WWII Kodachrome warbird photos

I like the F-5B photo with the Tiger Shark markings. Had not seen that one before.

 

...yes, and the B-24 with the dragon's mouth and flame (or tongue).

 

True, but the isolation of the American factories from the front lines was a big factor, too. Unlike the enemy factories which came under constant attack, U.S. factories were separated from the front lines by large oceans. That created other issues such as the logistics of moving the materiel to battle (across sub-infested oceans), but overall, the isolation was a decidedly bigger advantage.

In addition, our factories were staffed with people highly motivated to produce large quantities of quality weapons for their sons up front, be they tanks, trucks or airplanes. Not so much the slave-run factories of the Axis.

Back to topic, these color photos are nothing short of amazing!

 

True! We didn't have any interference in our manufacturing strength and again that was one of Hitler's failures. He had no concept of strategic warfare, only tactical Blitzkrieg. His awakening to maybe produce an Amerika bomber was too late to have any affect on us. Britain benefitted from our power and so did Russia.
My favorite photo in that bunch is the B-26, all beat up and worn but still fighting. That's the way I remember seeing most of the airplanes when I was in. What a time !

 

The Russians moved all their production east of the Urals, too, so they were relatively invulnerable to the Luftwaffe short range air force. Another thing Hitler had not counted on when he invaded.

 

Still, it's fun to see photos of the "fake cities" built on the roofs of some of the aircraft plants on the west coast!

 

Some more photos.

Colorized photos from World War II - Business Insider

 

What is this plane? I thought I knew my German planes quite well but I haven't seen this model before...
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It looks very similar to this ME-210CA but engine nacelles are slightly different and the nose cone is missing
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Me-410 was the successor to the Me-210 and looked very similar. I have a hard time telling them apart without cheating.

 

It's a Henschel HS129 B.

 

Yup, should have looked it up.

 

The Hs 129 was rather like the German counterpart to the Soviet Il-2 Shturmovik: a heavily armored low-level attacker. Some carried a large cannon under the fuselage for tank busting.

 

Unusual to find someone who recognizes the Budd Conestoga. That gave rise to the Chase "Avitruck" and C-123...if my memory is correct. A stiff Martini and a few years under the belt generates a few clouds now and then. But. I never do that stuff , you know.

 

G-d bless the brave Americans who piloted these birds, Could you imagine being 18 years old and going off to fight for this wonderful country of ours. My grandpa told us all kinds of stories. Of course it was exciting for him as he got off the family farm in rural NJ. Great thread!

 

I remember when I was 18 and in the USAAF. I also remember that there was nothing that I couldn't do and that I was impervious to injury. Death was hardly given a serious thought ...until it came close a couple of times. Now I know why the military wants 17 and 18 years old. They have no imagination.

 

I've never seen an F7F Tigercat with four-bladed props - I wonder what that's all about. The P2V next to it is the famous Truculent Turtle that made an historic round-the-world flight.

 

My personal belief is the Japanese felt the Americans were isolationists and if they could knock out the Navy at Pearl in one stroke, the American's would give up -- or at least be years from being able to mount a counter attack. The entire West Coast would at risk of attack by a Navy they could not compete with.

BTW: the photos in this tread are just amazing. This was still the time when planes it was believed if a plane looked good, they should fly good.

 

My father said the P-38/P-322/F-4/F-5 was a pain in the neck to taxi when low on fuel. From those photos of empty aircraft the view over the nose does not look much better than a tail dragger's. S-turning would not help much either with the two engine booms blocking the view.

 

I do know from historical accounts Admiral Yamamoto commander of the Japanese Navy was against going to war with the U.S. Opposed going to war in Europe as well. He got death threats in Japan for his anti war opinions. The movie Tora Tora Tora misquotes him as saying an attack at pearl harbor will awake a sleeping giant or something like that. He did however realize a war with the U.S. would be near impossible to accomplish and be very costly in lives. He wrote something in a letter that they might take San Fran, but to win they'd need to take over the White House. Now he didn't say we can't or shouldn't do it, just to keep in mind how costly the war would be and is it worth it!