Photos Colour and Colourised Photos of WW2 & earlier conflicts
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"See ya later Adolf!' Pictured is an American soldier of the 87th Infantry Division in Koblenz, Germany just days before Germany's surrender in World War II.
75 years ago today the Allies accepted the surrender of the German High Command (they surrendered on May 7th) and all of its military forces, ending the European theatre of World War II. While the war was over in Europe, fighting continued on the other side of the globe in the Pacific.
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A Polish servicewoman in German uniform is checking the identity card of driver William Massey of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps at the main gate of a German prisoner-of-war camp for female personnel of the Polish Army, located north of Haren, Germany, 7 May 1945.
The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC) was an administrative and transport corps of the Canadian Army and was established in 1901.
The RCASC, along with the rest of the Army, underwent a rapid expansion as Canada mobilized for the Second World War.
In addition to maintaining transport for the army on land, the RCASC also commanded and maintained a ship-borne freight and patrol company, the Pacific Command Water Transport Company, during World War II.
The RCASC provided support to Canadian Soldiers wherever they went; training in Canada and Great Britain, the campaign in north-west Europe, and in the campaign in Italy. They moved supplies from the rear areas to the front-lines. It delivered all rations, ammunition, petroleum products, and all other essentials. They did so with a variety of vehicles ranging from three to ten ton trucks, and forty ton tank transporters.
Colour: ColourisedPieceofJake
The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC) was an administrative and transport corps of the Canadian Army and was established in 1901.
The RCASC, along with the rest of the Army, underwent a rapid expansion as Canada mobilized for the Second World War.
In addition to maintaining transport for the army on land, the RCASC also commanded and maintained a ship-borne freight and patrol company, the Pacific Command Water Transport Company, during World War II.
The RCASC provided support to Canadian Soldiers wherever they went; training in Canada and Great Britain, the campaign in north-west Europe, and in the campaign in Italy. They moved supplies from the rear areas to the front-lines. It delivered all rations, ammunition, petroleum products, and all other essentials. They did so with a variety of vehicles ranging from three to ten ton trucks, and forty ton tank transporters.
Colour: ColourisedPieceofJake
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Imperial German battleship SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm
Australian Private Jack Gaghan (SN 2370) in South Australia, 1915
French Colonel Adrian Henry
colourised by Eagle0008, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Australian Private Jack Gaghan (SN 2370) in South Australia, 1915
French Colonel Adrian Henry
colourised by Eagle0008, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
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U-595 under going trials in November 1941 or January/February 1942. This photo was probably shot during crash dive tests in the Baltic Sea. Taken from U-595, it shows a second U-boat bearing the white UAK emblem on the conning tower, sailing into Kiel Fiord. The white UAK emblem was only applied, on both sides of the conning tower, during the testing phase. Following UAK acceptance on 11 December 1941, U-595 went to the Agru-Front (Hela) in the deep waters of Danzig Bay for further training.
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HRH Princess Elizabeth watching parachutists during a visit to airborne forces at Netheravon Airfield, Salisbury, Wiltshire in England in the run-up to D-Day.
19 May 1944
Standing next to her is Brigadier Stanley James Ledger Hill DSO, MC - Brigade HQ, 3rd Parachute Brigade.
"I think the King and Queen and the Princess enjoyed their day with us. To us all it was a great occasion, one that I am sure none of us will ever forget. Their Majesties had tea at the Royal Air Force station at Netheravon, Air Vice-Marshal Hollinghurst’s headquarters. The whole occasion was so happily informal and gay. This, too, at the end of a long day of inspections and endless walking along lines of troops which, in spite of all the interest that there undoubtedly was, must have been tiring to the Queen."
(Major General Richard ‘Windy’ Gale)
(Photo source - © IWM (H 38619)
Malindine E G (Capt)
War Office official photographer
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img hostingThe first nurses to arrive in Normandy were members of the 42nd and 45th Field hospitals and the 91st and 128th Evacuation hospitals. Their practice sessions were about to be put to the test. They started landing on the beachhead after the initial invasion on June 10, 1944.
These are the dedicated women who helped patch our boys up and worked hard to make sure they'd get home healthy.
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Avenger TBF-1C NZ2523 being re-armed at Piva on Bougainville, about May 1944. Note the yellow mission
markers below the windscreen and the white 523 on the lower nose. (RNZAF)
No.30 and 31 Squadron, No.30 Servicing Unit
On 26th January 1944, the first RNZAF Avengers left for Espiritu
Santo flown by the crews No.30 Squadron. No.30 Servicing Unit
traveled by Hudson bomber or ship and by 10 February all were on
Espiritu Santo to maintain the Avengers. After operational training,
No.30 Sqn flew to Piva, Bougainville on 23 March during a period
of Japanese attacks and almost immediately commenced
operations. The crews completed their tour in May 1944 and were
replaced by No.31 Squadron who arrived in the Islands on 25 May
1944. No.31 completed it’s tour on 27 July 1944.
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Quite possible that my grandfather on my fathers side is in the background of one of these photos. He spent the war with the RNZAF in various tropical "hellholes" doing maintenance work, while my grandfather on my mothers side slugged through Egypt, Greece, Crete, more Egypt and Italy.
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Wow. My Grandfather on my fathers side was an airplane mechanic/maintenance guy of some type in WW I at an Army Air base in a hellhole that today we call "Texas". ?
