(Source:"The Carrier War" by Edwin P. Hoyt)
Not a good day for this Kingfisher - U.S. Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor. A Chance-Vought OS2U Kingfisher has been hit by a bomb. It is one of 80 U.S. Navy aircraft destroyed in the attack. An SOC Seagull seaplane can be seen in the background (left), as well as the top of the wing of a PBY Catalina (behind the Kingfisher).
(Source: "Tragic Victories", by Edward Jablonski)
A Ventura gets its load for the day
- Aviation ordinancemen load bombs aboard an early model Lockheed PV-1 Ventura of squadron
VPB-135 somewhere in the Aleutian Islands. The red surround on the national insignia
indicates that the photo was taken during the summer of 1943.
(Source:"Carrier Air War - In Original WWII Color" by R. Lawson & B. Tillman)
Loading a torpedo onto a PV-2 Harpoon - A Harpoon twin-engined patrol bomber is loaded with a torpedo at an Aleutians base for strikes on Japanese shipping in the Kuriles in April 1942.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Aerial view of Midway under attack - Streaking in from above, Japanese carrier aircraft attack the U.S. air base at Midway Island, attempting to knock out its offensive and defensive capabilities, June 6, 1942. (This photo is of one of series of dioramas made during WWII in order to provide pictures of important scenes where no cameras had been present.)
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
PBY makes a messy landing - A Navy PBY-5A Catalina long-range flying boat lands at Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands. The Catalina was the main-stay of U.S. naval long-range reconnaissance.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Extra gas for the longer missions - This F4F-4 Wildcat of VMF-121 stationed on Guadalcanal was equipped with a 58-gallon external fuel tank under it's starboard (right) wing. It was the usual procedure to fly with only one underwing tank. The F4F is about to pass an Army Air Corps P-38 Lightning stationed at the same field.
(Source: Marine Fighting Squadron One-Twenty-One (VMF-121) by Thomas Doll)
Wildcats all in a row - F4Fs line the runway at Fighter Two on Guadalcanal in late 1942. Both Fighter One and Two were auxiliary airstrips supplementing the famous Henderson Field on the island.
(Source: Marine Fighting Squadron One-Twenty-One (VMF-121) by Thomas Doll)
Bore-sighting a Corsair - An F4U Corsair of VMF-124 on Guadalcanal in February of 1943 gets its guns bore-sighted (i.e.- adjusted so that the bullet strikes converge at the proper distance in front of the aircraft).
(Source:"Air War Over The Pacific" by Robert C. Stern)
Glad to be back - Captain Donald L. Blanch (USMC) sits with the damaged Corsair that stayed airborne just long enough to get him back to his base in the Russell Islands, after an aerial battle in which he downed a Zero.
(Source: "Corsair Aces of World War 2" by Mark Styling)
Corsairs in the Russells - VMF-123 F4U-1s sit on their airstrip in the Russell Islands, September 1943.
(Source:"Navy Air Colors Vol. 1, 1911-1945" by Thomas E. Doll)
Delivering bombs - A small truck hauls 1,000 lb bombs in front of a Marine TBF-1C Avenger on Munda Island, October 28, 1943. The airfield fell into Allied hands in August and was immediately turned against its former owners.
(Source:"Air War Over The Pacific" by Robert C. Stern)
SBDs leave their island runway - During the closing phases of the campaign in the Solomons Islands in late 1943, these Dauntless dive bombers take off from their Russell Islands airstrip.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas - Not all of the Pacific battlefronts were in the tropical South Pacific. A long weary campaign was fought in the Aleutian Islands (by Alaska), where the weather was just as dangerous as the Japanese. Here a Navy PV-1 Ventura endures frozen conditions at Amchitka on December 26, 1943. A PBY sits in the background.
(Source: "The Forgotten War" by Stan Cohen)
Victim of a williwaw - Two men look over a PBY Catalina that was flipped on its back after being caught in in a williwaw (severe wind storm common in the Aleutians).
(Source: "The Forgotten War" by Stan Cohen)
A wolf in
(Black)sheep's clothing - A color photo of an F4U-1A Corsair of the famed
"Blacksheep Squadron" VMF-214 shows it taxiing for takeoff on Vella Lavella in
1943. This was one of the aircraft under Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington's
command.
(Source:"Carrier Air War - In Original WWII Color" by R. Lawson & B. Tillman)
Yet another new home - F4U-1D Corsairs of VMF-114 prepare to takeoff on Peleliu's airstrip, not long after the island had been secured by the Marines in September of 1944.
(Source: Marine Fighting Squadron One-Twenty-One (VMF-121) by Thomas Doll)