Aircrafts

Arado AR 196 floatplane of the Luftwaffe flying above the Suda Bay in Crete, 1942-1943. The Arado AR 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance, fixed-wing aircraft, which was first introduced in 1938 and served for the entirety of the war. It was highly appreciated by Luftwaffe pilots due to its excellent …

A Messerschmitt Me-262 aircraft photographed in-flight by an American B-17 gunner. Further details about this rare image are unknown, except from the fact that it was taken between 1944 and 1945. The Messerschmitt Me 262, aka Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) in the fighter version, or Sturmvogel (Stormbird) in the fighter-bomber …

De Havilland Mosquito firing its machine gun and cannon during night testing, sometime between 1941 and 1945. In the photograph we see the FB.VI version of the famous British Royal Air Force aircraft, which was usually equipped with four Browning .303 machine guns and four 20mm Hispano cannons. The light, …

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber of the US Air Force is pictured in flight with the trail of a German V-2 missile in the background. The date and location of the image are unknown, but it must be sometime between late 1944 and early 1945, as that was …

The image, captured by a camera gun film, shows tracer ammunition from a Supermarine Spitfire Royal Air Force aircraft hitting a Heinkel He-111 of the German Luftwaffe. The Supermarine Spitfire Mark I which scored the hit served in the 609 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, and was flown by …

Romanian IAR-80 aircrafts are pictured as they return from the factory after undergoing repair work in 1943 or 1944. The IAR 80, Romania’s top fighter plane, first flew in 1939, and at the time it was comparable in performance with similar aircrafts of more advanced military powers. However, due to …

Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft crashing in the Sea during Kanalkampf. The Kanalkampf was a Luftwaffe operation in July – August 1940, at the start of the Battle of Britain, in which Germany aimed to claim superiority over the English Channel and to draw out the Royal Air Force before …

Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) landing on the Island of Crete, Greece, from Junkers Ju 52 transporter aircrafts. May 20th 1941. A burning Ju 52 is seen crashing from the air, while British ships are being sunk in Suda Bay in the background. The Battle of Crete was won by Axis forces …

An American soldier waves off a US Army Air Force Liberator bomber which had just departed for a raid over Japan (we can see the landing gear receding). The image was taken on September 13th, 1943, at an advanced US base in China, one of many American bases on Chinese …

A wrecked PZL P.23B aircraft, sometime in 1939. The PZL.23 Karas was a Polish light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, designed in the early 1930s. It first flew in 1934, and entered service in 1936. The 23B variant (pictured here) was equipped with a superior Pegasus VIII engine. The PZL.23 was …