World War 2 Photographs

[BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ]

Terrific site, the interesting pictures must be endless here. I have posted a few from the Normandy site for interests sake.

[BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ]

Originally Posted by BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ

Terrific site, the interesting pictures must be endless here. I have posted a few from the Normandy site for interests sake.

Picture Number 2 showing one of the results of a shore bombardment is particularly graphic.
The picture of the dead German looks just as though he has dozed off and is pretty sad.

[nigelweysom]

some great pictures, i wish i could find pictures like this ,where do you get them from ?
Nigel

[BECA@CLEAR.NET.NZ]

I dredge the net all the time looking for interesting pictures and it is great fun when you find something interesting and even better fun to post them to this site!
Here are a few more, some are already posted elsewhere on this site but now I think that they would be better here. Have you seen Tery's Japanese war pictures on this site?
The No. 1 gruesome picture here is about the time of D-Day, as is the tank.
I will have a look around for some more to post here, it is pretty bare at the moment.

[Guz rating]

wonderful pictures thank you all for posting them, Great picture of the sailors on the heavy machine guns, and the two stokers in their ovies getting struck in a picture I would love to download if I may Terry.The photo of the bomber raid looks like Market Garden if you look closely you can see the fixed wheels of the gliders. I don't know of any other raids where they used so many gliders.

Alan your photo of all the poor blokes in the sea most likely covered in oil, and some of them wounded, my heart went out to them sixty five years on. Thanks for posting it, if you don't mind I would like to keep that as well.

Regards

Guz

[steve roberts]

Alan.Your never going to believe this,but your post22. Lancaster S-Sugar. My Father actually flew this Aircraft on its first Two raids,thereby completing his first "Tour".As is rightly stated it is now at the RAF Museum Hendon.Unfortunately the aircrafts Form 700,did not survive the Aircrafts retirement.How ever it gives me goose-bumbs seeing this,knowing my late father flew it. Regards Steve.

[alanbenn]

Steve, fascinating to find the photo means something to you personally.

I know what you mean about the goose-bumps, same feeling for me when I visited Arnhem and stood outside the house my later father-in-law used as cover during the battle...it still has the bullet marks on the walls outside.

Regards
Alan

[david06]

hi picture 3 looks like NW Europe 44-45 51st div perhaps?

[John O'Callaghan]

Hi All! Re post no1. The sailors manning oerlikin guns on the sponsons of what appears to be a small carrier. The picture is more reminiscent of the Med judging by the style of buildngs in the background, the lack of cold weather clothing (overalls and shorts) and one of the sailors is wearing a white covered seamans cap.During the war years the RN only wore blue covers in UK waters.White caps were usually only worn in warmer areas such as the Med and Pacific.
Cheers John O'C.

[astraltrader]

Agreed John.

[MaggieRedhead]

This is my father-in-law sitting on the wing of a US Navy dive-bomber but I don't know what kind,
and I don't know when it was taken.

He was on the USS Salamaua in the Pacific, Battle of Leyte Gulf.
The ship took a direct hit from a Kamikaze.... 15 men killed, 80 injured.
Dad was a quiet, modest man, with a great sense of humour. He was supposed to attend the Ship's Reunion in 1996,
but passed away 5 months before so we went in his honour. At the Reunion we were told he had saved many lives
in the fires on board, some of those men came up and hugged us.
Later, he was on the USS Mississippi, on which the Japanese surrendered.

[glojo]

Just been looking at some of these very nice pictures but that did not include seeing those that featured the dead..

It must be strange looking at an actual aircraft flown by our parents during the Second World War... what would the odds be for that?

[WGVSr]

Maggie:
Re: post 38. The plane is actually a Curtiss Seagull on its somewhat odd land gear. They were observation planes often seen on cruisers and battleships. Normally you see them as seaplanes with a central pontoon. They were generally withdrawn from active service by 1944. Small world, as my late uncle was also on Salamaua when she was hit by the kamikaze. He passed away about 3 years ago.
Bill

[smartd]

Pic # 4 certainly shows Lancasters.
Pic # 5 shows Horsa Glider being towed by a Halifax.

[smartd]

Originally Posted by Togo

Hope this isn't too late but photo 2 looks more like an escort carrier, note the tailfins of what I would think are US built aircraft on a wooden deck on the right.

They look like Wildcats, sorry, FAA Martlets. Note what would be the blue of the red/white/blue fin flash.

[eskimosailor]

Originally Posted by alanbenn

The Lancaster bomber...this photo showing what a devastating cargo it could carry..

