USN JACKETS

[Grant]

Damn, you're probably right Greg, thanks! That makes them Tommy Blackburn's VF-17 badasses. Am I the only one that hates really poorly colorized WWII photos?

 

[Greg Gale]

Yeah, some colors are a bit off, the Corsair is too bright as well...Normally I love colorized photos, but they can easily look weird..

 

[Greg Gale]

Now this one is an original color photo, and easily the most badass picture of Corsair pilots ever taken:

 

[jeremiah]

I have a nice Corsair model sitting on my book stand. Love those planes. I know the pilots did not like the ones with the longer nose though.

 

[B-Man2]

I don't know where you guys are coming up with these photos but they're great!
Thanks Grant and Greg!

 

[Cocker]

@Greg Gale , you sure it's a period picture? There's a couple things hinting at it being a picture of Corsairs at an airshow, or something like that:

- The 2 Korean roundels kill markings, indicating a post war Corsair
- The 2nd Corsair bearing the markings of Jim Streig's plane while in VF-17
- The fact that Phil DeLong never flew with VF-17
- The overall cleanliness of the planes and pilots, especially if they just arrived from a mission where they had to fight

I'll have to dig a bit, but this one screems "reenactors having a great time" too much for me.

 

[Greg Gale]

@Cocker yeah, you're probably right. I still love it, though

 

[Cocker]

@Cocker yeah, you're probably right. I still love it, though

Yeah, it's having a really grat vibe to it!

 

[Cocker]

Ok, I think I identified the first 2 Corsairs. The one closest to picture is F4U-5P 122184, bearing the markings of Phil DeLong, the one after with the pilot standing in the cockpit is FG-1D 92508, with the markings of VF-17's Ray Beacham (number 31, not Streig's number 3 as I first thought).

 

[zoomer]

Can't go wrong with a shirt/tie and a USN jacket. USN aviators were some of the best dressed dudes.

What color is that shirt? The surface Navy only got blue wool shirts. Were fliers allowed green ones?

 

[Grant]

Cool pic of LSO's rocking their M-422a's.

 

[Tommy]

What color is that shirt? The surface Navy only got blue wool shirts. Were fliers allowed green ones?

Could be Aviation Greens, which were something of a winter uniform?

 

[Flightengineer]

Cocker, I agree.
There it was quite dirty, here are some color photos from Korea... condition of the aircraft ... dirt etc...

 

[B-Man2]

Dimitry
Great photos!
Thanks for posting.

 

[Thomas Koehle]

thx for posting those pics tovarishch

 

[Grant]

Cool Korea pics! Seeing the color photos of the USMC F2G's with all the wing pylons reminded me a story my dad told while he was in Korea. A USMC AD-1 made an emergency landing at dad's base at Kunsan, fully loaded with ordinance on the pylon! Dad said they were pissed the Marine landed on their field with a full load of 500lb bombs fearing he could've blown uthey stripped the Skyraider of it's bombs, re-fueled the Skyraider and sent him on his way. When they loaded the bombs in their B-26 Invaders they wrote on the bombs "courtesy of the USMC".

 

[zoomer]

Could be Aviation Greens, which were something of a winter uniform?

Yes...but all color pix show them worn with khaki shirts!

 

[Flightengineer]

thx for posting those pics tovarishch

You are welcome, genosse

 

[Tommy]

Yes...but all color pix show them worn with khaki shirts!

Good point, but that shirt is clearly not khaki or a chambray.

Could be this?

Service Gray Uniform which was issused 43 -49?

 

[zoomer]

McCann has a grey twill shirt on. The shirt under the ‘422 looks like a heavy woolen CPO type - but AFAIK those were only blue. Probably a command-authorized private purchase item we are not likely ever to see a color photo of...