A woman I worked with knew of my interest in WW2 and mentioned that her Great Grandfather had been in the war. Turns out he was stationed in the Phillipines before the war with an O-38 observation squadron and was captured at Bataan, surviving the death march. He has since passed away but there were a bunch of photos that showed up in his stuff. His son was also in the USAAF and his photos were mixed in as well. He too has passed away.
So here’s some of what I was able to scan.
1st is a very early B17. Wondering if any of the experts can nail down which one?
Second pair are confusing as it appears to be a Japanese dive bomber or something similar, but the photos are dated 1946. Anyone have any idea on these?
Third is a Catalina wreck. Serial number is on the photo.
Fourth is a postwar B17 getting worked on. Appears to have an 8th AF patch under the nose by the entry hatch.
And last is some 30s monoplane with some serious spats. Not sure what it is.
So to the experts. have at it 🙂 If nothing else it’s always fun to get into some old photos with a scanner going.
Dan
By: Ant.H - 31st March 2006 at 14:05
The Japanese aircraft looks to me like a Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ torpedo bomber, rather than an Aichi ‘Val’. The Val’s wing folding point was further out toward the tips, and the canopy with it’s three sliding portions is distinctively ‘Kate’.
By: Jan - 31st March 2006 at 13:07
Two more;
1) O-39 at Pope field. Only ten Curtiss O-39 Falcons were built, s/ns 32-211 to -220. The O-39 was a variant of the Curtiss O-1G, the O-39 being reengined with a Curtiss Conqueror engine, and fitted with wheel spats.
2) The US Army Attack plane A-12, is a Curtiss A-12 Shrike. More on the Shrike can be found here: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher4/a12.html
Regards,
Jan
By: T6flyer - 31st March 2006 at 12:46
The T-6 with the gentleman alongside is a postwar photo as it has a TA- buzz number on the side. Pity we cant see the serial (may be TexanTomcat’s!), but interesting none the less.
Martin
By: Jan - 31st March 2006 at 11:41
Dan,
1) The OA-10A might be s/n 44-34067, which was a PBV-1A built by Canadian Vickers against a US Navy contract. However, the contract was transferred to the USAAF.
2) The B-17G is possibly B-17G-85-BO s/n 43-38467. I can’t read the full name painted on the nose, but it looks something like ‘The Volume’. The photo is taken post-war, as indicated by the buzz-number BA-467 on the tail.
3) The Lockheed P-80 s/n 58342 is P-80A-5-LO s/n 45-8342.
Regards,
Jan
By: Jan - 31st March 2006 at 11:06
Dan,
Absolutely brilliant photos!
I think I may be able to help identify a few of them;
1) The “30s monoplane” is a Seversky BT-8. The USAAC bought 30, s/ns 35-247 to -276, as their first monoplane trainer. The lineage to the P-47 Thunderbolt is there.
2) The Japanese divebomber looks like a Aichi D3A ‘Val’. The experts at www.j-aircraft.com will surely be able to identify it.
3) The OA-10 Catalina is most likely not s/n 43-4067, as this was a B-25J-1-NC Mitchell. Incidentally, this particular B-25 served with the 321st BG, 448th BS as ‘The Big Swing’, and crashed in Switzerland on 7 February 1945.
Regards,
Jan
By: JDK - 31st March 2006 at 08:43
Some great stuff, Dan, thanks for sharing.
I can’t answer any of your qwuestions, but it looks like a DC-2 or C-33 behind the F4-B4, and there’s a surviving Kellett Autogiro at Yank’s Air Museum at Chino.
By: Dan Johnson - 31st March 2006 at 08:28
Some more from the same scrapbook. They covered a lot of aviation time frames.
Lots of good 30s stuff and some stuff from the 50s as well
Dan
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March 31, 2006 at 7:58 am