On This Day…April 30th.

M24 Chaffee of D-Company (27th Tank Battalion-20th Armoured Division) driving through the streets of Munich on 30th April, 1945.

‘Tiger at the Gate’ Berlin, 30th April 1945, by David Pentland.

30th April, 1944 was a record day for B-17 production at the Boeing Plant in Seattle. 16 complete Flying Fortresses were made in one 24 hour period.

USS Ellet (DD-398) anchored off New York City, 30 Apr 1939. She was named for five members of the same family from Pennsylvania (US) who served during the American Civil War: Colonel Charles Ellet, (Jr), Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet, Colonel Charles R. Ellet, Lieutenant Colonel John A. Ellet, and Edward C. Ellet (clearly the runt of the litter as the only one without his own dedicated Wikipedia pages).

A radioman/gunner from a USS Independence Dauntless dive bomber, 30th Apr 1943.

Two British soldiers inspecting an unexploded German bomb (in a way only the British do...) at the railway station in Grong, Norway, 30th April 30th, 1940.

USS Hornet at Pearl shortly after returning from the Doolittle raid, escorted by PT-28 and PT-29, 30th April, 1942

American carrier attacks on Truk in the Caroline Islands on April 30th and May 1st 1944 had a devastating effect on the Japanese to provide air support for the neighbouring islands. On the 30th April alone the Japanese lost over 90 aircraft.

And below is a print of the painting ‘USS Tang, The Life Guard of Truk Atoll’ by Robert Barbour. On the 30th April, 1944 the Tang picked up 22 airmen from the waters around Truk.

...and below is Commander Richard O’Kane with the 22 airmen the Tang rescued - photo taken on their return to Pearl and curtesy of Tom Cleaver.

British and American personnel examining and dismantling the experimental nuclear reactor at Haigerloch near Stuttgart, Germany, April 30th, 1945.

The ‘Alsos Mission’ was an effort by a team of United States military, scientific, and intelligence staff to uncover any developments made into nuclear technology during World War II. It’s main focus was on the German nuclear energy project, but it also had a brief to ‘steal/redistribute’ any significant technologies before the Soviets could lay hands on them. Experts in obfuscation and denial.

Sopwith Dragon, experimental prototype developed from the Snipe F7.1 - photo taken 30th April, 1918.

The crew of a British Cruiser Mk IV tank studying a map in a way that can only be posed, Western Desert, Egypt, April 30th, 1941.