Aerial Warfare Documentation

Documentary images showcasing military aircraft, missions, and airstrip activities during World War II, highlighting operational contexts.

Aircraft, Burma, India &Fields & Installations, War

U.S. Fighter pilot (left) skims tree tops somewhere in Germany to finish off crippled, burning Messerschmitt ME-110.

The coast of Normandy as it appears from an aerial view from a 9th Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder. The ex-German beach defenses may be seen in the foreground partly blasted by the initial assault on the opening of the second front.

These planes have just returned from a mission where they confirmed 5 Zeros and Dive Bombers. Note the 1,000-pound bombs laying along the side of the taxiway. These bombs are to be used to mine the field.

The control tower operator gives the "green light" to a Consolidated B-24 "Liberator," and the plane streaks down the runway at the airstrip built by the Seebee's 40th Construction Battalion on Los Negros, Admiralty Islands.

Aircraft, Burma, India &Fields & Installations, War

'85 Pointers' Of The Army Ground Forces Eagerly Clamber Into A Boeing B-17 Of The 92Nd Bombardment Group Of The 8Th Af, Just Before Taking Off From An Airfield Near Marseilles, France To Be Flown To Casablanca On The North African Coast From Where Air Tra

American bombers revenge for Hickam Field. View shows wrecked Jap planes and hangars at Clark Field, Luzon Island. These hangars were built by Americans, used by the Japs, and will again house American planes.

Two Douglas A-20S Dusting Swampland Near Leghorn, Italy. The Dust Is 75%%%%%%%% Fuller'S Earth, 25%%%%%%%% Paris Green.

"Poopsie," a B-25 with Jimmy Doolittle's Strategic Air Force is shown with the crew. In the nose, standing is 2nd Lt. Walter E. Piasecki, 201 Culver Ave., Jersey City, N.Y. Below Piasecki is 1st Lt. Oscar R. Daume, Jennings, Missouri. On top of the

Lockheed P-38 at an AAF fighter base somewhere in England.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator "Hm, What a Lick," crash-lands safely at a station in England after bombing French Coast military installations. Pilot was 2nd Lt. Claude E. White, Tushka, Okla.

Bell P-59A, jet propelled fighter plane, leaves the runway at 1452nd AAF Base Unit, ATC, on its way to Cold Weather Test Sqaudron, Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska.

Puerto Rico infantry troops guarding a 12th AF North American B-25 Mitchell base in review in honor of Maj Gen Gustavo Salinas, Chief of Mexican Air Force. ITALY.

Crew Members Of The 8Th Af's 457Th Bombardment Group Carrying Their Equipment In After Returning From The Berlin Bombing Mission On 3 February 1945. England.

Douglas C-47S Of The U.S. Troop Carrier Forces Make A Steep Bank Over An Air Strip In France After Returning From What Was Perhaps The Greatest Air Borne Operation In The History Of The War, The Dropping Of Paratroops And Air Borne Infantry On The British

The instrument shop of the Army Aircraft Repair Ship, in the Philippines areas, performs 4th echelon repair on all aircraft instruments, bomb-sights, gun-sights, and electric turbosupercharger control.

Aircraft, Burma, India &Aircraft, SINGLE,BOEING War

Crew Members Of The 92Nd Bomb Group Stand In Front Of The Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" 'Virgin Sturgeon'. 8 September 1942, England.

BACK FROM BRUNSWICK---The Eighth AAF Flying ofrtress "F for Frenesi," piloted by Lt. Cely, with his crew, including three wounded gunners, returned to its base "just a series of holes held together by some metal" after dropping its bombs on the

Republic P-47 leaving the ground with smoke bombs under each wing.-NEW GUINEA

Additional shot of armorer working on guns.

At An U.S. Casc Operated Factory In China A 310 Gallon Belly Tank Normally Hanging From A P-38, Gets A Steam Bath In Preparation For Welding It. Working Conditions In China Are Necessarily Makeshift. Note Improvised 'Horse' And Crude Shack.

Over Cherbourg Peninsula nine Skytrains of the 9th Air force Troop Carrier Command have just dropped emergency supplies as may be seen in the foreground of the picture. This mission of the versatile 9th Troop Carrier Command was revealed

Troops of the 185th Inf, 40th Div. take cover behind tanks advancing on Jap positions on (Panay, P.I.). This is one of the shots salvaged from the camera of Lt. Robert Fields who was killed in action shortly after it was taken.