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Some Pictures During WWII
W/C Hugh Godefroy DSO DFC of 17 Wing RCAF with his Spitfire Mk 1Xc HC-G (MK 341) ca. April 1944.
Five Spitfires at Schijndel airfield (codename B.85), The Netherlands, spring 1945.
The Allies decided to build an airfield near Schijndel around November 1944. However, the terrain turned into a mud pool during heavy rainfall. Nevertheless, 500 Allied soldiers together with Dutch workers built the airfield which had to be ready by January 15 because a complete wing with 4 squadrons would be stationed here.
However, delivery was delayed. The first Spitfires only arrived on February 6. Operation Veritable started 2 days later. British and Canadian troops entered the Rhineland. The 2nd TAF aircraft provided air support and also blocked the supply roads to the front.
Schijndel airport was not ready yet. Also, not 1 but 2 Spitfire wings were placed on the field. These were the 145 Free French Wing and the 132 Norwegian Wing with a total of 9 squadrons. Including the Dutch 322 Squadron.
These squadrons contributed to the battle in the Rhineland. The Schijndel units also took part in Operation Clarion in February 1945. Thousands of Allied planes attacked railway stations, warehouses and roads in much of Germany.
A month later, the squadrons provided air support during the combined operations of Plunder and Varsity. Here the goal was to establish a bridgehead east of the Rhine. B.85 moved further and further from the front line. This was due to the successful advance of the Canadians in the Netherlands and Germany. Therefore, the airport was closed not much later.
Spitfire Mk IX gets it's invasion stripes painted at Tangmere Airbase, 5th of June 1944.
Invasion stripes were roughly applied to aircraft like this Spitfire only days before the D-Day invasion. (Photo: Archives/Royal Air Force)
The idea for invasion stripes was born out of the need to avoid “fratricide” or “friendly fire”, the accidental shooting down of allied aircraft by friendly forces during and immediately following the massive D-Day invasion. This was a threat in air-to-air combat and especially dangerous as allied aircraft overflew ships equipped with anti-aircraft guns as they transited the English Channel during and in support of the invasion forces in the day and weeks that followed.
The plan to use the alternating black and white bands was first finalized and approved on May 17, 1944. This left only 20 days for allied air forces to receive the specifications for how the markings were to be applied, and then to apply them to a boggling number of different types of aircraft. According to one historical account, a staggering 11,590 Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties on D-Day. Nearly all of the aircraft wore invasion stripes. Among the last aircraft to receive the special “IFF” or “Identification, Friend or Foe” markings were the massive fleet of more than 1,200 C-47 Dakota transport/paratroop delivery and glider tug aircraft.
A flight of Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXs (EN133 'FY-B', BS12? 'FY-K', BS435 'FY-F' and BS547 'FY-Y') of 611 Squadron, in a flight out of RedHill, 8 December 1942.
Flying BS453 'FY-F' Sq/Ldr. Hugo Throssell Armstrong DFC and Bar. AUS/406022 RAAF Age 26. He was lost on the 3rd February 1943. Sq/Ldr. Armsrtong was the Commanding Officer of 611 West Lancashire Sqn, RAuxAF, which took-off on a scramble to intercept an FW190 raid, but was shot down by one of the FW190s from 5/JG26 in the sea off Boulogne. The German pilot credited with this was Ofz Heinz Gomann.
Pilot Officer Wally Tyerman and DJ Scott's dog 'Kim', standing in front of a No. 486 Squadron Typhoon. Unknown location.
Three early camouflaged Gloster Gladiator MkII biplane fighter aircraft of No. 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force, flying as part of two pairs over Tangmere on 14th August 1939.
The 605 Squadron was originally formed at Castle Bromwich in 1926 and was finally disbanded in 1957. It flew Gladiators from only February to October 1939, after being re-designated as a fighter squadron, before being re-equipped with new Hawker Hurricanes, playing an important role in the Battle of Britain!
In November 1941, the squadron flew off the carrier HMS Argus to Malta, where it was retained as part of the island's defences, prior to continuing its journey to the Far East. Arriving in Singapore too late to prevent its capture, it moved to Sumatra and then to Java, in the event caught up in the Japanese invasion. It operated any aircraft it could fly until it ceased to exist with its personnel either escaping in small groups or being captured. In the meantime, a small detachment of the squadron had been left on Malta during the transit journey to the Far East and a unit there which began operations on 10th January 1942 used the squadron number in its reports, which ended the following month, on being absorbed into No. 185 Squadron RAF.
A new No. 605 squadron was reformed at RAF Ford on 7th June 1942, equipped with Douglas Boston and Havocs in the intruder role. These were quickly replaced with de Havilland Mosquitoes from February 1943 and it continued to operate this type until the end of the war. During this period, Peter Middleton, the grandfather of the Duchess of Cambridge, was a pilot on the squadron. At this time, the Mosquito pilots used their wing-tips to divert V1 flying bombs off course whilst en route to London. The squadron moved to Belgium in March 1945 and then the Netherlands in April. The squadron disbanded by being re-numbered to No. 4 Squadron RAF on 31st August 1945 at Volkel Air Base.
The first production Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk I (K7183) on it's maiden test flight, over Martlesham, April 1937.
34 MK I's were delivered between March 1937 and June 1938. The unit to equipped with the type was No,10 RAF at Dishforth in 1937, to help form part of the newly created No. 4 Group of RAF Bomber Command.
Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Whitley participated in the first RAF bombing raid upon German territory and remained an integral part of the early British bomber offensive. By 1943, it was being superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engine bombers such as the Avro Lancaster. Its front line service included maritime reconnaissance with Coastal Command, glider-tug, trainer and transport aircraft.
The Whitley holds the distinction of having been the first RAF aircraft with a semi-monocoque fuselage, which was built using a slab-sided structure to ease production. This replaced the tubular construction method traditionally employed by Armstrong Whitworth, who instead constructed the airframe from light-alloy rolled sections, pressings and corrugated sheets. According to aviation author Philip Moyes, the decision to adopt the semi-monocoque fuselage was a significant advance in design; many Whitleys surviving severe damage on operations.
Photographer: Charles E. Brown.
Credit: Authors own collection (via RAF Museum).
A cheering crowd of grateful Dutch citizens wave at a Lancaster bomber which just dropped its 'food load' during 'Operation Manna' near Delft, Netherlands, 29 April, 1945
The Dutch famine of 1944–45, known in the Netherlands as the Hongerwinter (Hunger winter), was a famine that took place in the German-occupied Netherlands, especially in the densely populated western provinces north of the great rivers, during the winter of 1944–45, near the end of World War II.
A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm towns. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived thanks to soup kitchens. An estimated 22,000 deaths occurred due to the famine.
Manna was carried out by British RAF units, as well as squadrons from the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Polish air forces, between 29 April and 7 May 1945.
Chowhound (1–8 May) was an operation by the U.S. Army Air Forces, which dropped, together with Operation Manna, a total of over 11,000 tons, of food into the still-unliberated western part of the Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to help feed Dutch civilians in danger of starvation.
After it was realised that Manna and Chowhound would be insufficient, a ground-based relief operation named Operation Faust was launched. On 2 May, 200 Allied trucks began delivering food to the city of Rhenen, behind German lines.
The British operation started first. It was named after the food which was miraculously provided to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The planning of the operation was initially done by the Royal Air Force.
The first of the two RAF Avro Lancasters chosen for the test flight, the morning of 29 April 1945, was nicknamed Bad Penny, as in the expression: "a bad penny always turns up". This bomber, with a crew of seven, took off in bad weather despite the fact that the Germans had not yet agreed to a ceasefire. (Seyss-Inquart would do so the next day.) Bad Penny had to fly low, down to 50 feet (15 m), over German guns, but succeeded in dropping her cargo and returning to her airfield.
Many Thanks spelt-out on the ground in tulips after Operation Manna
Operation Manna then began in earnest. British aircraft from Groups 1, 3, and 8 took part, flying 145 sorties by Mosquitoes and 3,156 sorties by Lancaster bombers, flying between them a total of 3,301 sorties.
These bombers were used to dropping bombs from 6,000 metres (20,000 ft), but this time they had to do their job from a height of 150 metres (490 ft), some even flying as low as 120 metres (390 ft), as the cargo did not have parachutes. The drop zones, marked by Mosquitoes from 105 and 109 Squadrons using Oboe, were: Katwijk (Valkenburg airfield), The Hague (Duindigt horse race course and Ypenburg airfield), Rotterdam (Waalhaven airfield and Kralingse Plas) and Gouda. Bomber Command delivered a total of 6,680 tons of food.
Three aircraft were lost: two in a collision and one due to engine fire. Bullet holes were discovered in several aircraft upon their return, presumably the result of being fired upon by individual German soldiers.
RNZAF No. 14 Kittyhawk Squadron pilots with a Dodge weapons carrier, grouped together after a patrol. Guadalcanal. 1943
Labeled photo to follow in comments with corresponding numbers on it
1. J. "Bags" Baragwanath (Adjutant), 2. Noel Hanna, 3. Ron C. C. Nairn, 4. Rex Weber, 5. Doug. Robertson, 6. Paul Green, 7. Allan Sievers, 8. Jack Meharry, 9. "Sandy" Eaton, 10. Harry Wigley, 11. G. B. Fisken, 12. Frank Ferrier, 13. Don Clow (supplied names), 14. "Snow" Renolds, 15. Brian Stringer (Administration), 16. Mort. Bullen, 17. Arthur "Zoot" Stanley, 18. Warwick Blundell (Intelligence Officer), 19. John Polson.
Royal New Zealand Air Force Squadron Leader Doug Greig in flight gear within the cockpit of his Vought F4U Corsair at Ardmore Aerodrome, Auckland Region, New Zealand, September 1944.
In 1942, with the British Government unable to supply the aircraft needed and requested by New Zealand, negotiations were undertaken between the United States and New Zealand Governments resulting in a Mutual Aid Agreement (Lease/Lend).
The RNZAF then began to receive supplies of bomber, reconnaissance, transport and fighter aircraft direct from United States.
Thirteen fighter squadrons were initially equipped with the P-40 Kittyhawks, later being replaced by the F4U-1As and -1D Corsairs. However, by the time the Corsairs were adopted, Japanese air strength in the Pacific had been all but decimated and there were no confirmed 'kills' with the Corsairs during aerial combat.
Instead, the RNZAF fighter squadrons were used in a ground-attack roles against Japanese ground installations, shipping and food growing areas.
New Zealand pilot and later mathematician Leslie Woods, in his autobiography 'Against the Tide', would write:
'My new posting could not have been more congenial and was to join the Corsair Conversion Unit at Whenuapai, which was under the command of S/L Doug Greig. He was an ebullient, dominated person, but very easy to approach and unconstrained by petty rules and regulations ...'
