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Historical Military Aviation Moments

Black and white images capturing WWII pilots and aircraft. Features notable planes like the B-24, P-38, and Spitfire, highlighting the valor and history of aerial combat.

Lt. Wm. B. King, 1241 Princess Ave., Atlanta, Ga., leans on the wing of his plane "GEORGIA PEACH" on which he has added five "goose-steppers" for five Herman-the-Germans who tried to run away after he had set their ammunition carrier afire--they

Anefo photo collection. Russian spaceman (training). October 15, 1959

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Palembang - Paraboo cool - Batoorka - Lahat. Field artillery with 25-ponders in a statement during shooting exercises. Pointing the cannon. May 1948. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Sumatra

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Aviation day military aviation at Kemajoran airport. Pilot of a Piper L4-J Cub Grasshopper. March 9, 1947. Batavia, Indonesia, Jakarta, Kemajoran, Dutch East Indies

Major Herbst with his North American P-51 "Tommy's Dad", showing victories. Kenchow Air Base, China.

Reserve second lieutenant kite G. Sonderman.

Royal Air Force- 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945. Wing Commander R H Harries, Wing Leader of No .135 Wing, sitting in the cockpit of his Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX at Funtington, Sussex, two days after shooting down a Focke Wulf Fw 190 to claim 18.5 enemy aircraft destroyed. He claimed is first victories as a flight commander with No. 131 Squadron RAF in 1942 and was given the command of No. 91 Squadron RAF in January 1943. After a lecture tour in the United States, he took over 135 Wing in early 1944 and led them until January 1945, when he was posted as Wing Commander (Training) No. 84 Group of 2 TAF. His final score was 20.5 victories.

A U.S. Air Force Air National Guard master sergeant checks on aircraft for possible hydraulic leaks while it is on the ground during exercise Reforger/Autumn Forge 1980. Autumn Forge is a reserve airdrop near hear involving mostly U.S. and British troops and equipment. Subject Operation/Series: REFORGER/AUTUMN FORGE '80 Base: Wunsdorf Air Base, Landsberg Country: West Germany (FRG)

At End of Record Breaking Atlantic Flight -- Pictured beside their Canberra Jet Bomber After they had flown from Aldergrove Northern Ireland, to gander, Newfoundaland in a record - smashing flying time of seven hours and 59 minutes, are the crew of the British Plane, at Aldergrove.Left to Right: Roland Beamont, Chief Pilot; and Co-Pilot Peter Hillwood. The whole trip of 4,144 miles took only ten hours four minutes. September 01, 1952. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

A Pilot Of The 94Th Fighter Squadron, 1St Fighter Group Sits In The Cockpit Of His Lockheed P-38 Lightning At An Air Base Somewhere In Italy. September 21 1945.

A striking study of a Maori Typhoon Fighter Pilot, Warrant Officer J. H. Wetere. He was on All Black and is seen eagerly waiting to get at the enemy.A Typhoon Squadron of the R.A.F., which is commanded by Win Commander Wilkinson, D.F. M. and Bar, who is the only Station Commander in Fighter Command with the D.F.M. and Bar and was an R. A. F. apprentice in 1930, principally goes out shooting up enemy shipping, factories, barges and trains and has quite a record to its credit. June 03, 1943. (Photo by Pix Photos)

Lt. J.K.F. Bluett R.N. and Lt. P.F. McNay R.N. walk away from their Sea Fury aircraft, after they landed at Mascot. They shot ***** an Auster Aircraft which made a solo flight from Bankstown. August 30, 1955. (Photo by Bert Power/Fairfax Media).

Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Flight Lieutenant D S G Honor of No. 274 Squadron RAF poses by a Hawker Hurricane of the squadron at Gerawala, Egypt, on rejoining his unit following his rescue from Crete. Honor was shot down by Messerschmitt Bf 109s after despatching two Junkers Ju 52s off Maleme. He escaped from his sinking Hurricane and reached shore after a four hours swim. After spending six days on the island he was flown back to Egypt by a Short Sunderland.

Airmen prepare to supply an E-3A Airborne warning and control system aircraft with liquid nitrogen. The aircraft will be deployed to Ramstein Air Base, West Germany, to participate in a joint training exercise with elements of the NATO air-defense system in central Europe. Base: Tinker Air Force Base State: Oklahoma (OK) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Cpl. P.J. Grimshaw. July 24, 1955.