Regards
Alan

Is it true that there has never been another bomber built which has a bomb bay large enough to carry a "Tallboy" bomb?
Steve

[jainso31]

Steve-what you saw being loaded into a Lancaster in Alan Benn's photo was a tiddler ie an 8000 lb High Capacity blockbuster.The Tallboy bomb was the second of Barnes Wallis's really big bombs and it was 12000lb Medium Capacity bomb used against Uboat pens and V1&2 Rocket sites.
The biggest was the Grand Slam 22000 lb Medium Capacity bomb which sank the Tirpitz-it's terminal velocity was mind blowing and was also used as an earthquake bomb on Bridge and viaduct targets.Only the Lancaster was modified to carry such bombs and I do not think that this has been overtaken.

jainso31

[eskimosailor]

Originally Posted by jainso31

Steve-what you saw being loaded into a Lancaster in Alan Benn's photo was a tiddler ie an 8000 lb High Capacity blockbuster.The Tallboy bomb was the second of Barnes Wallis's really big bombs and it was 12000lb Medium Capacity bomb used against Uboat pens and V1&2 Rocket sites.
The biggest was the Grand Slam 22000 lb Medium Capacity bomb which sank the Tirpitz-it's terminal velocity was mind blowing and was also used as an earthquake bomb on Bridge and viaduct targets.Only the Lancaster was modified to carry such bombs and I do not think that this has been overtaken.

jainso31

Thanks for that Jainso. I thought that was the case.
At one time I worked with an ex - RAF chap who claimed he had at one time been Barnes Wallace's tea boy, among his other duties. He said that on either side of the door to the office block where Barnes Wallace worked, was a dummy Tallboy, and a dummy Grand Slam, both set on their noses, which he maintained formed a most impressive portal.
Allegedly Barnes Wallace was noted for responding to a knock on his office door with a short, peremptory "Come!".
Steve

[emason]

Originally Posted by jainso31

The biggest was the Grand Slam 22000 lb Medium Capacity bomb which sank the Tirpitz-it's terminal velocity was mind blowing and was also used as an earthquake bomb on Bridge and viaduct targets.Only the Lancaster was modified to carry such bombs and I do not think that this has been overtaken.

By 1945 both the Tallboy and Grand Slam were being manufactured in the U.S.A. The B-29 Superfortress was later modified to take the bombs and both were used in the Korean War. In fact that aircraft could carry two Tallboys at once.

P.S. It was a Tallboy which was dropped on the Tirpitz. More on it in post #31 here:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forum...?t=5479&page=2

[eskimosailor]

Originally Posted by emason

By 1945 both the Tallboy and Grand Slam were being manufactured in the U.S.A. The B-29 Superfortress was later modified to take the bombs and both were used in the Korean War.]

Thanks Bill
I was always led to understand that the B29 had its bomb bay effectively split in two by the main spar, which was why it was limited as to the size of bomb it could carry. Obviously my information was incorrect
Steve

[NickOhare]

Dear All,

The Flickr site has a wealth of interesting pictures of naval vessels. It is a great resource as photographers from around the world can upload them.

This is the link for a search on HMS Repulse http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hms%20repulse

Just type in the name of the ship in the search section and you will find a huge number of interesting stuff.

Nick

[GordonBranch]

Re: The carriage of Ultra Large bombs by the B29.

A quick search on Google shows 2 methods allowing the B29 to carry large bombs.

One method has a Grand Slam bomb being carried semi-recessed on the centreline (a la Lancaster). This seems to imply modifications to the bomb bays.

http://forum.valka.cz/files/b29_a_grandslam.jpg

The other method shows 2 Tall Boys being carried externally on wing hardpoints between the fuselage and inner engines.

http://forum.valka.cz/files/b29_se_d...mi_tallboy.jpg

[Bonzo]

Does anyone else remember sleeping in the Morrison Shelter.
Not a photograph but the next best thing.

[eskimosailor]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

Does anyone else remember sleeping in the Morrison Shelter.
Not a photograph but the next best thing.

I don't remember sleeping in it, but I do remember sitting at it to eat my dinner. No particular reason to do so, but I distinctly remember the iron strips beneath my feet. I think my father had probably not fitted the mesh sides, otherwise it would have been awkward to use as a table.
Steve

[Ednamay]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

Does anyone else remember sleeping in the Morrison Shelter.
Not a photograph but the next best thing.

Bonzo - we didn't have a Morrison shelter - they were rather large!

However, our doctor was called up for war service and we had to transfer to another whose practice was in a very large house in Kingston Crescent, Portsmouth. In his waiting room was a very large table with an enormous fringed cloth. When the siren announced a daytime raid, the receptionist came in, lifted the table cloth and invited my mother and me, and five strangers, to crawl into the shelter! ! ! Which we all did, remembering a previous raid which decimated Mile end/ Craswell street not far away.

Edna