P51 Mustang field service reference manual... its astonishing what you can stumble across at the swap meet, selected interesting pages

 

 

Hurst Armed Forces Club, the Performance Special golf cart, and the shifter girls... photos I've never seen before, and a Hurst group I've never heard of

How incredible to see a jeep in the Hurst colors, with those terrific looking Hurst rims, and the girls in uniform

found on http://www.flickr.com/photos/57343654@N03/sets/?&page=3

Just a gust of wind

This misfortunate pilot landed his vintage tri-plane on its nose. The man had been flying the famous Fokker Dreidecker aircraft at the Flying Legends airshow at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambsridgeshire. But when he landed the WW1 fighter aircraft a sudden gust of wind blew it on its nose. No one was hurt in the incident. (Philip Tyler / Rex) http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-week-of-june-3-1307133161-slideshow/#crsl=

Every now and then then landing gear won't operate when you need it most, like the South Pacific in 1945

But that day wasn't a bad one, USMC pilot Ken Pruitt ran it out of fuel, and then coasted onto an atoll airstrip nice a slow and safe. Each of the 5 crewmembers decided to ride it out rather than parachute down... and they all walked away. Read about it at http://www.lyonairmuseum.org/news/b-25-belly-landing-on-pacific-island/

More cool stuff from 5window.tumblr.com

all from http://5window.tumblr.com but beware that it's changed a bit from being primarily race cars and hot rods, there are lots of nude women, lingerie, etc etc. Yup, that's awesome, but don't let your boss sneak up on you to see what you are surfing the web looking at

B-2 Hydraulic Bomb Lift, Mobile, 50,000 pound capacity... circa 1950

found on http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/

either needs ballast in the back, or Darth Vader has this in a tractor beam

p-51 mustang

found at http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/148458/20110519/rare-color-photos-from-depression-era-part-2.htm

M3 tanks at Ft Knox Kentucky during war games pre-WW2

Found among 2 galleries of rare depression era color photos http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/148458/20110519/rare-color-photos-from-depression-era-part-2.htm

Even a Morgan has been painted in the Flying Tiger sharks grin

Found on http://wwwmartelo.blogspot.com/2011/04/return-to-future-morgan-3-wheeler.html

MIlitary surplus motorcycles for sale in 1946 (great photo) in bulk, it was between 5 and 10 you had to buy to get any.

from http://momentdinspiration.blogspot.com/

Flying Tiger pilot and plane, 1944, China (refers to the last photo in this post)

The "Flying Tiger" insignia was designed by the Walt Disney company, who also did logos for submarines like the Pogy SS 266, the Drum SS 228, and the Nautilus SSN 571 (which Walt signed and once was at the USS Nautilus museum in Groton Ct) among other individual logos.

"Before the war had ended, Disney had created some 1,200 cartoon insignias. With the exception of Bambi, virtually every Disney character appeared at least once on a logo. The most requested character was Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy and even Grumpy of the Seven Dwarfs appeared on decals. Mickey Mouse was never linked to a combat unit. His affable, nice guy image made him better suited for the home front defense industry. Snow White appeared as a military nurse, and Flower the Skunk was on the emblem of three chemical warfare units. Dumbo the Flying Elephant appeared on bomber planes and bombs. In cases where Disney characters seemed out of place, the studio created new mascots, as it did for the Mosquito Fleet, the Flying Tigers and the Seabees." http://www.atissuejournal.com/2010/08/10/wwii-military-logos-by-disney/

After looking around the internet, I can only find two sites that show images of the Disney created designs http://www.skylighters.org/disney/ Use the forward (yellow pointing gloves) arrows to see more on that site

Here is a fantastic site with a couple dozen, all in color http://www.2719hyperion.com/p/service-with-character-disney-world-war.html

The Chinese characters read: "This foreign person has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers and civilians, one and all, should rescue and protect him"

Above photos and some following info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

The group consisted of three fighter squadrons with about 20 aircraft each. It trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II with the mission of defending China against Japanese forces. Arguably, the group was a private military contractor, and for that reason the volunteers have sometimes been called mercenaries. The members of the group had lucrative contracts with salaries ranging from $250 a month for a mechanic to $750 for a squadron commander, roughly three times what they had been making in the U.S. forces. Plus a $500 bonus for each aircraft they destroyed.