Photographer: Leo White
Image courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand
T-Tommy's mid-upper gunner, Sergeant Frank Cyril Edward 'Dusty' Miller, a 33-year-old former pie salesman, in the Frazer-Nash FN-5- turret at Scampton.
These photographs were part of a sequence taken in February 1943 for an Air Ministry picture story entitled 'T for Tommy Makes a Sortie', which portrayed the events surrounding a single Lancaster bomber of No 57 Squadron and its crew during a typical operation.
'Dusty' Miller was KIA on Greenan's crew on 1/2 March 1943. His Avro Lancaster DX-T took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire at 1906 hours on 1 March to bomb Berlin. On its return at 0200 on 2 March it hit a power line about 3 miles from Scampton and in the resulting crash all on board were killed.
He is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, Scampton.
Halifax Mark II Series I (s/n W7676) TL-P of 35 Squadron RAF in flight with Flight Lieutenant Reg Lane at the controls in 1942.
Reginald John Lane (4 January 1920 - 2 December 2003) from Victoria, British Columbia, joined the RCAF in 1940 and was posted to 35 Squadron (based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire) in the autumn of 1941 where his flight commander was one Squadron Leader Leonard Cheshire (later Group Captain Cheshire, Baron Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC).
Reg Lane was involved in many dangerous and high profile bombing raids, one of which was a moonlit night raid on the German battleship Tirpitz which was moored in a fjord near Trondheim, Norway. Attacking at an altitude of only 150 feet, Lane's aircraft was repeatedly hit by AA so hard that the main wing spar was punched through in several places. Four of the squadron's Halifaxes were lost, including that of Wing Commander Bennett who evaded capture and after returning to Britain via Sweden would eventually command the Pathfinder Force.
Reg Lane flew two tours with 35 Squadron (the second when the squadron had been transferred to the Pathfinders) then a third as the commanding officer of 405 Squadron RCAF, also a Pathfinder squadron, where he often flew as the 'Master Bomber' which involved arriving at the target prior to the main force and then directing other aircraft as necessary. During the Battle of Berlin he would circle above the city for up to 40 minutes to direct a main force of over 500 bombers.
By the time he flew his 65th and last operation just prior to D-Day he had reached the rank of Group Captain and had been awarded the DFC and DSO and shortly thereafter was awarded a Bar to his DFC. He was then part of the planning team for "Tiger Force" (a combined British/Canadian/Australian air force to attack Japan) which never eventuated as the war ended before it was formed.
After the war Reg remained in the RCAF until his retirement with the rank of Lieutenant General.
W7676 was lost on an operation to Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942.
Cutella Airfield, south of Vasto, Abruzzo’s Region, Italy, 1944.
An RAF Wing Commander inspects a 1,000-lb GP bomb slung beneath the fuselage of a Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV of No. 450 Squadron RAAF in a dispersal.
Two 500-lb GP bombs are also slung from the wing loading points. The Kittyhawk was widely employed during the Campaign of Italy as fighter-bomber with good results.
A Northrop N-3PB of No. 330 (Norwegian) Squadron, RAF. The Squadron was formed at Reykjavik, Iceland on 25 April 1941 from Norwegian personnel who had managed to escape from Norway and then undergone training in Canada. They initially flew with RAF Sunderland crews but in May aircraft ordered by the Norwegian government prior to the German invasion arrived in the form of Northrop N-3PB seaplanes. The Squadron was attached to Coastal Command and operated from bases in Iceland and Scotland, tasked mainly with anti-submarine patrols.
The Northrop N-3PB Nomad was a single-engined American floatplane of the 1940s. Northrop developed the N-3PB as an export model based on the earlier Northrop A-17 design. A total of 24 were purchased by Norway, but were not delivered until after the Fall of Norway during the Second World War. Exiled Norwegian forces used them from 1941, operating from Iceland, for convoy escort, anti-submarine patrols, and training purposes from "Little Norway" in Canada. Within two years of delivery, the design was effectively obsolete in its combat role, and the remaining N-3PBs were replaced by larger aircraft in 1943.
Experimental Spitfire VB floatplane ''W3760'' on the point of take-off - 1943
Royal New Zealand Air Force PBY-5 Catalina at Halavo Bay, Florida Island (now Nggela Sule), Solomon Islands, 1944-45
No.6 Flying Boat Squadron, RNZAF, spent most of its existence operating from Guadalcanal, from where it searched for Japanese submarines, took part in air-sea rescue missions and acted as an emergency transport unit.
No.6 Squadron was formed to operate the Consolidated PBY Catalina after New Zealand was promised a number of those aircraft.
The first Catalina reached Fiji in April 1943. It was taken on by the Singapore Flight, which had survived the disbanding of No.5 Squadron in November 1942. The new No.6 Squadron was officially formed on 25 May 1943, although the name had been in use for some time. The squadron had also already carried out its first operation, looking for survivors of the American ship Vanderbilt which had been sunk on 2 May. One of the flight's Catalinas found eight survivors and after no rescue ships appeared for three hours made a daring mid-ocean landing and successfully rescued them.
After becoming officially operational the squadron continued to train with its new aircraft. It also flew a mix of searches for reported submarines and shipping escort missions. A plan to post a detachment on the Ellice Islands was cancelled, but in mid August a detachment was posted to Tonga. While it was there it took part in the rescue efforts after the US troop ship San Juan was sunk. 1,180 men were rescued.
