The Great, Constantly Changing Picture Gallery, Troisième partie: la vengeance!

[Griz882]

Here is the same aircraft (and same image) but not messed up…


It is a Marine bird, VMSB-131 that was assigned to Quantico (where the photo above was taken) and then moved to San Diego after Pearl Harbor and then to MCAS Ewa. While there they transitioned to the Avenger and later served with the Cactus AF. Here is their WWII insignia;

After WWII the squadron moved to the reserves as VMA-131 (Willow Grove) where they flew A-4’s.

Now to the interesting image first posted. I looked a bit closer, and I think we might be seeing some weird censor work to that particular copy of the photograph. Maybe for early war security purposes?

 

[Llarry]

The first COD -- a TBM-3R of VR-23 at Atsugi circa Korean War era. Max 7 pax (or 6 pax plus crewman) and the cargo was loaded in baskets in the weapons bay.