Another humorous “Don’t be a dope!” poster from WWII.
Don’t be a dope! Handle Equipment Right!
With an air of complete unconcern // Joe Dope speeds his Jeep ’round a turn // And slams on his brakes //At each stop that he makes — // You’d think we had tires to burn!
Source: U.S. Navy, Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, (“All Hands Magazine”), October 1944.
Front and rear views of the M55 quad .50 cal. mount and trailer from ORD 7 SNL G-220: Organizational Spare Parts and Equipment for Mount, Trailer, Multiple Cal. .50 Machine Gun, M55, Ordnance Supply Catalog, Headquarters, Army Service Forces, June 1945.
FIGURE 1—MOUNT, TRAILER, MULTIPLE CAL. .50 MACHINE GUN, M55 (FRONT VIEW)
Organization of the WWII German Luftwaffe from the U.S. War Department’s Handbook for Combat Air Intelligence Officers, Army Air Forces Air Intelligence School, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, March 1944.
2. ORGANIZATION.
a. General.
(1) The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) is one of three branches of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) and is organized and administered independently of the Army and the Navy.
(2) The Luftwaffe itself is divided into three parts: air, air signal, and antiaircraft artillery. Included in the Luftwaffe are parachute and airborne troops, air engineers, air medical corps, air police, and certain special air divisions used as regular fighting troops.
(3) Organized on a territorial rather than a functional basis and with operational and administrative commands separated, the GAF achieved a mobility and flexibility which was largely responsible for its initial success. (Organization of the GAF is shown on Chart B.)
New WWII Soviet 1/35th scale resin figures from The Bodi:
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Item No. 35023: Soviet General (1/35th, resin, 5 pieces) Sculpted by Alexander Zelenkov and Krisztian Bodi. Boxart painted by Oliver Kovacs. |
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Item No. 35024: Soviet Political Officer (1/35th, resin, 5 pieces) Sculpted by Alexander Zelenkov and Krisztian Bodi. Boxart painted by Oliver Kovacs. |
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Item No. 35025: Soviet Jeep Crew (1/35th, resin, 17 pieces) Sculpted by Alexander Zelenkov and Krisztian Bodi. Boxart painted by Oliver Kovacs. |
The story of the SBD Dauntless dive bomber in the Pacific from Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, (“All Hands Magazine”), September 1944.
Jap-hunting SBDs fly in formation over a carrier of Task Force 58 in the Pacific.
War Record of the SBD
Dauntless Divebomber, Giving Way to Harder-Hitting Successor, Was Spearhead of Our Attacks in the Pacific
The 5,936th and last of a distinguished strain of aircraft–the Navy’s SBD, which is giving way to a faster, long-range divebomber–rolled off the production line of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s plant at El Segundo, Calif., on 21 July.
Its completion closed a chapter in the history of naval aviation that will be discussed as long as men continue to talk about this war’s great battles in the Pacific.
On 7 Dec. 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, a rear-seat gunner in an SBD knocked down a Zero that may have been the first Jap plane destroyed by U.S. aircraft. From then on the story of the SBD, or Douglas Dauntless divebomber, is closely interwoven with the successes of the fleet.
The enemy first felt the real sting of the SBD when Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., USN, took a small task force into the Gilbert and Marshall Islands in February 1942. Flying again from the deck of the USS Enterprise, as they had at Pearl Harbor, SBDs suddenly appeared over the atolls of those islands in the outer ring of the enemy’s defenses, dived to low altitude and dropped their 1,000-pound bombs on ships, hangars, airstrips and buildings.
The following month this same force staged a repeat performance for the benefit of the Japs on Marcus and Wake Islands.
An E/A-6B Prowler and E/A-18G Growler of Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 129 photographed at NAS North Island near San Diego. The aircraft are painted in three-tone camouflage paint schemes honoring U.S. Navy combat aircraft that fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea during World War II, including Air Group 85 which operated from USS Shangri-La (CV 38, nicknamed “Tokyo Express”). U.S. Navy Photographs, SP2 Joseph Moon & SP2 Briana C. Brotzman.
Instructions for crash landing procedures for the Douglas A-26 Invader from the Pilot Training Manual for the A-26 Invader, Headquarters, AAF, Office of Flying Safety.
CRASH LANDING
Pilot
1. Call crew. “Prepare for crash landing.” (Have crew acknowledge.)
2. Switch on emergency IFF radio transmitter.
3. Release parachute by unbuckling.
4. Tighten safety belt and lock shoulder harness.
5. Salvo bombs. Close bomb bay doors.
6. Make a normal approach. Use up to 3/4 flaps. Always make a wheels-up landing.
7. Slide seat back but still keep rudder control. (Place cushion between chest and control column.)
8. Call rear gunner and warn of “final impact.”
9. Have bombardier pull emergency lever to release cockpit hatch when airplane is just off the ground.
10. Mixture controls to IDLE CUT-OFF.
11. Turn battery and master ignition switches to OFF.
12. Tank selector valves to OFF.
13. Exit through upper hatch opening.
Tank has just released five new 1/35th-scale German and Soviet figures in their line of WWII Eastern Front figures, including two figure sets devoted to crews camouflage painting their vehicles.
A diagram showing some typical layouts of ground-to-air signal panels from the U.S. War Department’s Handbook for Combat Air Intelligence Officers, Army Air Forces Air Intelligence School, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, March 1944.
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