Jamie McTrusty

@jamiemctrusty.bsky.social

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Posts on (mostly) Second World War aviation and naval history. See ALT text for picture credits and additional information!

Actor Michael Dorn, in green flight overalls, taking a knee in front of an F-86 Sabre, a swept-wing single engine jet fighter with a distinctive nose air intake. The aircraft is in natural metal finish with US Air National Guard markings.
RAF Mustang fighter on pierced steel planking at an airfield. Two Armourers are checking rockets mounted under the right wing
Japanese carrier Zuikaku anchored off Kobe after commissioning, September 1941. The image shows a 3/4 left side profile of a large carrier stationary in calm waters.
Damage to the smokestack and signal bridge of USS Hornet (CV-8) after it was struck by a crashing Japanese dive bomber, during the morning of 26 October 1942. Smoke at bottom is from fires started when the plane subsequently hit the flight deck. Note ship's tripod mast, with CXAM radar antenna in top left and the flag still flying above the damaged structure.
USS HORNET (CV-8) dead in the water with USS NORTHAMPTON (CA-26) and a destroyer standing by, 26 October 1942. The image, taken from low altitude, shows the cruiser on the right and the carrier, with attendant destroyer, on the left.
A Japanese bomb explodes off the port side of USS Enterprise (CV-6) during the action, 26 October 1942. The image shows an overcast sky dotted with shell bursts, below which a plume of spray rises alongside an aircraft carrier steaming at speed.
Plane handling crews at work aboard USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) during the action, 26 October 1942. Plane at center is an F4F "Wildcat" fighter. Other planes are overhead. Note flag at mainmast. This image was taken from a position at the edge of the flight deck and shows numerous personnel attending to aircraft.
A Japanese Type 99 shipboard bomber (Allied codename Val) trails smoke as it dives towards USS Hornet (CV-8), during the morning of 26 October 1942. This plane hit the ship's stack and then her flight deck. A Type 97 shipboard attack plane (Kate) is flying over Hornet after dropping its torpedo, and another Val is off her bow. Note anti-aircraft shell burst between Hornet and the camera, with its fragments striking the water nearby.
Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku pictured after completion in August 1941. The image shows the right side profile of a large carrier at anchor. Smoke from another vessel rises behind.
Cruiser Chikuma photographed from a USS Enterprise (CV-6) plane. Note the smoke coming from her bridge area, which had been hit by a bomb, and what appears to be a recognition marking painted atop her number two eight-inch gun turret. The ship's catapults and aircraft crane appear to be swung out over her sides, aft of amidships. The image, taken from medium altitude, shows a large ship, steaming at speed, at the head of a long wake. Details are indistinct but just discernible.
The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō at Yokosuka, Japan, on 28 December 1940. The image shows the right side of a small carrier anchored in calm waters.
Flight deck scene, looking aft, 11 May 1942, as USS SABINE (AO-25) approaches the carrier to fuel her. Planes on deck are SBD-2/3s from VS-6 and VB-6. The image shows the rear of a carrier deck with large numbers of aircraft ranged three abreast. On the rear left, a tanker is approaching.
Colour artwork depicting an air attack on an American naval force, with a carrier in the centre background and a battleship in the foreground. The ships are surrounded by bullet splashes and bomb bursts. Above, the sky is filled with bursting AA fire, with two burning aircraft falling towards the sea.
Battered heavy cruiser in an anchorage, listing to starboard and with her stern awash.
Japanese battleship Kongō in harbour after modernisation in 1936/37. With a distinctive ‘pagoda’ forward superstructure, she mounts eight main guns in four dual turrets. Multiple secondary guns in casemates line her side.
Japanese destroyer Natsugumo, pictured in 1939 at speed in murky weather. A sleek, 2-funneled vessel, she carries three main 2-gun turrets with two torpedo launchers amidships.
American light cruiser Boise arriving at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in November 1942 for repair. Her foremost triple 6-inch turret is trained to starboard, jammed by a Japanese 8-inch shell. Smoke from a tug rises behind, while several people watch in the foreground.
American destroyer USS Duncan in an elaborate camouflage scheme shortly after completion in New Jersey, April 1942. She mounts 4 main guns in single turrets.
Japanese heavy cruiser Furutaka in harbour, October 1935. Her 8-inch guns are mounted in single turrets.
Heavy cruiser Aoba, pictured during the 1930s, with a floatplane aft.
Portrait photograph of a uniformed Norman Scott, a middle aged Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Artwork depicting a listing, burning heavy cruiser, surrounded by shell splashes and illuminated by starshells.
Image of a 1:72 Heinkel 177 Airfix kit, featuring a photo of the completed model on the box lid.
Heinkel 177 low over a patchwork of fields and hedgerows. It carries RAF markings and ‘invasion stripes’ over its Luftwaffe camouflage for identification purposes.
Colour image showing a large group of Heinkel 177s on a grass airfield on the Eastern Front in hot weather, with groundcrew stripped to the waist.
Group of 6 Heinkel 177s on a concrete airfield apron in front of a row of damaged hangars. Most are carrying Hs 293 missiles underwing.
Frontal view of a Heinkel 177 with one engine running on a grass airfield, its lower fuselage and undersides painted black for night operations. Two groundcrew stand by, one with a portable generator and the other with an extinguisher.
Mottle-camouflaged Heinkel 177 on a concrete airfield apron.