Operations continuing; landing barges at beach; allied boats shelling strong-points on Elba Island.

Aircraft, Burma, India &ELECTRONICS,RADIO War

Bomb damage to communication system at St. Cyr, France one of the causes for the final surrender of 20,000 Germans to the 83d Division of the 9th U.S. Army, 17 Sept. 44.

Gi, At Left, Pauses To Watch Christmas Day Dog Fight Between Allied And Enemy Planes Over Ruins Of Aldenhoven, Germany. Sky Is Streaked With Vapor Trails From Fighting Planes.

Stendal, Germany. Me-109 On Edge Of Field, Dug In And Concealed. Air Field Captured By 5Th Armored Division, 9Th U.S. Army.

France - A Modern Bucket-Brigade Whose Purpose Isn'T To Put Out Fires -- But To Start Them Over The Reich. Gasoline To Keep The Fast-Moving 9Th Air Force Fighter And Bomber Planes In The Air Cannot Be Stored In Permanent Tanks But Must Travel From Airfie

China - Engineering Crew Of The 21St Reconnaissance Sqd. Complete The Primary Steps Of An Engine Change On A Lockheed F-5.

Nazis Attempt To Cover The Target With Smoke Screens As Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses Of The 381St Bomb Group Approach For Their Bomb Run Over The Target - Europe.

Colonel Richard Gimbel Of Philadelphia, Pa., Of 8Th Air Force Service Command, With The Officers Of 'The Duchess' The "Flying Fortress" In Which He Made His First Raid Over Enemy Territory. Left To Right, Back: 1St Lt. D.P. Van Brunt, Of Moline, Ill., Bo

PAPUA-Loading a Martin B-26 Marauder prior to a raid.

Bomb damage to communication systems at Tours, France, one of the causes for the final surrender of 20,000 Germans to the 83d Division of the 9th U.S. Army, 17 Sept. 44.

Flak bursting around Martin B-26's over France.

A general view of installations at Gura Air Depot; the buildings in the background are barracks and the ones in the foreground are used by the medical section. 14 August 1942.

Curtiss P-40 "Warhawks" Taxi Up To The Take Off Line At An Airbase Near Burg-El-Arab Somewhere In North Africa. October 1942.

The Vultee L-5 hugs the mountains in China as it goes out on a mission over the Salween front. The dangers here are two-fold: one from the enemy and the second from the most hazardous and uncharted mountains in the world.

Capt. Andrew D. Turner, 1000 Westford St., NW, Washington, D.C. Commanding Officer of a squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force, and Lt., Clarence P. (Lucky) Lester, 5329 Prairie Ave., Chicago, Ill., discuss some of the thrills of a

Motor driven Eyemo camera in gun turret of Martin B-26.

Initial Hits On The Target, Railroad Tracks And Yards At Siaokichen, In Interior China, Are Clearly Shown In This Picture. The Bombs Were Dropped By A Medium Bomber Of The 'Gambay' Group, One Of The Units Of The 14Th A.F. Hard-Hitting Chinese-American Co

Wrecked British planes rebuilt at Heliopolis Airfield, Cairo, Egypt. June 1943.

France - The Mobile 9Th Air Force Service Command Carriers Its Own Giant Gasoline Storage Tanks. This 10,000 Gallon Container Made Of Steel Can Be Dismantled And Carted Away On A Truck. It Takes A Team Of Six Men Approximately Three Days To Set It Up Fo

8Th Air Force B-17 "Flying Fortress" -- Waist Gunners Keep Sharp Look-Out For 'Bandits'. They Also Keep On The Alert That Ball Turret Gunner And Tail Gunner (Both In Isolated Positions) Are Okeh - That Their Oxygen Hasn't Gone Out, Or Heating Suits Gone

Three Large Oil Storage Tanks And Four Buildings Used For Processing Oil, Were Partially Destroyed At The Rhenania Oil Refinery At Hamburg, About 60 Miles Northeast Of Bremen, By The Attack Of Us 8Th Air force Heavies August 6 1944.

Front view of projectile, HE 4.5 inch, M8, T-30, Rocket aircraft. Mounted on A-20.

