Profile Photo
david leigh-smith
283 articles

On This Day…December 8th.

December 8, 2018 · in News · · 7 · 1.9K

Lt. Commander Donald Shepard fires a flaming arrow at a Viet Cong bunker disguised as a bamboo hut, December 8th, 1967.

The ‘Third Fleet’ carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines. The carriers seen are, from front to back -

USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown and Ticonderoga are all painted in Measure 33 ‘Dazzle’ camouflage. The photo was taken from one of Ticonderoga’s aircraft.

Crew work on a TBD-1 Devastator aircraft of Torpedo Squadron 5 at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia, United States, taken 7-16 Dec 1941.

Launch of the Graf Zeppelin in Kiel, Germany, on 8th December, 1938. The Zeppelin was Germany’s only carrier, and although 85% completed by the start of WW2, she was never finished due to the Nazis’ constantly shifting priorities. She remained in the Baltic Sea until the end of the war, when she was scuttled by her own crew for fear of falling into Russian hands. The second photo is of part of a US Navy Inelligence report on the carrier. The carrier was scheduled to carry 42 aircraft; 12 Navy fitted Ju 87 ‘Stukas’, 10 Bf 109’s, and 20 Fieseler Fi 167 Torpedo Bombers.

B-24J Liberators of the 494th Bomb Group (note the nose art on ‘Bug’s Buggy’) on Angaur, Palau Islands, Dec 8, 1944.

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome

7 responses

  1. Really like the old posters. They are my personal favourites on your posts.
    Thank you David.

  2. Nice again David. Funny that the top Aviation Week magazine poster you show has a 1924 date and calls itself "The Oldest American Aeronautical Magazine". At that time it was 8 years old. Now, after 102 years it is still a weekly publication. I get daily updates.

  3. Que bueno David ,que fotos y que carteles.Cuantas cosas aprendo leyendo los comentarios.No tenía ni idea que los nazis tenían un portaaviones.

  4. Gracias, Julio. Yo aprecio el apoyo.

  5. Some times you can't beat old school,#1.

Leave a Reply