Profile Photo
david leigh-smith
283 articles

On This Day…February 7th

February 7, 2019 · in Photo Collections · · 13 · 2.3K

‘Boy Sitting on Sea Mine’, Deal, South Coast of England, 7th February, 1940. Presumably defused and made safe.


Spitfire P9315, RAF Benson No 3 Photo Reconnaissance Unit, Cambridge, England, 7th February 1941.


Flight 7th February 1930


Colourised photo of a Finnish soldier practicing maneuvers in the winter snow at a military dog training school during the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War. Hämeenlinna, Finland. February 1941.


The USS Saratoga (CV-3) passing through the Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal enroute to the Pacific. February 7th, 1928. The ‘cut’ is an eight mile long artificial valley that was one of the great engineering feats of its time. The construction took 32 years to complete, from the French breaking ground in 1881 until the Americans finishing the project in 1913.


On the bridge, Lieutenant Commander Dudley Morten and Lieutenant Richard O'Kane (left) aboard USS Wahoo (SS-238) in Pearl Harbor, 7th February, 1943. I thought the mariners were dancing until I saw the railing...


TBF-1C aircraft having just been dumped from the deck of USS Coral Sea (CVE-57) near Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, 7 Feb 1944.


Well known photo of Warbird TBM-3E Avenger in flight, 7th February, 2007.


Essex-class carrier USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) cruising in the Gulf of Paria between Trinidad and Venezuela on her shakedown cruise, 7 Feb 1945. Note the TBM Avenger on her deck, the ship alongside is Coast Guard guard boat.


USS Alabama (BB-60) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, 7th Febtuary, 1943


Nice study in weathering submarines. Bow view of the USS Harder (SS-257) in Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States, 7 Feb 1944.

Reader reactions:
10  Awesome

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.


13 responses

  1. Hello David,
    Thanks again.
    The boy on the mine and the Finnish soldier with his 4 legged buddy are my favorites.
    Regards, Dirk

  2. Great stuff again David. Appreciate the effort.

  3. The perfect way to enjoy an ice cream in Feb 1940!

  4. Hey David. The Finn and dog pic was the inspiration behind my RF-8 diorama I posted not too long ago. I wanted to do just a small vignette, including a soldier and dog but it soon turned into something a bit bigger... Oh well, gotta go with what feels right!

    Again, nice pics, keep 'em comin' buddy.

  5. Great work, Gary!

    Thanks for the support of the series.

  6. No.7 can't be from CV-43, she was commissioned after the war ended. Nice shot though.

  7. Hi Robert. My boo-boo, now changed. In my defense, the Coral Sea (CVE-57) was actually known by three names; started as the USS Alikula Bay, became the Coral Sea, and in September ‘44 became the ‘USS Anzio’. Got the numbers mixed up and n the notes - Now edited - thanks for the nudge!

    @roofrat

  8. Wrong USS Harder - this is SS-257. SS-568 was one of the postwar Tang class, all named for "ace" submarines of WW2, the last diesel-electric attack boats in the USN - they took full advantage of German Tpe XXI technology.

    Also, the cover from Flight has to be February 7, 1940, as the Martin B-26 didn't exist in 1930. 🙂

    • Thanks, Ed.

      Regarding the submarine, I got the wrong registry, even the photo has SS257 annotated. Appreciate the call on the ‘Flight’ cover, as I actually put in the wrong photo (now amended to show the intended ‘Moth’ article) - the B-26 is the start of a series of propaganda posters from the same artist for the AAF.

      Cheers, Tom.

  9. The boy on the mine also exists as a 1/35 kit http://www.royalmodel.eu/en/figures/783-ice-cream-time-135.html
    Royal Model have some great stuff.

  10. Never heard of ‘Royal’ - great link, Geir. Appreciated.

  11. David even the best people make mistakes ...given your salary for doing do this and your on going efforts to provide daily photos and comments a person is allowed to have a off day. Appreciate your efforts and comments. Looking forward to that Orca build. Hope that baby pinkie is healing too.

Leave a Reply