Vintage shots from days gone by!

I wonder does anyone remember seeing a picture of a teens or twenties truck, longbed, I think it was an oldsmobile, carrying about 8 other identical frames? Its black and white, great picture... I'd love to dig it up my last computer got stolen, lost all my good car stuff.

 

Messerschmitt Me-262 (early German jets) found stashed in the woods at the end of WW2 as I recall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262

 

You are correct, Queen Elizabeth (our current Queen's late mother, was in the car as well)

 

Another little hometown selection - this time from the 1966 and 1967 Glenbrook North High School yearbooks. Scanner at the library isn't the greatest but I did what I could:








And I haven't forgotten you, swi66:

 

^^ Northbrook? IL? I think we played sports in the same interurban league, eh? Waukegan HS, 1966. Gary

 

Some really good 50's photos here,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blast_of_the_past/6826182481/lightbox/

Ross.

 

Thanks Ross, A lot of cool pic's I have never seen before.

 

From National Archives WWII collection:



PFC Mickey Rooney entertaining troops


Bing Crosby entertaining US military in London

 

Women workers polishing A-20 nose glass, Douglas factory, Long Beach (one could have been my mother-in-law, who worked at Douglas during WWII)



WWII Victory ships

 

Weren't these built at a rate of 4 weeks from start to finish? Or were those the "Liberty" ships?

 

Correction... The "Liberty" ships were built in 42 days... the "Victory"ships came out later and were larger with a different hull design and power plant where it was 5-6 knots faster and could outrun the earlier "Liberty's".

 

Doc, and all you other aviation buffs should watch this
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=759_1370809886

 

It seems to me that the time it took to build these ships cannot be calculated because they were assembled using using modules that were stockpiled in most cases. There was at least one "contest" to see how fast a Liberty could be created from keel to sliding down the ways. It was something like one day or something close to that. Great publicity. but far from reality.

 

My Dad worked at Boeing for years and could tell you what kind of aircraft it was looking up at them when they were flying overhead. Sometimes, way overhead.

 

Charlie Thompson family in Linn, Kansas

 

Some more from British Columbia.

 

Yep,---We called them "Kaiser Coffins" like the one I was on, the skin was only 1 inch thick, & they were built to make one trip. (Expendable).

 

Sorry guys, been lazy the last few days.

There is some very famous film of these aircraft too. As the Allies advanced the Germans were falling back so fast they could not maintain operational airfields. They went to utilising Highways as airfields, the Autobahns the Germans built before the War were designed with sections built for just this use.
It was you guys (U.S.) that found these first. The abandoned aircraft were the 'lame ducks' un-airworthy for some reason or battle damaged, most had been scavenged for parts to keep other aircraft flying. It is a testament to the speed of the U.S. advance that these 262s were not destroyed before the Germans retreated. Leaving behind the most technologically advanced and operational aircraft of the war is not the smartest thing one could do!!

This is some film of the 262s found along the autobahns, its very symbolic with the U.S. vehicles of the advance passing them by.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_WOSjnDVps


The pic of the jet being dropped by the bomber is.........er........ I have no idea, have to look that one up but I can tell you the bomber is a B-50, a post war development of the B-29.

Cheers, the super nerd,
Doc.

EDIT:
I looked up the jet, it is the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. A rocket powered, air launched research aircraft built for the NAVY and the first manned aircraft to exceed Mach 2, twice the speed of sound 1,290 mph (2076 km/h). It was piloted by Scott Crossfield who was an Ex Navy fighter pilot and flight trainer during WWII. At the time of the Mach2 flight he was a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' (NACA).

 

More "Vintage Shots" from New Westminster,B.C. Canada.

 

Continued.

 

More.

 

More. Check out the guys on the bicycles, setting out from New Westminster,BC. Canada, headed for Sacramento,CA. I wonder if they made it?

 

Here's a few, especially for "Doc Watson", RCAF pics from the Vancouver area.

 

Thanks for posting that. The look on the veteran's face when he realizes what he is seeing is priceless.

 

Can anyone read the Ship ID on the side of this Destroyer?



It appears to be a H Class Destroyer but apart from that I cant work out what ship it is, could that be H19 on the side? If so that would be HMS Harvester sunk by a U-Boat (U-432) in March 1943.

Doc.

 

That veteran's excitement at seeing that footage, certainly is priceless! Wow, gives you a buzz just watching him.