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Photo collection


riverok
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I am posting a very interesting photo which is part of a large collection I have been given permission to copy. This photo has appeared in print. "American Raiders" by Wolfgang W.E. Samuel featured the picture of B17 bombers before they were destroyed by U.S. G.I.s in Germany. A knowledgeable friend said the planes are the very latest B17s at war's end. They are bright and shiny.

 

I counted more than 150 bombers in the photo and there are many more shown. The WWII vet who let me copy more than 100 photos taken in France and Germany said he and others placed one and a half pounds of TNT in the nose of each plane and set the charges off. G.I.s got some of the radios first so that could listen to big band music from the states. German homes were fitted with wiring and Plexiglas salvaged from U.S. aircraft.

 

Another photo in the collection of a Gen. George Patton sitting inside his huge staff car, a Dodge I think.

 

Many photos are of L5 Piper planes used by the U.S. Army Air Corps. 14th Liaison Squad in Germany in 1944-1945. Also there are a large number of photos of plane crashes including a P38 that tangled with an L5. There is a photo of a German Storch plane (an observation type aircraft) that was forced down by G.I.s in an L5.

Please respect the photo. I hope nobody hijacks it for EBay, etc.

 

Riverok

Oklahoma

post-5625-1236908804.jpg

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This reminds me of a story...

 

At the end of the war, my grandpa and "his" P-47s (he was a mechanic in the 8th and 9th AAF) were back in England getting ready for the hop back to the US when the order came to destroy the Jugs. Since they only had their sheet metal shop, they didn't know how they were going to do this without explosives. After a day or so of deliberation, the decided that the best method was to push them into the English Channel. My grandpa said he nearly cried as those beautiful planes rolled down the hill and into the water.

 

If anyone is looking for an old P-47 to restore, I guess you could check out the bottom of the English Channel!

 

Does anyone have any statistics on just how much equipment was destroyed after the war, rather then returned to the US?

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Regarding copies of U.S. military photos: this is an interesting issue because the photos obviously belong to the U.S. Government. I would guess any military item, especially those marked U.S. Property, may belong to the government if push cam to shove?

 

What's your opinion?

 

Riverok

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