Dramatic image of a Heinkel 177 in flight, taken from ahead and below. The second pre-production aircraft, it was destroyed after a double engine fire resulted in a forced landing in May 1942.
Tail gun position of a Heinkel 177 mounting a single 20mm cannon in a flexible mount, the gunner visible in a glazed cupola below the tailfin.
Left hand view of a Heinkel 177 with wave pattern camouflage under maintenance on a concrete airfield apron. The engine cowling has been removed and multiple groundcrew are working on the aircraft, including one who is operating a mobile crane.
Frontal view of two inverted-V inline engines, joined together by a complex mechanism to power a single propeller shaft.
Box artwork by Roy Cross from a vintage Airfix kit depicting two Heinkel 177s carrying Henschel 293 missiles underwing taking off from a wet concrete runway, with another flying above in the background. They are large twin-engined aircraft with a long wingspan and fuselage and a blunt glazed nose with a ‘gondola’ underneath carrying guns at its front and rear. Robust twin-legged undercarriage units are mounted under the engine nacelles.
Unarmed Junkers 188 in French markings parked on grass at an airfield, with low hills in the background.
Frontal view of a radar-equipped Junkers 188, carrying two torpedoes on external racks between the engines and fuselage.
View of the nose of a night-camouflaged Junkers 188 on an airfield in front of a hangar. The 5 crewmen, in flying gear, are taking below the aircraft’s nose.
Unarmed Junkers 188 parked on grass at an airfield, with several Junkers 52 trimotor transports behind.
Close up of the nose of a night-camouflaged Junkers 88 with flame dampening exhausts. The nose-mounted 20mm cannon is prominent.
Artwork by Roy Huxley for a Matchbox model kit, depicting a Junkers 188 in Arctic camouflage flying at low altitude over a convoy, backlit by a low sun. The twin radial-engined aircraft closely resembles a Junkers 88, but the nose section comprises a heavily-glazed stepless cockpit with a small upper turret.
Scene from the film Commando in which Arnold Schwarzenegger impales a bad guy with a steam pipe
Stern view of the battleship Richelieu in harbour at Oran, October 1943, after her refit in America. This perspective shows the secondary armament as well as multiple 20mm and 40mm AA guns.
View of the French submarine Bévéziers re entering harbour at Dakar after torpedoing HMS Resolution. She’s seen in the middle distance, being cheered by sailors on the deck of a Vichy French warship in the foreground.
Flight of three Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters in Vichy French markings, including a striped cowling for identification. They are radial-engined aircraft of conventional design. Machine gun barrels protrude from the wings and above the engine.
Heavily fire-damaged Vichy French destroyer L’Audacieux, listing to starboard and aground in shallow waters.
Postwar image of the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland in harbour at Ceylon, October 1945. She carries four main turrets and has a distinctive 3-funnel arrangement.
Vichy French battleship Richelieu surrounded by anti-torpedo nets in port at Dakar, July 1940. She has only two main turrets, both forward, with secondary guns grouped aft.
Battleship HMS Resolution, her hull camouflaged, at anchor behind torpedo nets in an undated image. Clearly unmodernised, she retains her tripod masts and casemated secondary hull battery.
Aerial view of the port at Dakar, showing many ships, at anchor, jetties, shore installations and a long breakwater enclosing the harbour.
Small single-funnel destroyer with twin-gun mounts fore and aft, a 4-barrelled pom-pom AA gun amidships and a boxy bridge structure. Carrying an elaborate disruptive camouflage scheme of different colours and lines, she’s stationary in calm waters.
R-Boat in calm waters. It’s a compact, wooden-hulled escort vessel with a 20mm gun and depth charges forward of a small bridge, where 3 crew can be seen. It’s camouflaged with irregular dark shapes on a light background.
Small single-funnel destroyer with twin-gun mounts forward and a boxy bridge structure. Most of the crew, many shirtless and wearing white shorts, are lining the upper deck and superstructure.
Small, camouflaged escort vessel at a quayside. Bearing a German cross on her side, she has a single main gun forward and AA guns aft.
MB.151 with Greek markings parked in long grass with its flaps down, cockpit open and part of the engine cowling removed. Another aircraft, type unknown, is visible behind.
Badly damaged Bloch 152 sitting wheels-up on grass, with a German soldier on each wing looking into the cockpit. An oil drum in front of the left wing suggests the aircraft may have been abandoned on an airfield.
Two Bloch MB.152s in echelon formation, photographed from the left be a third aircraft. Both pilot’s cockpit canopies are open.
Interior of a large assembly hall, with three parallel lines of MB.151 and MB.152 fighters under construction, the nearest being closest to completion.
Camouflaged MB.152 with French markings in flight, photographed from the rear right. The cockpit canopy is open and the pilot is clearly visible.
Colour illustration of a Bloch MB.152 in a steep dive, spitting fire from its long-barrelled wing mounted cannon. Behind, a Luftwaffe Heinkel 111 bomber plunges downwards, trailing smoke from one engine. The MB.152 is a radial-engined aircraft of conventional design, its wing and cockpit placed relatively far forward. There is a prominent ‘ring and bead’ gunsight mounted on the engine cowling.
Cinema poster for the film ‘Battle of the Bulge’ featuring tanks moving across a fiery landscape, with pictures of the cast around the border. A cast list, including Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Dana Andrews, is at the bottom.
Amatrad PC1640 DD desktop computer, with twin 5.25 inch disk drives and a hefty CRT monitor which sits on top of the base unit.