Random photo montage of enjoyment......

Did your father fly the "razorback" canopy model for the duration of the war, or did his unit ever get the "bubble" canopy models?

His first two assigned planes were razorback Ds. When they shipped to Ie Shima, the whole group switched to P-47Ns.

http://www.inpayne.com/dad/dad.html
http://www.inpayne.com/models/models_dad.html
http://www.inpayne.com/dad/dadhistory.html

All this talk of Cruise ships/Liners has me thinking about proper Liners. Here are a couple that I think represent the category well.


This is the S.S. United States. She was built in 1952, and taken out of service in 1969. She is still in existence, being owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines and maintained at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Various plans have been put forth to preserve her or put her back into service, but so far nothing has materialized.


The S.S. Monterey. This ship was one of four passenger/cruise liners built for Matson Lines, out of Hawaii. This ship had a very long life, being built in 1932 and not being taken out of active service until 1994. She was lost on her way to the scrappers in India in 2000.


This is the S.S. Australis, formerly the S.S. America. She operated with the S.S. United States until her sale to Chandris Lines in 1964. She was active until 1978, and with many schemes to get her back to sea or refitted as a hotel, was sold for scrap in 1994. She parted her tow line and ran aground off the coast of the Canary Islands. She was visible in the surf until total structural collapse in 2007.


S.S. American Star, ex S.S. America, aground in 2004.


This is the S.S. Admiral Nakhimov, formerly the S.S. Berlin. Built in 1925, she was in service with Germany until the end of WWII, when she was beached after striking multiple mines. She was salvaged by the Russians, and continued in service until her loss in 1986, when she was rammed and sunk by the Tanker Pyotr Vasev.


This is actually a later incarnation of the S.S. Monterey, now known as the Britanis. Still good looking!


The beautiful 4 funneled RMS Olympic, sister to the Titanic, seen in 1929/30. Of the three ships of this class, Olympic was the only one to survive to be scrapped, in 1935/37. Titanic was lost in 1912 to an iceberg collision, and Britannic was lost off the coast of Greece in 1916, the victim of a submarine laid mine.
Fin!

These are pics of the farm I used to live on. The whole thing is now a housing development in progress, it's a fucking travesty.













I had many great adventures here as a young person. Ah, memories!

Moar!!


Another view of HMS Tiger's final voyage, 1986.


The battleship HMS Swiftsure on her way to the breakers, 1920. She was built for Chile, and purchased by Great Britain to prevent a possible purchase by the Russians in 1903. After being withdrawn in 1915, and stripped for a possible scuttling to block Oostend harbor, she was sold for scrap in 1920.


This is a ship that should have been preserved at all costs, HMS Renown. She was the last British Battlecruiser(although the Turkish Yavuz, ex German SMS Goeben was the last surviving Battlecruiser, being scrapped in 1973 after a failed sale to Germany), and was decommissioned in 1945. In 1948, this magnificent warship was towed away for scrapping in Scotland.


This is the USS Marias, AO-57. This Cimmaron class oiler was commissioned in 1944, and taken out of service in 1982. She was towed to Brownsville, Texas for breaking up in 1995.


This is the Submarine Depot ship HMS Maidstone being scrapped in 1978. She was commissioned in 1938, and was used to incarcerate members of the IRA without trial in the early 1970's, while moored in Belfast.


The Essex class Carrier USS Shangri-La, CVS-38, being towed to Taiwan for scrapping in 1988. She entered service in 1944, and was decommissioned in 1971. She was the only Carrier stored on the East Coast, and was used by MARAD for parts to keep the Lexington AVT-16 running as the Fleet Training Carrier.


USS Albany, CG-10, Mothballed at Norfolk in 1981. She was scrapped in 1990. Notice the old Fletcher class destroyer also stored at the pier!

Fin!

You've mentioned ships being scrapped near Brownsville several times in this thread. If you poke around Google Maps/Earth, you can see the place where they do it. It's at the end of a long, straight channel that leads from just south of Padre Island to just outside the city of Brownsville.

I've always wanted to stop by there and check it out, but I never have enough time when I'm down there on business.

It's a little-known fact that the early Essex class ships were equipped with a hangar deck deck catapult which launched aircraft by shooting them out the starboard side of the forward hangar deck. Hornet was the only ship to keep hers throughout the war, the other ships having them removed during refits because the cats weren't used very much.

BTW, if you're interested in reading up on the Battle of Midway (the 70th anniversary of the battle is coming up in June) with an emphasis on the Japanese side of the battle, Shattered Sword is an excellent read. I'm only about a third of the way into it and it kicks ass.

ShootER's post about Brownsville gave me an idea......

I'm stoned, and bored. I was thinking, "why don't I post a pic of one of every car I've ever owned?" And, lo....in order of ownership. Also, some are my pics, but otherwise the rest are "stand in's".



1975 Toyota Corolla wagon.


1978 Toyota Celica GT


1980 Honda Accord


The 1968 Dodge Dart


My actual Dart, the last time I saw it. It became a parts car for a '67 GT Dart Coupe.


