal, Hollandia and Manaus.
On what would be her final trip in late 1944, Burke departed Seattle, Washington for Guam, where she spent several days loading munitions for the invasion force on the island of Mindoro.
Burke then departed with the 100-ship "Uncle Plus 13" convoy, bound for Leyte in the Philippines. The convoy arrived at Leyte the night of December 27.
On the morning of December 28, 1944, Burke and the other ships in the Mindoro-bound convoy were at general quarters shortly after receiving the dawn weather report that reported that air cover would not launch until the poor weather cleared. The crews began their wait for the inevitable arrival of Japanese aircraft.
At about 0815 hours, the first kamikaze appeared on the American ships' radar, and orders were given for the convoy to begin evasive maneuvering. Through holes in the clouds, the Japanese pilots sighted the American force as it steamed south of Cebu and Bohol Islands. The Japanese aircraft were three A6M Zero fighters of the 201st Air Group, which had taken off from Cebu at 0950 were led by Lt. Masami Hoshino and each carried a 250 kg bomb. At approximately 1020 hours, diving through anti-aircraft fire and despite damage to his aircraft, a Japanese kamikaze, chose the ammunition ship SS John Burke as his target and crashed between Burke's #2 and #3 cargo holds.

A brief flash of fire was visible to most of the ships in the convoy, and for several seconds, only smoke could be seen billowing from her hold. A few seconds later, a huge pillar of fire shot out of Burke's cargo hold, followed by an immense cloud of white smoke. Within seconds all eyes were drawn to Burke where an enormous fireball erupted as her entire cargo of munitions detonated, instantly destroying the ship and killing her crew of 40 merchant marine sailors and 28 or 29 armed guards. For several seconds, Burke was not visible under an enormous mushroom cloud of smoke, fire and explosions. Several ships nearby were damaged by the force of the blast and flying fragments. The shock wave rocked the entire convoy, and several ships reported that they had been torpedoed. A US Army "FS" type ship just aft of Burke was severely damaged by the blast, sinking before it could be identified. As the cloud of smoke cleared, nearby ships closed on Burke's former position to search for survivors. It was soon clear that Burke, and all 68 men aboard her, were gone.
It's one of the most powerful manmade non-nuclear explosions in history.
John Burke was one of three Liberty Ships and one of forty-seven ships sunk by kamikaze attack during World War II.