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WWII in color: Rare photos from 1942 show Flying Fortress
MailOnLine ^ | 03/19/13 | Snejana Farberov

Posted on 03/19/2013 5:44:56 PM PDT by Doogle

Millions of poignant black-and-white photos have come out of the World War Two era, but it is not often that scenes from the deadliest conflict in human history can be seen in living color.

In 1942, LIFE Magazine sent Margaret Bourke-White, one of its four original staff photographers and the first female photojournalist accredited to cover WWII, to take pictures of the VIII Bomber Command, commonly known as the Eighth Air Force or The Mighty 8th.

The photographs, executed in brilliant hues that make them look almost like oil paintings, put on full display the massive American B-24s and B-17s - or Flying Fortresses - that rained terror on Nazi-control cities often in tandem with the Royal Air Force.

In the early stages of the war, the Eighth Air Force and the bombers under its command were praised for the 'fantastic accuracy' of the attacks.

But as the conflict dragged on, the Flying Fortresses and their crews would face heavy loses, the most dramatic of which came in October 1943 when 60 bombers were destroyed and 600 pilots perished in a single raid in Germany.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: aerospace; eighthairforce; godsgravesglyphs; margaretbourkewhite; mighty8th; photo; viiibombercommand; worldwareleven; wwii
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To: Windflier

Humble thanks. And thanks to the men who flew them and won us our freedom.


81 posted on 03/19/2013 11:54:46 PM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: bt_dooftlook
Other beautiful planes: B-52...

Oh man, there's just something about the drooping stance of that beast that speaks to me. Next to the iconic B-17, it's one of my favorite war birds.


82 posted on 03/19/2013 11:55:02 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: ansel12
Ironic when your dad fought Germans, is wearing a German parachute and listening to a German Jump Master yelling at you to hook up and prepare to jump out of a Luftwaffe plane.

Hah! That's definitely got me beat!

83 posted on 03/20/2013 4:41:39 AM PDT by Egon (Apparently, Jimmy Carter DOES need a third term.)
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To: 45semi

Gotta love that ‘nose art!’ Yeah they were not PC back then, now you probably would get a court martial for being insensitive towards females.


84 posted on 03/20/2013 5:28:32 AM PDT by ABN 505
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To: Windflier
Any discussion of warbird plane porn isn't complete without the F4U.

Or the P-38:


85 posted on 03/20/2013 5:47:24 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Windflier
Do you know if the Liberty Belle is based in Addison? If she is, I'll have to get over there and give her a visit.

She caught fire in flight in Il 2011 but landed safely. I don't that she was based anywhere once she was restored; I think she was on a perpetual tour.

86 posted on 03/20/2013 6:10:14 AM PDT by Dysart ( Democracy is the road to socialism-- Karl Marx)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost
Or the P-38

Definitely one of the top ten pin ups.

87 posted on 03/20/2013 11:15:06 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Dysart
She caught fire in flight in 2011

Yeah, I saw that posted further down in the thread. What a tragic loss.

88 posted on 03/20/2013 11:18:21 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: GGpaX4DumpedTea

I still use my Mamiya twin lens reflex. Film processing is problematic.

I learned on a Yashica D TLR camera. Very high quality, both of them.


89 posted on 03/20/2013 11:22:39 AM PDT by ASOC (What are you doing now that Mexico has become OUR Chechnya?)
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To: Dysart

Another kinda neat site to check out is:
http://www.thirdreichruins.com/ lot of before and after pics


90 posted on 03/20/2013 11:24:33 AM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: real saxophonist

Ya. My dad spent the entire war in the PTO, but wouldn’t buy VW. Or as he puts it any ‘Damn Jap car”

Funny how having someone trying to kill you for 4 years can color your outlook...

He’ll get over it.


91 posted on 03/20/2013 11:26:26 AM PDT by ASOC (What are you doing now that Mexico has become OUR Chechnya?)
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To: tanknetter; Dysart

Liberty Bell survived the forced landing with little damage, but the fire crew were afraid their truck would get stuck in the wet field, and after they heard all the passengers had gotten out, they decided not to risk getting their truck stuck and just let her burn.


92 posted on 03/20/2013 11:36:03 AM PDT by jaydubya2
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

P-38 .....my father’s plane. So proud.


93 posted on 03/20/2013 11:44:58 AM PDT by EnquiringMind
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To: yarddog

You’re probably thinking of the Avro Shackleton, which isn’t a Lancaster but rather a third or fourth generation evolution of the Lancaster, powered by Griffon engines.

They were mainly ASW/Patrol aircraft, until the Nimrod came into service. Some were used as AEW platforms into the late 1980s or early 90s, their retirement postponed by the delays and cancellation of the Nimrod AEW. They were replaced by the RAF version of the E-3 Sentry.


94 posted on 03/20/2013 11:56:01 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: dfwgator

Along with flashbacks of trapping shots aboard angled deck supercarriers loaded with F-4 Phantoms and A-6 Intruders.

Plus WW2 nurses wearing tailored form fitting uniforms and Farrah Fawcett style feathered hairdos.

BOY-ING-TON!!!!!


95 posted on 03/20/2013 12:01:08 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: tanknetter

Now that you mention it, I should have remembered that it was a much newer plane with Lancaster heritage.


96 posted on 03/20/2013 12:04:46 PM PDT by yarddog (Truth, Justice, and what was once the American Way.)
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To: Egon

This is less colorful but it meant something to me.

My dad was in the Navy, (the German fighting part was in the Normandy invasion) and he spent most of the war fighting the Japanese from a well known light cruiser that earned combat fame, during the 1990s I got to tour a Japanese destroyer in San Diego, it also gave me that strange feeling.


97 posted on 03/20/2013 12:42:16 PM PDT by ansel12 (" I would not be in the United States Senate if it wasnÂ’t for Sarah Palin " Cruz said.)
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To: Windflier
The B-17 was quite elegant, for a bomber.

The most beautiful airplane of all time, for my money though, was this:


98 posted on 03/20/2013 12:59:46 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh (Cogito, ergo armatum sum.)
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To: andy58-in-nh
The most beautiful airplane of all time, for my money though, was...

The British Spitfire.

Hard to argue with that pick, but of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When it comes to admiring these legendary war birds, it's hard for me to do more than choose a top ten in no particular order. Like a doting mother, I can't seem to choose one over another :-)

99 posted on 03/20/2013 1:56:04 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Doogle
damn... i had to look twice to see them
100 posted on 03/20/2013 3:30:36 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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