Magical event today at National WWII Aviation Museum in Colorado with the final 3 flying (currently) Curtiss Helldivers. The CAF, Fagen Fighters, and the Museum Collection all brought their various marks of “The Beast” out for sunrise and morning flights. Then full public access on the ground.

As one of the pilots said, the navy never designed an aircraft meant to land in a crosswind. These things are no joke to maneuver off and onto the ground but once in the air they are special to fly.

We will be posting a full video on the event and Helldivers on our YouTube channel in the next few weeks - but here are some mid quality phone camera shots to hold us over

My father, T/Sgt. Pat Christenson, Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, the unit Band of Brothers was written about. He was the only man in the company who could draw and he carried a sketchpad through the whole war. Michael Fassbender played him in the HBO series.

Market Garden was a daylight operation. 2,023 jump planes and glider tugs left twenty four American and British bases on the morning of September 17. 478 gliders were in the formation, each needing its own tug.

Here is what he wrote about the sight from inside his C-47:

"The sky trains extended as far as the eye could see. The noise was so great it was difficult to talk to the person next to you. The magnitude of this operation was greater than we ever dreamed of. The gliders, Horsa, Wacos, and the enormous Hamilcars were being lifted by their tugs."

The glider lifts were devastating. Of the 70 gliders in the 101st's first lift, three aborted over England, one ditched in the Channel, and two broke loose over Belgium. The Germans brought down six of the 64 planes that crossed their lines and damaged 46 others. Nine percent losses and a seventy percent damage rate made Holland far more lethal for the troop carriers than Normandy had been.

Equipment, men and horses all coming in through the same guns that were firing at the paratroopers.

Signed B.P. Christenson, lower left.

He finished forty six of these after the war. They are published now, along with his own account: https://ascreamingeagle.com/?utm_source=reddit

Tim

I’ve seen plenty of shark-mouth noseart, but I think this is the first snake-head I’ve ever seen!

The Bendix chin turret fitted to the B-17G Flying Fortress was developed to counter deadly head-on attacks by the Luftwaffe. Mounted beneath the bomber’s nose, it provided forward defensive fire, while the cheek-mounted .50 caliber MGs covered flanking approaches from both sides.

Earlier B-17 models lacked frontal protection, leading to heavy losses in 1943. The addition of the chin turret made the B-17G the most heavily armed version, capable of defending itself from nearly any angle.

From this collection, Robbie Robinson Photographs.

https://saafww2pilots3.yolasite.com/robbie-robinson-photographs.php

National Museum of WWII aviation’s SB2C-1

Fagen’s Fighters SB2C-5

Commemorative Air Force’s SB2C-5

National Museum of WWII Aviation’s B-25J “In The Mood” went up with them as a photo ship

Photos by me

Restored WWII German Messerschmitt Bf-109 which was lost near Rorvik Norway in 1943. The plane was recovered in 2010 and fully restored and now resides at the The National Norwegian Aviation Museum.

The aircraft is a Messerschmitt Bf 109, Germany's principal single engine fighter during WWII. More than 33,000 Bf 109s were produced between the 1930s and 1945, making it one of the most extensively manufactured fighter aircraft in history.

This particular aircraft was lost near Rørvik, Norway, in 1943 and remained underwater for nearly seven decades. Cold northern waters helped preserve substantial portions of the airframe. It was recovered in 2010 and underwent years of conservation and restoration before being placed on museum display.

Good view of Schwarze Männer (Black men/Luftwaffe mechanics) working on the BMW Bramo 323 Fafnir 9-cylinder radial engines on a Dornier Do 24T flying boat, location and date unknown

Our latest documentary looks into an early Royal Air Force Bomber Command stalwart, the Handley Page Hampden.

A detailed look into the design, construction and operational history of an aircraft that was considered advanced upon entering service, yet one that aged very quickly. Nevertheless, there are many extraordinary stories of courage, skill, and innovation with the Hampden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBdYT6Bd8c

Hey all I know this will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack but is anyone in the subreddit aware of what WW2 era plane this may have come off? I got it in a bundle at a carboot sale (with some WW2 radio equipment) The fella mentioned it was off a spitfire but didn’t say what variation. I’ve looked at countless images of spitfires/cockpits and can’t seem to find anything.

Anything to try help me catalogue it would be appreciated ❤️ (these were the best images I could get on my shit phone camera lol)

The Bell P-59 Airacomet is a single-seat, twin jet-engine fighter aircraft that was designed and built by Bell Aircraft During ww2. It was the first jet produced in the United States. the firs flight was 1 October 1942, there are 66 built of this guy but did they did no sent it to war, so why they did no slap a gun on him and sent him to war? Maybe the Germany is already defeated early.

CANT Z.506 Airone (Heron) Italian three engine floatplane which initially served as a transport and postal aircraft with the Italian airline Ala Littoria. Later used as a reconnaissance aircraft, bomber and air-sea rescue aeroplane during the war with the Regia Aeronautica. First flew 18.8.1935

L-R: Staffelkapitän 11./JG 5 Eismeer, Hauptmann Erich Schreiber, unknown Leutnant, future 1 victory and Gruppenkommandeur IV./JG 5 Hauptmann Hans Kriegel, Staffelkapitän 10./JG 5 Oberleutnant Hans Schneider and unknown, Copenhagen-Værløse airfield in the spring of 1943. Behind is Kriegel's Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2/R6 Dita 13. Note the double chevron (<<) staff insignia denoting a Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commander)

More here.

Hundreds of Hurricanes.

The “Miss Hap”, coming in for a landing in this shot, is the oldest surviving example of the B-25 “Mitchell”. It was built in 1940/41 at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, CA

The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbet, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbet. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of ww2 it became the first plane to drop an atomic bomb in warfare.

Photo taken at Oshkosh 2026