Crew Of B-29, No. 338, 462Nd Bombardment Group, 768Th Squadron In China. Left To Right, Back Row, Radar Operator, S/Sgt. Goodwin; Tail Gunner, S/Sgt. Darby; Left Gunner, S/Sgt. John Lauer, Of Camden, N.J.; Radio Operator, Sgt. L.F. Sommer; Photographer,

A convoy of Nazi trucks is strafed while enroute on a highway in Northern France. Clouds of black smoke shoot skyward as the first of the 8th AAF fighters swoop over their target. Scenes such as this are numerous as convoy after convoy meets

Crew of Boeing B-17 Flying ofrtress "Hell's Angels" by nose of ship. Kneeling left to right, Ground Crew; oflmer, West, Kosilla, Wegrzyn, Fairfield, Touhey, Standing; Flight Crew; Johnson, DeCamp, McElwain, McCord, Zeller, Briggs.

The first aircraft to land on the first emergency landing strip built on the Continent by detachments of the 9th Engineer Command was a Douglas C-47 shown here coming in. Elements of the 9th AF aviation engineers went onto the beachhead early and

Ground Crews Making Repairs On Engines Of Boeing B-17 At Manston Air Base, England.

9 May 44 atatck destroyes 5 hangars and 12 barracks at Thionville, France, 20 miles north of Metz. 306th Bombardment Group.

After attack, when the foliage was blasted off the dummy aircraft at Buna, Papua, New Guinea, the crude structure of the dummies was apparent.

Infantryman, 1St U.S. Army, Looks Over A Pile Of Junk At An Air Base On Outskirts Of Kolleda, Germany. German Engines Lined Up As Result Of U.S. Army Air Force.

June 1, 1943. Twelfth Observation Squadron, Sixty-seventh Observation Group, air-sea rescue practice.

Aircraft, Burma, India & INDIA,MISCELLANEOUS War

A Consolidated B-24 Liberator of the U.S. 8th AAF passes over the target during the attack on the Messerschmitt component plant at Neuaubling, near Munich, 21 July 44. A nearby rail marshalling yard also received concentrations of bombs.

A JU-88 lies in front of a bomb-damaged hangar on a German Airfield in France which was captured by American forces.

Installations At Accra Air Base, Accra Gold Coast, Africa. May 1943.

GIs vie for honors in the ski and slalom meet at Ladd Field, Alaska, 13 February 1944.

Aircraft, Burma, India &Fields & Installations, War

Over Two Seas -- One Of Water And Another Of Clouds -- A Formation Of Martin B-26 Marauders Enroute To Bomb A Railroad Yard Below Rome, Italy. 1944 Italy.

Bombs Dropped By Planes Of The 100Th Bombardment Group, 8Th Air force Fall Toward The Airdrome At Lippstadt, Germany, Which Has Already Been Hit By Bombs During This Mission On 19 April 1944.

Shelling of enemy strongpoint by Allied ships, Elba Island.

A workbench in the armament room of an underground plant in France where the Germans assembled and repaired aircraft machine guns. Located two and three stories below ground in a champagne cellar, the shop also turned out ignition and radio items

Aircraft, Burma, India & INDIA,CREWS War

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

North American B-25 Plane On Runway At Wideawake Field, Ascension Island. May 1943.

Lt. Carlson And Buddies Of The 8Th Af's 457Th Bombardment Group Based In England. 29 August 1944.

Modification of a Lockheed P-38 at an Air Base, 8th Air force, England.

Shown Above Are Men Of An Ordnance Company Of 9Th Af Service Command Unit Loading The First Bombs Dropped Upon The Enemy By Fighter Bomber Planes From German Bases. The 9Th Af Fighter-Bombers Which Carried These Bombs Are Based On A Former Luftwaffe Air

Natousa Anti-Malarial Organization Aircraft Phase. Douglas A-20 Havoc Formation Dusting Over Castel Volturno For Coverage Of Large Swamp And Flooded Areas In Italy.

Refueling A Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" Of The 457Th Bombardment Group Of The 8Th Air Force After Its Return From A Bombing Mission On Berlin, Germany. 3 February 1945 - England.

Capt. W.W. Murray, Hutchinson, Kans., reading a report over the teletype. Lt. Carl N. Richards, Salina, Kans., calling a sub-station by telephone and Cpl. Ralph E. Birdsell checking the position on the map of one of the rescue boats.-NEW GUINEA

An ingenious tank arrangement, invented by two Air Corps mechanics, Sgt. D.L. Davidson, Salemn, Ore., and Cpl. Will L. Fielding, Rodgers, Ark., of the 23rd Sqd., 5th Bomb Group, 13th Air Task Force, Los Negros Is. Two discarded auxillary fuel tanks

GERMAN E-BOAT ATTACKED--Here is a photo-record of a U.S. Eighth Air Force fighter plane attack on a German E-boat recently in the North Sea. Picture No. 2. Spray kicked up by the bullets shroud the boat.

