Photo of the week
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This weekends photo.
P-47D 44-19718 HV-M "Pengie IV" of Capt. Boleslaw Gladych 56FG, 61FS in a staged photo showing it being serviced.
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This weekend extra.
Spitfire Mk. VII EN474 flying over the plains of Ohio in the summer of 1943.
This aircraft, the 13th production high-altitude Mk. VII was supplied to USA for evaluation. In the USAAF service, the aircraft retained its British camouflage and serial, although it was later assigned the evaluation number FE-400.
An air intake for the Marshall compressor for the pressurised cockpit placed below the starboard exhausts was the characteristic feature of the type, as was the Lobelle type sliding canopy. This aricraft, however, was one of the earliest Mk. VII and featured a non-sliding pressurized hood inhereted from the earlier Spitfire Mk. VI.
This aircraft survived the war. Retired to the Smithsonian National Air and; Space Museum in 1947, EN474 is today the world’s only surviving example of the pressurised high-altitude Spitfire. -
This midweeks photo.
A nice close up of an Italian Junkers Ju.87R-2,before a combat sortie at an airfield in Albania, April 1941.
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This weekends extra.
Fw-190A-2,W.Nr.0120 282, K.Nowak,9./JG 2,Theville,France,May 1942
Yellow 2 was assigned to Ofw. Karl Nowak and shows some ten rudder victory markings. His Warte would add just two more - his 11th and 12th returned on 3 June 1942- before he was shot down and killed by Spitfires over the Channel on 10 June 1942. -
This midweeks photo.
Focke-Wulf Ta.152H-0 (Werk Nr 150010) The NASM plane, the last Ta.152 in existence, is a pre-production Ta.152H-0 model. For many years it was described (wrongly) as Werk Nr 150003. It is now thought to be Werk Nr.150010. This places the airframe in the range of pre-production H-0 models, a variant marking the transition from the Ta.152 prototypes to full production Ta.152H-1 airplanes. It was probably built at Focke-Wulf's production facility at Cottbus, Germany, in December 1944, and delivered by Erprobungskommando Ta.152 at Rechlin, Germany, for service testing with the Geschwaderkennung CW+CJ. Transferred to the operational Luftwaffe unit JG 301 where it became 'Yellow 4' with II/JG 301 and the Yellow/Red RGV bands were painted on its aft fuselage. It ended up with the staff flight (Geschwader Stab) of JG 301 where it was coded 'Green 4', and the green bar was painted over the RGV bands. It was flown operationally by Ofw Walter Loos in 1945. As the Soviets rolled over eastern Germany, many Luftwaffe pilots took off and steered their mounts west; they preferred to be captured by the Western forces. Surrendered to British forces at Tirstrup, Denmark. Flown by the RAF to Aalborg, Denmark, for servicing. Handed over to Col Watson. Flown to Melun/Villaroche (A-55), France. Later flown to Querqueville (A-23), Cherbourg, France. Operation Seahorse. HMS Reaper loading number 32. Shipped to the USA on the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Reaper 19Jul45 arriving at the Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, New Jersey 31Jul45. Barged to Atlantic Overseas Air Materiel Center, Newark Field, New Jersey. Foreign Equipment Branch, Technical Data Laboratory, Air Technical Service Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio 1Aug45. Assigned FE-112.
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This weekends photo.
Women's Royal Naval Service Wren Air Mechanics feeding ammunition into the Browning gun of a Hawker Sea Hurricane at the Fleet Air Arm airfield at Yeovilton, Somerset.
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This weekends extra.
Ground crews warm up the engines of a North American B-25A Mitchell bomber before takeoff from an airfield on the US East Coast,as the flight crew jump from a Jeep during an "emergency" call at an East coast airfield.
In 1941, as a result of air combat reports coming in from Europe, modifications were introduced into the North American B-25 production line at Inglewood beginning with the 25th aircraft built, resulting in a change in designation to B-25A.
The B-25A introduced armor protection for the crew, including a 3/8-inch armor plate added to the pilot's, co-pilot's and bombardier's seats as well as to the gunner's compartments. The aircraft was also equipped with self-sealing fuel tanks, which reduced total fuel capacity from 912 to 694 US gallons, although provision was made for the installation of a 418 gallon tank in the bomb bay for ferrying. This made for a significant increase in weight, resulting in a slight degradation in the performance.
The first Air Corps operational unit with the B-25A was the 17th Bombardment Group at McChord Field, which included the 34th, 37th, and 95th Squadrons, plus the attached 89th Reconnaissance Squadron. This outfit, which formerly flew Douglas B-18s, moved to Pendleton, Oregon in June of 1941. Other B-25As were sent to the 30th Bombardment Group at New Orleans, the 43rd Bombardment Group at Bangor, Maine, the 39th Bombardment Group at Spokane, Washington, and the 44th Bombardment Group at MacDill Field in Florida. One B-25A went to Wright field for tests.
A total of 40 B-25As were built before the production line switched over to the B-25B version.
Serials - 40-2189/2228 -
This midweeks photo.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I N2528 (YB-H) 17 Squadron taken at Debden.
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I N2528 (YB-H) 17 Squadron, RAF: Written off (presumed destroyed) when lost (failed to return) from combat air operations over the Dunkirk-Calais area of the Pas de Calais. Pilot killed. According to the official Air Ministry file on the incident (File AIR 81/585): "Hurricane N2528 failed to return from an operational flight over Calais, France, 26 May 1940. Sergeant W T Jones: missing presumed dead"
Took off from RAF Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent, for a combat air patrol in the Dunkirk-Calais area. Believed shot down In combat with Do 17's and BF-110's over the Calais area.
Crew of Hurricane N2528:
Flight Sergeant William Thomas Jones, RAF 590275, age 27, posted 26/05/1940, as missing presumed killed
As no trace of the Hurricane or its pilot was ever found, he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. -
This weekends photo.
And a nice air to air of a B-25A of the 17Th BG in flight 1941 near Wright Field.
Authorized originally as the 17th Observation Group on 18 October 1927, the unit was redesignated the 17th Pursuit Group and finally activated at March Field, California, on 15 July 1931. At March, it operated Boeing P-12 and P-26 fighter aircraft until, in 1935, it was redesignated the 17th Attack Group and acquired the Northrop A-17 attack bomber. In 1939 the unit was redesignated again, becoming the 17th Bombardment Group (Medium) and converting to the Douglas B-18 Bolo bomber.
In August and September 1941 the group was the first to be equipped with the new North American B-25 Mitchell bomber. From its training base in Pendleton, Oregon, it deployed to Jackson, Mississippi; Augusta, Georgia and March Field in the fall of 1941 to participate in large scale maneuvers with the Army Ground Forces, returning to Pendleton immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
From Pendleton, the 17th Bombardment Group flew anti-submarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, off the west coast of the United States. As the first unit to operate the B-25, the 17th achieved another "first" on 24 December 1941 when one of its Mitchells, flown by 1st Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, dropped four 300-pound bombs on a Japanese submarine near the mouth of the Columbia River.