In October 1943 the main part of the squadron moved to Segond Channel, at Espiritu Santo. The detached flight rejoined the main squadron in November. While it was based on Espiritu Santo the squadron carried out anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols in the waters to the west of the island, but without any success.
The squadron moved to Halavo Bay on Florida Island, just to the north of Guadalcanal in December 1943 and remained there for the rest of the war.
During this period it had three main duties. It was used to search for suspected submarines, none of which were found (most turned out to be whales). It was also used to search for missing aircraft and finally for medical evacuation, bringing injured or sick personnel from ships or outlying bases to the American Base Hospital at Tulagi.
The air-sea rescue missions were the most productive. The first was flown on 26 January 1944 and saw a Catalina from the squadron rescue ten crewmen from a downed Liberator bomber. The squadron also operated an air-sea rescue detachment from the Treasury Islands, operating in the seas between Bougainville and Rabaul.
The squadron was disbanded on Florida Island in September 1945.
Michael ‘Babe’ Suckling (left) and other members of ‘D’ Flight 1PRU in early 1941. Flight Commander Watts is third from right, whilst Jimmy Swift is second from right, with Sgt Parrott far right. Suckling would be lost in July 1941 just 2 months after discovering the location of the Bismarck, Swift from New Zealand would be lost in September 1941. Losses in the PRU were high relative to other commands particularly in the early part of the war, the majority of their aircraft being unarmed for operations over enemy territory. Photo Peter Arnold collection via Sandy’s Spitfire
Air to air of six 16 Squadron Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks and a No. 9 Squadron Lockheed Hudson in formation on the way to Guadalcanal.
Colour by Daniel Rarity
Photo: Air Force Museum of New Zealand official photo.
Three Supermarine Spitfires (R-F) F. MK21 serial LA232,F. Mk21 serial LA217, and nearest, the prototype F. MK22 serial PK312, flying over Castle Bromwich, in March of 1945. LA232 in would later be converted to have a contra-rotating props, LA217 would go on to fly with No.41 sqdn and entered in the Blackpool Air Races in 1947. PK312 would also converted to contra-rotating props, and be used in further testing with a Spiteful tail section added post-war.
Photographer: Charles E. Brown.
8 October 1940, Speke Airport.
Czechoslovak Armourers of No.312 Squadron RAF are preparing to replenish ammunition for Hawker Hurricane Mk.I DU-J (serial number L1926), which had just returned from a sortie. The aircraft was piloted by P / O Alois Vašátko and he managed to shoot down one Ju 88 over Birkenhead.
One of the gunsmiths (left) is F / Sgt Jaroslav Kauer, who later became a pilot as well. He died on December 23, 1944, in France, when he tried to make an emergency landing at Boulogne (at that time he served in the No. 310 Squadron).
W/C Hugh Godefroy DSO DFC of 17 Wing RCAF with his Spitfire Mk 1Xc HC-G (MK 341) ca. April 1944.
Five Spitfires at Schijndel airfield (codename B.85), The Netherlands, spring 1945.
The Allies decided to build an airfield near Schijndel around November 1944. However, the terrain turned into a mud pool during heavy rainfall. Nevertheless, 500 Allied soldiers together with Dutch workers built the airfield which had to be ready by January 15 because a complete wing with 4 squadrons would be stationed here.
However, delivery was delayed. The first Spitfires only arrived on February 6. Operation Veritable started 2 days later. British and Canadian troops entered the Rhineland. The 2nd TAF aircraft provided air support and also blocked the supply roads to the front.
Schijndel airport was not ready yet. Also, not 1 but 2 Spitfire wings were placed on the field. These were the 145 Free French Wing and the 132 Norwegian Wing with a total of 9 squadrons. Including the Dutch 322 Squadron.
These squadrons contributed to the battle in the Rhineland. The Schijndel units also took part in Operation Clarion in February 1945. Thousands of Allied planes attacked railway stations, warehouses and roads in much of Germany.
A month later, the squadrons provided air support during the combined operations of Plunder and Varsity. Here the goal was to establish a bridgehead east of the Rhine. B.85 moved further and further from the front line. This was due to the successful advance of the Canadians in the Netherlands and Germany. Therefore, the airport was closed not much later.
Spitfire Mk IX gets it's invasion stripes painted at Tangmere Airbase, 5th of June 1944.
Invasion stripes were roughly applied to aircraft like this Spitfire only days before the D-Day invasion. (Photo: Archives/Royal Air Force)
The idea for invasion stripes was born out of the need to avoid “fratricide” or “friendly fire”, the accidental shooting down of allied aircraft by friendly forces during and immediately following the massive D-Day invasion. This was a threat in air-to-air combat and especially dangerous as allied aircraft overflew ships equipped with anti-aircraft guns as they transited the English Channel during and in support of the invasion forces in the day and weeks that followed.
The plan to use the alternating black and white bands was first finalized and approved on May 17, 1944. This left only 20 days for allied air forces to receive the specifications for how the markings were to be applied, and then to apply them to a boggling number of different types of aircraft. According to one historical account, a staggering 11,590 Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties on D-Day. Nearly all of the aircraft wore invasion stripes. Among the last aircraft to receive the special “IFF” or “Identification, Friend or Foe” markings were the massive fleet of more than 1,200 C-47 Dakota transport/paratroop delivery and glider tug aircraft.
A flight of Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXs (EN133 'FY-B', BS12? 'FY-K', BS435 'FY-F' and BS547 'FY-Y') of 611 Squadron, in a flight out of RedHill, 8 December 1942.