The Army Air Corps Heralds 30 Years of Progress -- This historic photo shows the first time a machine gun was ever carried by an airplane. Capt. C. Def. Chandler is seen with the machine gun in the aeroplane with Lieutenant Roy T. Kirtland at College Park, MD., June 7-8, 1912. Roy T. Kirtland recently retired as a Colonel in the Army Air Corps. July 24, 1939. (Photo by U.S. Army Air Corps).

DF-SD-07-26069. Country: United States Of America (USA)

Seville, 02/14/1936. Tablada air base. Arrival in Seville from Camaguey of the Cuban aviator Antonio Menéndez Peláez. In the image, the moment when he descends from the device.

Sweden, Blekinge, Blekinge, Karlskrona, Karlskrona, external marina (depicted, town).Sweden, Blekinge, Blekinge, Karlskrona, Karlskrona, External War Gogs (depicted, City)

Anefo photo collection. HR. Ms. Jan van Brakel American port. Dutch Marine officers. 1944. United America

Pilot and student aerial photographer, with a small camera, discuss a mission. Plane is an SNJ trainer. Feb 1944 - NAS PENSACOLA, FLA.

Painter. AB. F.O. Clouton finishes his task on the radio aerial platform. Aerial masts can be lowered to a horizontal position when flying operations are in progress. January 11, 1950.

Anefo photo collection. Major Flinterman with Lieutenant Wansink. August 31, 1949

"Take Me With You" Says Flaps Of The United States Air Force -- Staff Sergeant Murphy of Riverside, California, has a hard job to resist the pleading of "Flaps" the Squadron Mascot of the United States Air Force base at Marham, Norfolk, before the take off of a Superfort. October 23, 1950. (Photo by Fox Photos).

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Inspection travel General P.L.G. Doorman (September-October 1946). Pilot looks out of cockpit plane. September 1946. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies

Aviation Boatswain's Mate H (Aircraft Handling) 3rd Class Byron L. Hendrix tests his AN/PRC-114 radio set on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67) during Fleet Ex 1-90. Subject Operation/Series: FLEET EX 1-90 Country: Atlantic Ocean (AOC)

Royal Air Force- Italy, the Balkans and South-east Europe, 1944-1945. Colonel L A Wilmot SAAF, Commanding Officer of No. 239 Wing RAF (centre), standing with two of his pilots at Cutella, south of Vasto, Italy, the day after leading the Wing on a highly successful strike to the Pescara River dam, which they destroyed with 500-lb bombs, and from which all aircraft returned safely. Standing with Colonel Wilmot are the pilots whose bombs first breached the dam walls; Flight Lieutenant K Richards of No. 3 Squadron RAAF (left), and Flight Sergeant A Duguid of No. 260 Squadron RAF (right).

Anefo photo collection. Prince Bernhard gives B25 Mitchell Bomber to Air Force Museum Soesterberg. October 23, 1971. Soesterberg, Utrecht

NATO Airbase in France. Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. Connection man ?. April 1949. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies

1St Lt. Walter J. Goehausen, St. Louis, Mo., 1 Of 7 Pilots Of This Veteran North American P-51 Mustang High Altitude Fighter Group Of The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces That That Has Accounted For 5 Or More Enemy Aircraft Destroyed In Aerial Combat, Is P

Russian Aviator, Aviation

A member of the 3rd Bomb Division's 452nd Bomb Group who is a veteran of the air war but draws no flying pay is "Blondie," shown here with two members of her crew on the B-17 Flying ofrtress "Up'n Front"-Captain Kenneth R. Martin, 27, Kewanee

Clarence C Jamison (1918-2014) Cleveland, OH, is shown in the cockpit of an Advanced Trainer at the Basic and Advanced Flying School for Negro Air Corps Cadets, Tuskegee, AL, 1/12/1942. (Photo by US Army Air Corps/GG Vintage Images)

USA/Japan: Maj. Gen. James H. Doolittle (center), commander of the Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force, surrounded by a group of U.S. flyers, 1942

Cpl. Augusto Cesar de Aravjo, from Bahia, is an armament man with the First Brazilian Fighter Squadron in Italy. All officers and enlisted men are volunteers.

