Colour 1942 photo USAAF bomber ground crew

http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34949u1_0.jpg

What do these men seem to be doing posing or actual maintenace?

[The Inspector]

Link takes you to something called "shorpey"

[Chris Brame]

Great photo! Must be staged - it's almost like one of those old Texaco service station ads with all the attendants running around. Also note the radar-nose B-18 in the lower right background.

[The Inspector]

Sorry, that's SHORPY and thats exactly where this link connection goes for me

[airnutz]

http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34949u1_0.jpg

What do these men seem to be doing posing or actual maintenace?

They're posing...portraying our lads performing their everyday duties in defense of the Nation. Probably a
government commisioned photo moral booster..."Buy Bonds!" Really a cool photo if you think about it.
Ground crew are well represented as a vital component necessary to support the Flyboys...romanticizing the
efforts of the common soldier abit. Maybe a recruiting image as well?

Wxlova, can you post the original link of this photo with the legend presenting the photo. This
is the photo-only link. It'd save me some searching.

Thank you for the Shorpy link. Great stuff in there!

[airnutz]

Sorry, that's SHORPY and thats exactly where this link connection goes for me

On the front page of www.shorpy.com there is a pretty neat link to a granted patents website.

I didn't really think too deeply about it before regarding aircraft designs which would eventually become government property and who would recieve credit for the design..I always thought there was a larger gubmint/company ownership, and the designer as an employee collected his paycheck and recieved public recognition for their efforts.
Not so..

Patent info with sketches of machines that became Consolidated XC-99, Vultee XP-54, Northop XP-56..and
other interesting surprises...
www.patentroom.com

[Mark Nankivil]

Try this link for a broader look at aviation related images on the site:

http://www.shorpy.com/image/tid/47

Enjoy the Day! Mark

[kenlyco]

Cool pics.

[tulsaboy]

Most of those images (if not all of them) are part of the Office of War Information collection found at the Library of Congress. If you go to the link below, you can search for types of aircraft, companies, etc. Be wary, though- this photo was labeled as an "A-20, i.e. B-25 attack bomber." So there are a few hiccups with the system. But there are some really great color photos in there. Enjoy!

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/fsacquery.html

kevin