Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) 1939-1949

The work undertaken by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was wide ranging; from cooking to meteorology; from administrative duties to maintaining and repairing aircraft.

Women replaced RAF personnel in those trades where there were shortages. There was an ebb and flow of requirements. The safety and physical well-being of the women were primary concerns. Except for nursing orderlies, aircrew duty was never approved.

Assistant Section Officer Elizabeth Weightman. Photographic interpretation played an important role in assessing targets

WAAF armourers preparing a bomberaircraft for an operation

WAAFs helped to bring back casualties and prisoners of war from Europe soon after D-Day

WAAFs in the Middle East, circa 1944

RAF station dance, Bradwell Bay 1944

WAAF Flight Mechanics

Douglas XTB2D Skypirate

The Douglas TB2D Skypirate (also known as the Devastator II) was a torpedo bomber intended for service with the United States Navy's Midway class aircraft carriers; they were too large for earlier decks. Two prototypes were completed, but the dedicated torpedo bomber was becoming an outdated concept and with the end of World War II, the type was no longer needed, resulting in the project's cancellation.

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20 Badass Photos Of Vintage Planes

The San Diego Air & Space Museum just dumped over 100,000 photos into an account on Flickr.

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Ryan STMs circa 1938

Ryan Military Flying School PT Trainers

Playing tennis on the wings of a flying airplane

Ivan Unger and Gladys Roy playing tennis on the wings of a flying airplane in 1927

Hindenburg disaster, 1937

The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 35 people died. There was one additional fatality on the ground. The disaster was the subject of spectacular newsreel coverage, photographs, and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness report from the landing field, which was broadcast the next day. The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The accident served to shatter public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship, and marked the end of the airship era.

Very creepy vintage ad for Douglas DC-8 airplane

Yipee

plane

The Four Musketeers

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