Flying BS453 'FY-F' Sq/Ldr. Hugo Throssell Armstrong DFC and Bar. AUS/406022 RAAF Age 26. He was lost on the 3rd February 1943. Sq/Ldr. Armsrtong was the Commanding Officer of 611 West Lancashire Sqn, RAuxAF, which took-off on a scramble to intercept an FW190 raid, but was shot down by one of the FW190s from 5/JG26 in the sea off Boulogne. The German pilot credited with this was Ofz Heinz Gomann.
Pilot Officer Wally Tyerman and DJ Scott's dog 'Kim', standing in front of a No. 486 Squadron Typhoon. Unknown location.
Three early camouflaged Gloster Gladiator MkII biplane fighter aircraft of No. 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force, flying as part of two pairs over Tangmere on 14th August 1939.
The 605 Squadron was originally formed at Castle Bromwich in 1926 and was finally disbanded in 1957. It flew Gladiators from only February to October 1939, after being re-designated as a fighter squadron, before being re-equipped with new Hawker Hurricanes, playing an important role in the Battle of Britain!
In November 1941, the squadron flew off the carrier HMS Argus to Malta, where it was retained as part of the island's defences, prior to continuing its journey to the Far East. Arriving in Singapore too late to prevent its capture, it moved to Sumatra and then to Java, in the event caught up in the Japanese invasion. It operated any aircraft it could fly until it ceased to exist with its personnel either escaping in small groups or being captured. In the meantime, a small detachment of the squadron had been left on Malta during the transit journey to the Far East and a unit there which began operations on 10th January 1942 used the squadron number in its reports, which ended the following month, on being absorbed into No. 185 Squadron RAF.
A new No. 605 squadron was reformed at RAF Ford on 7th June 1942, equipped with Douglas Boston and Havocs in the intruder role. These were quickly replaced with de Havilland Mosquitoes from February 1943 and it continued to operate this type until the end of the war. During this period, Peter Middleton, the grandfather of the Duchess of Cambridge, was a pilot on the squadron. At this time, the Mosquito pilots used their wing-tips to divert V1 flying bombs off course whilst en route to London. The squadron moved to Belgium in March 1945 and then the Netherlands in April. The squadron disbanded by being re-numbered to No. 4 Squadron RAF on 31st August 1945 at Volkel Air Base.
The first production Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk I (K7183) on it's maiden test flight, over Martlesham, April 1937.
34 MK I's were delivered between March 1937 and June 1938. The unit to equipped with the type was No,10 RAF at Dishforth in 1937, to help form part of the newly created No. 4 Group of RAF Bomber Command.
Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Whitley participated in the first RAF bombing raid upon German territory and remained an integral part of the early British bomber offensive. By 1943, it was being superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engine bombers such as the Avro Lancaster. Its front line service included maritime reconnaissance with Coastal Command, glider-tug, trainer and transport aircraft.
The Whitley holds the distinction of having been the first RAF aircraft with a semi-monocoque fuselage, which was built using a slab-sided structure to ease production. This replaced the tubular construction method traditionally employed by Armstrong Whitworth, who instead constructed the airframe from light-alloy rolled sections, pressings and corrugated sheets. According to aviation author Philip Moyes, the decision to adopt the semi-monocoque fuselage was a significant advance in design; many Whitleys surviving severe damage on operations.
Photographer: Charles E. Brown.
Credit: Authors own collection (via RAF Museum).
A cheering crowd of grateful Dutch citizens wave at a Lancaster bomber which just dropped its 'food load' during 'Operation Manna' near Delft, Netherlands, 29 April, 1945
The Dutch famine of 1944–45, known in the Netherlands as the Hongerwinter (Hunger winter), was a famine that took place in the German-occupied Netherlands, especially in the densely populated western provinces north of the great rivers, during the winter of 1944–45, near the end of World War II.
A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm towns. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived thanks to soup kitchens. An estimated 22,000 deaths occurred due to the famine.
Manna was carried out by British RAF units, as well as squadrons from the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Polish air forces, between 29 April and 7 May 1945.
Chowhound (1–8 May) was an operation by the U.S. Army Air Forces, which dropped, together with Operation Manna, a total of over 11,000 tons, of food into the still-unliberated western part of the Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to help feed Dutch civilians in danger of starvation.
After it was realised that Manna and Chowhound would be insufficient, a ground-based relief operation named Operation Faust was launched. On 2 May, 200 Allied trucks began delivering food to the city of Rhenen, behind German lines.
The British operation started first. It was named after the food which was miraculously provided to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The planning of the operation was initially done by the Royal Air Force.
The first of the two RAF Avro Lancasters chosen for the test flight, the morning of 29 April 1945, was nicknamed Bad Penny, as in the expression: "a bad penny always turns up". This bomber, with a crew of seven, took off in bad weather despite the fact that the Germans had not yet agreed to a ceasefire. (Seyss-Inquart would do so the next day.) Bad Penny had to fly low, down to 50 feet (15 m), over German guns, but succeeded in dropping her cargo and returning to her airfield.
Many Thanks spelt-out on the ground in tulips after Operation Manna
Operation Manna then began in earnest. British aircraft from Groups 1, 3, and 8 took part, flying 145 sorties by Mosquitoes and 3,156 sorties by Lancaster bombers, flying between them a total of 3,301 sorties.
