And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Read a well written piece the other day about the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A long serving aircraft, it was a bridge between generations and mission of aircraft. It easily was the right aircraft at the right time.
I see the 1940's hat fetish is alive and well. Come the jet age, the guy in the ballcap and the j.o. in the pisscutter would be having a chat with the Air Boss.
That's a beautiful photo that, quite literally, makes history come alive.
The millions of feet of black and white WW 2 film footage added hugely to the historical record, but those images provide a somewhat skewed view of the reality of the conflict for later generations.
A film like "They Shall Not Grow Old" (currently available on either Netflix or Prime), which colorized and adjusted the speed of vintage film so as make it seem almost as if it were fresh from a current newscast, was a huge advance with World War I film footage, but an actual color photo like this one here cannot be beat.
I have a large format book of WWII in color photographs. Not colorized, but shot with the vivid colors of film. The book contains hundreds of photographs from the home front, stateside manufacturing, ETO, and the Pacifc on land, at sea, and in the air. Printed in the early 1960s.
IIRC, early in the war the Navy was buying commercial movie cameras that came with color film, later film was usually black and white. My father in law was a Seabee in WW2, he told me the Navy had camera men everywhere.
You're right, it IS like standing there. My dad was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines in the South Pacific and saw some horrendous action, left him with nightmares for the rest of his life. I have often wondered what it was like, the reality of 'being there'? To feel the sun beating down, the wind blowing on my face, going into a landing operation on a hostile beachhead....feeling the sand under my boots as I ran to find cover, the shouts of everyone around me, the incessant noise of gunfire, seeing a fellow Marine crumple to the sand after being shot...the fear and adrenaline raging in my bloodstream but putting one foot after the other anyway and pressing forward. The Greatest Generation indeed. I can only dimly imagine it, and only because I served and went through infantry training myself.
The guy in yellow is trying to catch the prop.
ReplyDeleteEvil Franklin
how'd they keep 'em on?
Deletea LOT going on in close proximity.
DeleteWOW. That is just an astonishing photo. Thank you for posting it.
ReplyDeleteRead a well written piece the other day about the Douglas SBD Dauntless.
ReplyDeleteA long serving aircraft, it was a bridge between generations and mission of aircraft. It easily was the right aircraft at the right time.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2017/february/plane-won-war?mc_cid=7743c70eeb
I see the 1940's hat fetish is alive and well. Come the jet age, the guy in the ballcap and the j.o. in the pisscutter would be having a chat with the Air Boss.
ReplyDeleteDauntless; A history-changing weapons system
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful photo that, quite literally, makes history come alive.
ReplyDeleteThe millions of feet of black and white WW 2 film footage added hugely to the historical record, but those images provide a somewhat skewed view of the reality of the conflict for later generations.
A film like "They Shall Not Grow Old" (currently available on either Netflix or Prime), which colorized and adjusted the speed of vintage film so as make it seem almost as if it were fresh from a current newscast, was a huge advance with World War I film footage, but an actual color photo like this one here cannot be beat.
I have a large format book of WWII in color photographs. Not colorized, but shot with the vivid colors of film. The book contains hundreds of photographs from the home front, stateside manufacturing, ETO, and the Pacifc on land, at sea, and in the air.
DeletePrinted in the early 1960s.
One dangerous piece of real estate.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, early in the war the Navy was buying commercial movie cameras that came with color film, later film was usually black and white. My father in law was a Seabee in WW2, he told me the Navy had camera men everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, the aircraft left the factory with a glossy finish that weathered to matte in a few months.
ReplyDeleteWWII in Color is available on dvd. Makes a big difference.
ReplyDeleteThe red surround was only used from July, to September, 1943, so we have a rough idea when the photo was taken.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it IS like standing there. My dad was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines in the South Pacific and saw some horrendous action, left him with nightmares for the rest of his life. I have often wondered what it was like, the reality of 'being there'? To feel the sun beating down, the wind blowing on my face, going into a landing operation on a hostile beachhead....feeling the sand under my boots as I ran to find cover, the shouts of everyone around me, the incessant noise of gunfire, seeing a fellow Marine crumple to the sand after being shot...the fear and adrenaline raging in my bloodstream but putting one foot after the other anyway and pressing forward. The Greatest Generation indeed. I can only dimly imagine it, and only because I served and went through infantry training myself.
ReplyDeleteA large version of the original B&W photo is available at
ReplyDeletehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SBDs_on_USS_Saratoga_Oct_1943.jpg