Smoke And Pyrotechnic Target Identification Bombs Fall, Along With General Purpose Bombs, Toward The Target At Berck-Sur-Mer, France, Which Is Already Plastered With Bomb Bursts, During A Mission By Planes Of The 8Th Air Force`S 44Th Bombardment Group, On

Lengthening Runway For Boeing B-29's At Chenkung Airfield.

Waco Cg-4 Gliders Towed By Douglas C-47S Of The 52Nd Troop Carrier Wing, In Flight Over Sicily After Taking Off From Comiso, Sicily, During Maneuvers. 25 October 1943.

The 11th Airborne Division's hot swing band helps the men of that division, who spent Christmas on Leyte Island in the Philippines, to celebrate the occasion. The band's instruments were flown in by Piper L-4s.

Fighter pilots of the 79th Fighter Group, based at Tunisia, wait in front of the operations tent for a call to take off on a bombing and strafing mission against the enemy. 30 March 1943.

Hospital Building At Ras Heilf Field, Masira Island (Off Arabian Coast) June 1943.

Pouring gasoline from tins into reservoir, from which it will be pumped into plane tanks. Gura Airport, Gura, Eritrea. June 1943.

Wreck Of A North American B-25 Of The 38Th Bomb Group At Prot Moresby, Papua, New Guinea. B-25C-Na; S/N 41-12898; C/N 82-5533

General Joseph W. Stilwell, Commanding General Usaf Cbi, Pins The Distinguished Flying Cross With Three Clusters Upon Capt Jack E. Champion, Sherboy, N.C. At Citation Ceremonies 18 Oct 44. Other Recipients At This Ceremony Are Left The Right: Major Emme

NINTH AIR force HEADQUARTERS, EUROPEAN THEATRE OF OPERATIONS,--Men at a Ninth Air force medium bomber station somewhere in England look upward to see aircraft departing for a mission as they celebrate Easter Services.

Most of the anti-aircraft positions in Buna, Papua, New Guinea, have been in exposed, cleared areas, with little attempt to camouflage the gun position itself. Netting, post and foliage combinations, as shown here, have been used with effect, but not

When The Japaneseanese Evacuated The City Of Kweilin In The Face Of Chinese Ground Force Drive They Did A Thorough Job Of Making The Former 14Th Air Force Base Of Yang Tong Unservicable. Aerial Reconnaissance Photo Shows The Craters And Ditches Made By The Ja

Left To Right: Capt. William H. Bigelow, Adjutant Colonel Elmer J. Rogers, Jr. Staff Sergeant Brouhard And Major Harold H. Bullock. 465Th Bomb Group

Atc Personnel Being Briefed Before A Mission. Val De Caes Field, Belem, Brazil. April 1943.

A 20 mm explosive shell cut this jagged hole in a metal propeller.

An outstanding job of precision bombing of a difficult target is shown in this picture of the harbor of Split, Yugoslavia, one of the most important German-held Adriatic Ports. The bombing was done 3 Jan by the 12th Army Air Force B-25 Mitchells

The Nazi pilot dives earthward with the Thunderbolt closing in. A second burst is fired and more pictures taken but there is still no sign of hits.

An ambulance is shown outside the hospital at "Shantytown," a camp made entirely from emptied glider crates. The layout is part of a 9th Air force Troop Carrier Command glider assembly point in England. The town has tailor and barber shops, post

Trumpet player entertains the boys of the 38th Bomb Group at Rorona, New Guinea.

The Volcania munitions...

M/Sgt. Charles H. Stoopes, 207 Shore Road, Somers Point, N.J. Repairing A Camera, One Of The Jobs He Does In The Photo Lab Of The Liberators Of China. Watching Him Work Is Sammy Sanling, Chinese Orphan Whom The Lab Boys Have Adopted. 308Th Bomb Group.

Aircraft, Burma, India & INDIA,CREWS War

Panorama Of Wreckage Done To Heilbronn, Germany, By Allied Air Force Attacks.

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