Jump to content

Vintage bomber photos including inflight crews at work


Bob Hudson
 Share

Recommended Posts

Found an image showing that some of these photos were taken while the photographer (who retired as a Lt Col) was in 5th Air Force:

 

55.jpg

 

The flight line

 

56.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These may be the last of the batch (there's a bunch that seem to be mostly family photos and i have to go through those one more time to see if I missed anything).

 

Before joining the Air Corps in WWII he was a cadet at The Citadel:

 

57.jpg

 

58.jpg

 

59.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look closely at the photo of the B-17 in post #2. Underneath of it is what I believe is a lifeboat. This was used for long range air/ sea rescue.

 

The insignia on the side has the red bar indicating that it is from the postwar era. This may be tied to your later photo of the lifeboats floating in the water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look closely at the photo of the B-17 in post #2. Underneath of it is what I believe is a lifeboat. This was used for long range air/ sea rescue.

 

The insignia on the side has the red bar indicating that it is from the postwar era. This may be tied to your later photo of the lifeboats floating in the water.

 

Found some more life raft photos in the stack:

 

60.jpg

 

61.jpg

 

62.jpg

 

63.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ww1collector

The "Generals ride" looks like a Super Constellation. They were in service as commercial planes at that time too. Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Found some more life raft photos in the stack:

 

60.jpg

 

61.jpg

 

62.jpg

 

63.jpg

 

Taking closer look at these, as well as your previous one, it would appear these life rafts are occupied! I didn't catch it with the first one... I thought the shadows were just highlights of the life rafts. But taking a second look, the very top most one looks like it has an aviator lying on his back with a flight jacket (or life jacket) looking skyward.

 

Yep, I bet there is a good story to go with these!

Life_rafts_2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taking closer look at these, as well as your previous one, it would appear these life rafts are occupied! I didn't catch it with the first one... I thought the shadows were just highlights of the life rafts. But taking a second look, the very top most one looks like it has an aviator lying on his back with a flight jacket (or life jacket) looking skyward.

 

Yep, I bet there is a good story to go with these!

 

I had looked at the first ones I scanned and wondered if they might be occupied: but then that last set makes it clear. Those are rather extreme enlargements, but in the one you can see people sitting up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Down to the very last scans. I scanned 47 filmstrips, with four negatives on each strip, for a total of more than 180 images. Each strip yielded perhaps two images worth enlarging (there were some duplicates, especially of aircraft in flight). Having almost half of the negatives be "interesting" is a pretty good success rate for photographs. Again, I made liberal use of cropping and exposure adjustments for the enlarged ones.

 

69.jpg

 

69b.jpg

 

I believe this is Mt Fuji when he was with 5th AF in Japan. This was on the same filmstrip as the flight line sentry.

 

69c.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last set:

 

Okay who is this Lt. General at the Boeing B-50 event?

 

72.jpg

 

Random aircraft shots:

 

70.jpg

 

71.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The negatives came in this small metal box: open it up and it has a section for storing negatives (up to 1200 or so) and there's a white surface with a light behind it that can be used to view the negatives. This box is late 1940's and contemporary to the film.

 

box1.jpg

 

Most of the negatives were rolled up and stored in the right side of the tray: curled up negatives are a bear to load in to my film scanner.

 

box2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing.

 

On the firsts, the crews were using B-5 mae west. So, I believe the shots were post ww2.

 

Franck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing.

 

On the firsts, the crews were using B-5 mae west. So, I believe the shots were post ww2.

 

Franck

 

Some AAF crews in the Pacific had the B-5 late in the war, but it could have been in 46 or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cobrahistorian

Hey Bob, nice P-47N! That's a 73rd Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group Jug off of Ie Shima.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sgt. Boghots

Ref: Post #26, photo #3 - The guy on the phone wearing flight suit, writing with a newspaper in front of him . . .

 

Bob,

 

I've a high degree of certainty that this could be Robert G. Emmens, Doolittle Raider and co-pilot of crew #8. Bob was a late replacement addition to the raid, replacing another member that he said had gotten sick during initial training. Bob's was the crew that after the Tokyo raid, made a safe landing near Vladivostok, Russia.

 

They were held by the Russians for 13 months, until escaping and making a grueling trek on foot to Turkey.

Bob retired from the Air Force as a Colonel, returning to his hometown of Medford, Oregon.

 

I knew him well in his later years, after he'd retired from his civilian life. He was a heck of a fine gentleman. His cheerful demeanor and beaming smile are remembered by all that knew him.

 

In the '50's he authored a great book on his Doolittle raid experiences, "Guests of The Kremlin".

 

I believe that his crew #8 was the last surviving full crew from the raid. - He remained very humble about his own experiences, deferring any glory to those who didn't make it, or survived the hell of captivity by the Japanese.

 

Like I said, without turning up other photos I can't be absolutely positive your picture is of Bob Emmens. But I looked through a number of his photos with him, and I'm pretty certain.

 

Here's a link to info about Bob Emmens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Emmens

 

Great photos Bob, I'm really enjoying them :thumbsup:

 

Best regards,

Paul Walker

Klamath Falls, Oregon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ref: Post #26, photo #3 - The guy on the phone wearing flight suit, writing with a newspaper in front of him . . .

 

Bob,

 

I've a high degree of certainty that this could be Robert G. Emmens, Doolittle Raider and co-pilot of crew #8. Bob was a late replacement addition to the raid, replacing another member that he said had gotten sick during initial training. Bob's was the crew that after the Tokyo raid, made a safe landing near Vladivostok, Russia.

 

They were held by the Russians for 13 months, until escaping and making a grueling trek on foot to Turkey.

Bob retired from the Air Force as a Colonel, returning to his hometown of Medford, Oregon.

 

I knew him well in his later years, after he'd retired from his civilian life. He was a heck of a fine gentleman. His cheerful demeanor and beaming smile are remembered by all that knew him.

 

In the '50's he authored a great book on his Doolittle raid experiences, "Guests of The Kremlin".

 

I believe that his crew #8 was the last surviving full crew from the raid. - He remained very humble about his own experiences, deferring any glory to those who didn't make it, or survived the hell of captivity by the Japanese.

 

Like I said, without turning up other photos I can't be absolutely positive your picture is of Bob Emmens. But I looked through a number of his photos with him, and I'm pretty certain.

 

Here's a link to info about Bob Emmens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Emmens

 

Great photos Bob, I'm really enjoying them :thumbsup:

 

Best regards,

Paul Walker

Klamath Falls, Oregon

 

I found another Emmens photo

 

emmons.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-214-1301160625.jpg

 

I really like the jeep in this pic. It looks like it has a "extension" added to the rear, and hub caps! Most cool pics!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sgt. Boghots
I found another Emmens photo

 

post-214-1301251888.jpg

 

I had seen those on the web too, but was both too incapable and lazy, to attempt a nice cropping of them like you just did :lol:

 

His personal photos that I looked at with him years ago, really showed his tendancy toward curly red hair when he was younger man. When I knew him, his hair was mostly graying.

 

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
Just went throught the whole set of photos. Totally awesome. Thank you for sharing!

 

JD

 

Thanks for the reminder: I've had so much stuff come through in the last month, I'd already forgotten I had these :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...