These bombers were used to dropping bombs from 6,000 metres (20,000 ft), but this time they had to do their job from a height of 150 metres (490 ft), some even flying as low as 120 metres (390 ft), as the cargo did not have parachutes. The drop zones, marked by Mosquitoes from 105 and 109 Squadrons using Oboe, were: Katwijk (Valkenburg airfield), The Hague (Duindigt horse race course and Ypenburg airfield), Rotterdam (Waalhaven airfield and Kralingse Plas) and Gouda. Bomber Command delivered a total of 6,680 tons of food.
Three aircraft were lost: two in a collision and one due to engine fire. Bullet holes were discovered in several aircraft upon their return, presumably the result of being fired upon by individual German soldiers.
RNZAF No. 14 Kittyhawk Squadron pilots with a Dodge weapons carrier, grouped together after a patrol. Guadalcanal. 1943
Labeled photo to follow in comments with corresponding numbers on it
1. J. "Bags" Baragwanath (Adjutant), 2. Noel Hanna, 3. Ron C. C. Nairn, 4. Rex Weber, 5. Doug. Robertson, 6. Paul Green, 7. Allan Sievers, 8. Jack Meharry, 9. "Sandy" Eaton, 10. Harry Wigley, 11. G. B. Fisken, 12. Frank Ferrier, 13. Don Clow (supplied names), 14. "Snow" Renolds, 15. Brian Stringer (Administration), 16. Mort. Bullen, 17. Arthur "Zoot" Stanley, 18. Warwick Blundell (Intelligence Officer), 19. John Polson.
Royal New Zealand Air Force Squadron Leader Doug Greig in flight gear within the cockpit of his Vought F4U Corsair at Ardmore Aerodrome, Auckland Region, New Zealand, September 1944.
In 1942, with the British Government unable to supply the aircraft needed and requested by New Zealand, negotiations were undertaken between the United States and New Zealand Governments resulting in a Mutual Aid Agreement (Lease/Lend).
The RNZAF then began to receive supplies of bomber, reconnaissance, transport and fighter aircraft direct from United States.
Thirteen fighter squadrons were initially equipped with the P-40 Kittyhawks, later being replaced by the F4U-1As and -1D Corsairs. However, by the time the Corsairs were adopted, Japanese air strength in the Pacific had been all but decimated and there were no confirmed 'kills' with the Corsairs during aerial combat.
Instead, the RNZAF fighter squadrons were used in a ground-attack roles against Japanese ground installations, shipping and food growing areas.
New Zealand pilot and later mathematician Leslie Woods, in his autobiography 'Against the Tide', would write:
'My new posting could not have been more congenial and was to join the Corsair Conversion Unit at Whenuapai, which was under the command of S/L Doug Greig. He was an ebullient, dominated person, but very easy to approach and unconstrained by petty rules and regulations ...'
Photographer: Leo White
Image courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand
T-Tommy's mid-upper gunner, Sergeant Frank Cyril Edward 'Dusty' Miller, a 33-year-old former pie salesman, in the Frazer-Nash FN-5- turret at Scampton.
These photographs were part of a sequence taken in February 1943 for an Air Ministry picture story entitled 'T for Tommy Makes a Sortie', which portrayed the events surrounding a single Lancaster bomber of No 57 Squadron and its crew during a typical operation.
'Dusty' Miller was KIA on Greenan's crew on 1/2 March 1943. His Avro Lancaster DX-T took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire at 1906 hours on 1 March to bomb Berlin. On its return at 0200 on 2 March it hit a power line about 3 miles from Scampton and in the resulting crash all on board were killed.
He is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, Scampton.
Halifax Mark II Series I (s/n W7676) TL-P of 35 Squadron RAF in flight with Flight Lieutenant Reg Lane at the controls in 1942.
Reginald John Lane (4 January 1920 - 2 December 2003) from Victoria, British Columbia, joined the RCAF in 1940 and was posted to 35 Squadron (based at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire) in the autumn of 1941 where his flight commander was one Squadron Leader Leonard Cheshire (later Group Captain Cheshire, Baron Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC).
Reg Lane was involved in many dangerous and high profile bombing raids, one of which was a moonlit night raid on the German battleship Tirpitz which was moored in a fjord near Trondheim, Norway. Attacking at an altitude of only 150 feet, Lane's aircraft was repeatedly hit by AA so hard that the main wing spar was punched through in several places. Four of the squadron's Halifaxes were lost, including that of Wing Commander Bennett who evaded capture and after returning to Britain via Sweden would eventually command the Pathfinder Force.
Reg Lane flew two tours with 35 Squadron (the second when the squadron had been transferred to the Pathfinders) then a third as the commanding officer of 405 Squadron RCAF, also a Pathfinder squadron, where he often flew as the 'Master Bomber' which involved arriving at the target prior to the main force and then directing other aircraft as necessary. During the Battle of Berlin he would circle above the city for up to 40 minutes to direct a main force of over 500 bombers.
By the time he flew his 65th and last operation just prior to D-Day he had reached the rank of Group Captain and had been awarded the DFC and DSO and shortly thereafter was awarded a Bar to his DFC. He was then part of the planning team for "Tiger Force" (a combined British/Canadian/Australian air force to attack Japan) which never eventuated as the war ended before it was formed.
After the war Reg remained in the RCAF until his retirement with the rank of Lieutenant General.
W7676 was lost on an operation to Nuremberg on the night of 28/29 August 1942.
Cutella Airfield, south of Vasto, Abruzzo’s Region, Italy, 1944.