The Tigers' shark-faced fighters remain among the most recognizable of any individual combat aircraft of World War II, and they demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

General Hap Arnold said this about the Flying Tigers "You know, you AVG (American Volunteer Group) boys have an impressive combat record over there," and he added "but you know, more than the planes you destroyed, your main contribution was really the morale boost you gave this country" He continued; "The six or eight months you fellas operated in the beginning of the war, there wasn't much good news for us. We, nor the British or anyone else were able to beat the Japanese in those early months of the war. You guys were really the glimmer of hope because you were the only ones getting results. That meant an awful lot back here."

Many became captains in the airlines such as Pan Am, others became test pilots, some went on to very successful military careers including Major General.

There was a doctor, a lawyer and one that was both. The presiding judge in the infamous Charles Manson murder trial was a Flying Tiger. Several became successful in agriculture, businesses like restaurants and manufacturing. One member who wrote television scripts in Hollywood.

There were some who pursued successful non-flying careers in aviation as consultants, or one who was a state aviation director. One of the group helped pioneer the development of the jet engine and held many patents for engine components used today.

One group member distinguished himself as a state senator for over 20 years. Another became an Olympic diving coach on top of other successes.

Read more about the Flying Tigers at http://www.flyingtigersavg.com/tiger1.htm
photo from http://www.johngutmann.org/

1934, the all the west coast longshoremen, teamsters, and seamen unions went on strike and the national guard was called in

The nationwide labor upsurge of 1934 reached its peak in San Francisco. On May 9, 1934, leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) called a strike of all West Coast dockworkers, demanding a wage scale of the 6-day, 30-hour week at a minimum rate of $1 per hour, a “closed shop” (union membership as a requirement of employment), and union-administered hiring halls.

On May 15 teamsters, boilermakers and machinists voted a sympathy strike along with sailors and marine firemen’s union, involving 4,000 men, and 700 marine cooks and stewards took similar action the next day. Ferry boatmen, masters, mates and pilots, and marine engineers first struck against several companies for higher wages and a closed-shop contract, and subsequently the entire local was called out in a body. Not a single freighter left a Pacific coast port “for the first time in history.”

Enraged employers, backed by a sympathetic mayor and police chief, used every means available to open the waterfront and protect strikebreakers, whom they imported in large numbers. Working closely with local politicians and the press, the employers set out to convince the public that the strike was controlled by “Reds” intent on overthrowing the government.

These scare tactics led to an investigation of employer actions by a Senate subcommittee. The flagrant destruction of many of the records of the Industrial Association, described in this report, effectively prevented the Committee from obtaining full documentary evidence on the activities of the association. Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor, the subcommittee’s 1942 report, described the concerted efforts of the Industrial Association, the newspapers, and the San Francisco police to discredit the strike.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5134/ for the entire report

Didn't see that in your American History book did you. Just one case in a long history of corporate greed versus workers and unions, and just one example of the people with the money fdoing anything at all to make more money and the people with power abusing it. Both the money and the power calling the shots and forcing the cops and national guard to shoot the strikers. No kidding.
Photos from http://www.johngutmann.org/

Walter's junkyard of pre-1960's military aircraft, including a

Vought F7U Cutlass, a B-25 Mitchell, a Douglas Skyraider and the artcle mentions a B-36 Peacemaker (big bomber) which would be so enormous it would have to have a field all to itself



from http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2010/11/a-haunting-video-of-an-abandoned-airplane-graveyard.html via http://lostinjersey.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/in-ohio-lies-an-airplane-graveyard/