Royal Air Force 1939-1945- the RAF in France, 1940 The RAF's first ace of the war was Flying Officer Edgar 'Cobber' Kain of No 73 Squadron, seen here with his Hurricane at the beginning of April 1940. Comment: This shows a Hurricane Mark I with original two-bladed propeller.

Civilian Instructors and WASP Trainees at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. Civilian Instructors and WASP Trainees at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. "Civilian instructors and WASP trainees on flight line at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. Trainees, left to right: Nancy Lowe, Eileen Roach, Mary Edit Engle, Isabel Madison, Virginia Malany, Virginia Hill, and Ruth Underwood.".

Detachment 101, an enigmatic Allied intelligence and special operations unit during World War II, played a pivotal role in the Burmese theater. Operating deep in the jungles of Burma, their mission was multi-faceted, encompassing guerrilla warfare, espionage, and sabotage against Japanese forces. Comprising a diverse group of individuals, from OSS agents to indigenous fighters, they effectively disrupted Japanese supply lines, gathered critical intelligence, and supported resistance movements.

021206-M-3031H-084. State: Guadalcanal Country: Solomon Islands (SLB)

Lt. Robert J. Coopers, Chicago, Ill., Pilot Of A P-51 Of The 8Th Air Force In England.

Here Comes the Band (Dutch Marine). Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel

Cpl. Alva R. Schwartz, Air Mechanic, Poses In Front Of The Insignia On A Plane. Panama.

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A Fairey Swordfish pilot of 834 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm on board HMS BATTLER with his small pet parrot perched on his finger.

Ensign Jesse L. Brown, seated in the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair Fighter plane, the U.S. Navyís first black naval aviator. While in Korea, he was killed in action and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Royal Air Force- France, 1939-1940. Pilot Officer P W O 'Boy' Mould of No. 1 Squadron RAF, photographed just after returning to Berry-au-Bac having shot down two German aircraft east of Vouziers. Mould made the RAF's first victory claim over France when he shot down a Dornier Do 17 west of Toul on 30 October 1939. He left France with seven confirmed victories and in 1941 was posted to Malta, where he eventually assumed command of No. 185 Squadron RAF and was killed in action on 1 October.

An American-made Curtiss P-40 stands by while these two Russian airmen on the Karelian front busy themselves between missions with the intellectual strategies of a chess game.

ENGLAND-Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, of ofrest Hills, L.I., New York, sitting in his plane. Note 26 kills on his plane. Since this picture was taken, Col. Meyer has boosted his total to 37 1/2 planes (24 in the air and 13 1/2 on the ground), making him

Maj. John R. Alison, Gainesville, Florida, an American Volunteer Group Ace (Flying Tigers) poses in front of a Curtiss P-40 at an air base somewhere in China.

DF-SN-86-12507. Base: Royal Air Force Bentwaters Country: United Kingdom (GBR)

Europe: April 13, 1918 Two American aviators somewhere in Europe during WWI.

Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, R-Calif., and MAJ. GEN. Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, discuss the Rockwell B-1 bomber being tested at the center. Base: Edwards Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

aeronautica, ritratto di aviatore, 1910

Pilot talking into helmet headset

Retrato de las primeras mujeres aviadoras. Años 1918.

Photograph - Operation Fire Fly. Photograph - Operation Fire Fly. Forest Fires - A trooper in full gear waits for the order to board ship. Photograph taken at Pendleton Air Base, Pendleton, Oregon, by Edgar W. Weinberger, Army Air Forces Photographer.

Captain William D. Stanford helps Craig Nelson with the controls on his space suit. Nelson, who portrays Colonel Sarnac on the TV series "Call to Glory, and a film crew are preparing to shoot episodes depict the early SR-71 Blackbird flights. Base: Beale Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Female sailor at the airfield in öfteberg 1943.

Royal Air Force Operations in the Far East, 1941-1945. Air and ground crews of 'Flak Happy', a Consolidated Liberator B Mark VI of No. 215 Squadron RAF, put the finishing touches to the nose art on the side of the fuselage, at Dhubalia, India.

Army soldier standing near a missile

DF-SC-85-08443. Country: Unknown

03/31/1912. The aviator Helén, who has arrived in Madrid to teach the Military Aviators how to handle the Nieuport Monoplanes.

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