1987 Chrysler New Yorker


1981 Ford Fairmont. Possibly my favorite.


1971 Plymouth Duster. This one kicked ass.


1987 Nissan Maxima. Picture taken by me.


The 1974 Mercury Montego. My pic.


1982 Toyota Tercel. Reverse didnt work, so I had to "Fred Flintstone" the car out of certain types of parking spots....


1984 Toyota Corolla


1985 Nissan 200SX Turbo. My pic.


1984 Chrysler New Yorker. My pic, me in it! WESTSIDE.


1087 Subaru GL wagon


1984 Mercury Topaz. This was known as the "100 dollar racer", myself and about 9 other guys owned this car. What a whore.


1988 Ford Festiva


1979 Ford F-150. The pic is a '74, but only the grille is different.


1982 Subaru GL


1991 Toyota Camry. My pic.


1990 Subaru Loyale Turbo


2002 Ford Taurus. This is my pic, there are about 5 dudes in my car smoking 3 blunts. College was fun.


1988 Honda Civic. The young kids loved this one.


My last car, the 1992 Toyota Camry. Now I am carless.....and super bummed. Variety is the spice of life, remember this.

Cool - I had a couple of those Subarus.

My father had a photo album with every car he ever owned. Every one, he said, except a 1936 Auburn. One day he was in a car museum looking at that very type of car and talking to the museum guard about it. The guard dropped the rope, asked Dad for his camera, and took a pic for him. It wasn't his personal Auburn of course, but it completed his photo album. Very cool.

Here's one of the cars from his album - the T woody he had as a teenager, with his cousins aboard:

My Dad had a '64 Lincoln Continental 4 door when he was a teenager. I'm so very jealous of that fact.

I think Dad had a '41 Continental. He has classy taste!

Home State edition! I found these pics of the CA-11 USS Seattle, ex USS Washington, on an official visit to Melbourne, Australia in 1925. The C in C of the US Fleet was embarked at the time.


USS Seattle was commissioned as the USS Washington in 1906, and her name was changed in 1916 to free Washington up to be assigned to a Battleship. From 1923 to 1927, she was the Flagship of the Commander in Chief, US Fleet. In 1931, she was withdrawn from service, and designated IX-39 in 1941(IX meaning "unclassified Miscellaneous"). She remained a barracks ship in New York until her scrapping in 1947.


Seattle was typical of the pre-WWI Armored Cruisers built by the US. They were built in 2 groups, almost identical. One group was equipped with 4 8 in, 40 cal dual turrets. and the other with 4 10 in, 40 cal twins.







And, the cherry. This is the USS Spokane, CLAA-120, a Juneau class anti-aircraft light cruiser. Completed in 1946, too late to see active WWII service, she had a remarkably short active career, being decommissioned in 1950. She remained in reserve in New York until her Scrapping in 1973.

I found this cool website that colors old photographs, and it badass. Behold....


This is the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga, completed in 1928. She was lost at the battle of Midway in 1942.


THis is the Imperial Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I. She was captured by the Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. She was either scrappe, or sunk as a target by the Battlecruisers Hiei and Kongo.


The French battleship Charlemagne. Commissioned in 1895, she was scrapped in 1920.


This is the Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko of the Myoko class. Myoko was one of the few heavy Japanese surface units to survive the war. She was torpedoed by a submarine and had her stern blown off. She made it to Singapore, but was made a static AA battery after it was realized that she couldn't be towed to Japan and repaired at that late stage during the war. She was captured and scuttled in 1946 by the British.


The British carrier Eagle. She was originally the Chilean battleship Almirante Cochrane, but was purchased on the stocks by the English during WWI. She was the converted into an aircraft carrier. She was torpedoed by U-73 during an operation pedestal convoy in the Med in 1942.



The Japanese Fubuki type III(Akatsuki class) destroyer Inazuma. She was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine Bonefish in 1944.

Fin!

Really? For me, it's hard to get perspective on what I'm looking at when it's all black and white. When it comes to my own photography, I use black and white film, but these colorized photos give me an opportunity to see something historic close to how it would have been seen by the naked eye.

"WWII In Color" on one of the History/Military channels is horrible - very poorly colorized. It looks like when someone paints over a B&W photo with photo oils (remember them?). Dull, washed out, all uniforms EXACTLY the same color, all faces EXACTLY the same color. And I caught some incorrectly colored markings on aircraft too. I'd rather see the B&W, not incorrect colors.

And the wrong font!

I'm with Kreig, it really helps me envision the ships near to what they were. But then, I'm not an a guy where the term 'color palette' has anything to do with my professional life, lol, so I get why the cameraman and art school graphics designer have a different POV.

That's fair.

Battleships!!