An RAF Wing Commander inspects a 1,000-lb GP bomb slung beneath the fuselage of a Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV of No. 450 Squadron RAAF in a dispersal.
Two 500-lb GP bombs are also slung from the wing loading points. The Kittyhawk was widely employed during the Campaign of Italy as fighter-bomber with good results.
A Northrop N-3PB of No. 330 (Norwegian) Squadron, RAF. The Squadron was formed at Reykjavik, Iceland on 25 April 1941 from Norwegian personnel who had managed to escape from Norway and then undergone training in Canada. They initially flew with RAF Sunderland crews but in May aircraft ordered by the Norwegian government prior to the German invasion arrived in the form of Northrop N-3PB seaplanes. The Squadron was attached to Coastal Command and operated from bases in Iceland and Scotland, tasked mainly with anti-submarine patrols.
The Northrop N-3PB Nomad was a single-engined American floatplane of the 1940s. Northrop developed the N-3PB as an export model based on the earlier Northrop A-17 design. A total of 24 were purchased by Norway, but were not delivered until after the Fall of Norway during the Second World War. Exiled Norwegian forces used them from 1941, operating from Iceland, for convoy escort, anti-submarine patrols, and training purposes from "Little Norway" in Canada. Within two years of delivery, the design was effectively obsolete in its combat role, and the remaining N-3PBs were replaced by larger aircraft in 1943.
Experimental Spitfire VB floatplane ''W3760'' on the point of take-off - 1943
Royal New Zealand Air Force PBY-5 Catalina at Halavo Bay, Florida Island (now Nggela Sule), Solomon Islands, 1944-45
No.6 Flying Boat Squadron, RNZAF, spent most of its existence operating from Guadalcanal, from where it searched for Japanese submarines, took part in air-sea rescue missions and acted as an emergency transport unit.
No.6 Squadron was formed to operate the Consolidated PBY Catalina after New Zealand was promised a number of those aircraft.
The first Catalina reached Fiji in April 1943. It was taken on by the Singapore Flight, which had survived the disbanding of No.5 Squadron in November 1942. The new No.6 Squadron was officially formed on 25 May 1943, although the name had been in use for some time. The squadron had also already carried out its first operation, looking for survivors of the American ship Vanderbilt which had been sunk on 2 May. One of the flight's Catalinas found eight survivors and after no rescue ships appeared for three hours made a daring mid-ocean landing and successfully rescued them.
After becoming officially operational the squadron continued to train with its new aircraft. It also flew a mix of searches for reported submarines and shipping escort missions. A plan to post a detachment on the Ellice Islands was cancelled, but in mid August a detachment was posted to Tonga. While it was there it took part in the rescue efforts after the US troop ship San Juan was sunk. 1,180 men were rescued.
In October 1943 the main part of the squadron moved to Segond Channel, at Espiritu Santo. The detached flight rejoined the main squadron in November. While it was based on Espiritu Santo the squadron carried out anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols in the waters to the west of the island, but without any success.
The squadron moved to Halavo Bay on Florida Island, just to the north of Guadalcanal in December 1943 and remained there for the rest of the war.
During this period it had three main duties. It was used to search for suspected submarines, none of which were found (most turned out to be whales). It was also used to search for missing aircraft and finally for medical evacuation, bringing injured or sick personnel from ships or outlying bases to the American Base Hospital at Tulagi.
The air-sea rescue missions were the most productive. The first was flown on 26 January 1944 and saw a Catalina from the squadron rescue ten crewmen from a downed Liberator bomber. The squadron also operated an air-sea rescue detachment from the Treasury Islands, operating in the seas between Bougainville and Rabaul.
The squadron was disbanded on Florida Island in September 1945.
Michael ‘Babe’ Suckling (left) and other members of ‘D’ Flight 1PRU in early 1941. Flight Commander Watts is third from right, whilst Jimmy Swift is second from right, with Sgt Parrott far right. Suckling would be lost in July 1941 just 2 months after discovering the location of the Bismarck, Swift from New Zealand would be lost in September 1941. Losses in the PRU were high relative to other commands particularly in the early part of the war, the majority of their aircraft being unarmed for operations over enemy territory. Photo Peter Arnold collection via Sandy’s Spitfire
Air to air of six 16 Squadron Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks and a No. 9 Squadron Lockheed Hudson in formation on the way to Guadalcanal.
Colour by Daniel Rarity
Photo: Air Force Museum of New Zealand official photo.
Three Supermarine Spitfires (R-F) F. MK21 serial LA232,F. Mk21 serial LA217, and nearest, the prototype F. MK22 serial PK312, flying over Castle Bromwich, in March of 1945. LA232 in would later be converted to have a contra-rotating props, LA217 would go on to fly with No.41 sqdn and entered in the Blackpool Air Races in 1947. PK312 would also converted to contra-rotating props, and be used in further testing with a Spiteful tail section added post-war.
Photographer: Charles E. Brown.
8 October 1940, Speke Airport.
Czechoslovak Armourers of No.312 Squadron RAF are preparing to replenish ammunition for Hawker Hurricane Mk.I DU-J (serial number L1926), which had just returned from a sortie. The aircraft was piloted by P / O Alois Vašátko and he managed to shoot down one Ju 88 over Birkenhead.
One of the gunsmiths (left) is F / Sgt Jaroslav Kauer, who later became a pilot as well. He died on December 23, 1944, in France, when he tried to make an emergency landing at Boulogne (at that time he served in the No. 310 Squadron).
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