The Conte di Cavour class Battleships Conte di Cavour and Giulio Caesar, circa early 1940's. These WWI built battlewagons were given possibly the most extensive reconstructions ever given to a battleship, being lengthened, re-engined(increasing speed from 21 knots to 28.5) and having their superstructures removed and replaced and the middle 12in triple turret removed, giving them a 10 gun broadside. Cavour was torpedoed during the British raid on Taranto in 1941, and not repaired. She was scrapped in 1947. Caesar survived the war, onlt to be given to the Soviets as reparations. She was renamed Novorossiysk, and destroyed by an unknown explosion in 1955(the theories include:German ground mine, KGB false flag operation, Italian frogmen revenge.....)


This is the Austro-Hungarian Battleship Habsburg. Completed in 1902, she, along with the rest of the KuK Kriegsmarine were scrapped after the First Word War after the demise of the Austrian Navy(all their port cities were ceded to Italy and Yugoslavia).


Yes, yes, I know, this is a Battlecruiser. However, this is a great picture, and this ship is very storied. Formerly the Imperial German Battlecruiser Goeben of the Moltke class, she was trapped in the Med after the outbreak of WWII, and was sold to the Ottoman Empire, being renamed Yavuz Sultan y Selim(later shortened to Yavuz). After sustaining serious damage during the war, she was refitted in the 20's and 30's, and served actively until 1950 as the Turkish Fleet Flagship. In 1963, she was offered to West Germany as a museum, but was turned down, and in 1972 she was scrapped. Possibly the worst maritime history loss of the 20th century, and the last Imperial German Warship on the planet.


The French Battleship Paris. Completed in 1914, she survived WWII as a barracks ship for Polish sailors and wasn't scrapped until 1955.


This is the German Battleship Tirpitz. What a beauty, and a dangerous foe. These ships, like all German capital ships, were notoriously hard to sink. Fast, heavily armored and well armed, the Tirpitz and her sister, Bismarck, were excellent ships. Some of her design features were anachronistic, however. Separate AA and anti-surface secondary armament and an outdated screw/rudder configuration being the most obvious examples.


This is the Imperial German Battleship Ostfriesland, being prepared for her date with destiny(and a shitload of air dropped bombs) in Hampton Roads during General Billy Mitchell's bombing tests conducted against old battleships in 1921.

Fin!

Change of subject for a minute, but I thought of you tonight. I'd mentioned to some friends that I need to start looking at new cars so next year when I'm ready, I can make an informed opinion. So, one of my friends brings out her newest issue of Consumer Reports.

The new Dodge Dart looks nice and it's in my price range. Unfortunately, this issue of Consumer Reports doesn't show the ratings for the Dodge Dart. Just the pictures and a small bit about it. and to let me know they'll tell me all about the Dart in an upcoming issue.

Anyway, the mention of the Dart made me thing of you.

What are the big round, ring-shaped things on the Ostfriesland's masts?

Range Clocks?.

I did not know that!

I don't think they're range clocks. The Germans didn't use them, they had more advanced fire control than the British, French or Americans at the time. They may be used to tell to what degree the ship is listing from the air, I'm not positive. Interestingly enough, the British and Americans also use "Range Deflection Scales" on their main battery turrets in conjunction with the Range Clocks.

My favorite Class of Aircraft Carrier, the Essex Class. Although I dig the original WWII configuration, the Postwar SCB-125 refits in the late 50's/early 60's made for the real looks. Behold.....

This is the class leader, USS Essex, CVS-9 towards the end of her career. She was decommissioned in 1969, and scrapped in 1975.


The USS Ticonderoga, CVS-14. This is also a late career shot. She was decommissioned in 1973, and scrapped in 1975.


This is a personal favorite, USS Bon Homme Richard, CVA-31. I remember seeing this ship laid up at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the early 90's with other ships of the class. She was decommissioned in 1971, and eventually towed away for scrap in California, 1992.


Another favorite, USS Oriskany, CV-34. Oriskany and Hancock, CV-19, were the only ships of the class to end their service lives still designated CV(the standard designation for an Aircraft Carrier). All other ships of the class either were decommissioned as CVA's(Attack Carriers), or CVS's(Anti-Submarine warfare Carriers). Oriskany was also the last Essex class carrier to leave active frontline service, in September 1976. She was sold for scrap in 1994, repossessed by the Navy after no progress was made on the scrapping, and laid up in Beaumont, Texas until her eventual sinking as a reef in 2006. I was sad to see this ship not preserved as a memorial.


I threw this one in because it's an interesting sidebar. This is USS Lake Champlain, CVS-39. She was the only Essex Class Carrier to be given the SCB-27 conversion(new island, removal of all 5in turrets from the flight deck, removal of all 20mm and 40mm AA guns and installation of 3in AA), but not the subsequent SCB-125 conversion(removal of the 3in AA battery, installation of the angled flight deck and "hurricane" enclosed bow.). She left service in 1966, but was not broken up for scrap until 1972.

Fin!

What's with the deckfull of CODs in the first two shots? Training ship for truck drivers?

Not COD birds, S2Fs. Carrier antisubmarine aircraft, replaced by the S-3 Viking.

I couldn't remember "S2F" (getting old), so I said "COD."

Anyhoo, what's with the decksfull of them?