"Republic P-47D-30-RA Thunderbolt 44-32691 at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center. This aircraft was used as an aerial gunnery trainer from 1944 to 1946 before being set aside for the USAF Museum, then transferred to the Smithsonian. Previously loaned to the Museum of Aviation at Warner-Robbins AFB."
Note the four depth charge throwers - K-guns - and ready service racks on the 01 level aft. In a standard Sumner class DD, these would be on the main deck, but they are displaced by the mine tracks on the DM. In the DDs, the position originally had a quintuple torpedo tube mount, which seems like a waste of a spot with almost unrestricted sky arcs. The Navy apparently came to agree; the torpedo mount was replaced by a quad 40mm in the anti-kamikaze upgrade late in the war.
Destroyer variations: DD: plain ole everyday destroyer APD: High speed transport (Converted Destroyer or Destroyer Escort) DDC: Corvette (briefly proposed in the mid-1950s) DDK: Hunter–killer destroyer (category merged into DDE, 4 March 1950) DDR: Destroyer, radar picket DE: Destroyer Escort DER: Radar picket destroyer escort DL: Destroyer leader (later frigate) (retired) DM: Destroyer, minelayer DMS: Destroyer, minesweeper
"Nakajima J1N1-S Gekkō (Moonlight) Allied codename "Irving" nightfighter at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Took 17,000 hours from 1979 to 1983 to restore the corroded airframe at the Paul E. Garber Facility. Has two upward firing 20mm autocannons, similar to those found on German nightfighters. " Source: https://airandspace.si.edu/collecti...n1-s-gekko-moonlight-irving/nasm_A19600338000 Originally designed as a long raneg bomber escort, the Nakajima J1N would prove it's worth as a nightfighter, a reconnaisance aircraft, and as a kamikaze. Equipped with two Nakajima Sakae radial engiens (as found on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, Nakajima Ki 43, and Nakajima B5N2), and a two man crew (though the nightfighter variants had a crew of three). Though initially effective, the nightfighters were no match for the sheer numbers and amount of firepower wielded by B-29s and their escort fighters. "This example is the last in the world. It was among four J1Ns shipped to the US for testing and evaluation after US occupation forces took control of Japan after the country's surrender. This example, serial number 7334, was the only pne of the four eventually reserved for preservation, and the rest were scrapped. The aircraft was initially stored at an old Douglas C-54 plant in Park Ridge, Illinois, and was then moved to the Paul E. Garber Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland, but due to no available storage buildings, it was stored in a shipping crate outside until 1974. When the restoration began in 1979, it was, at the time, the most complex aircraft restoration ever done by NASM until the restorartion of the Enola Gay was started in 1984. When completed in 1983, the aircraft was stored at the Garber Facility, but was available for guided tours to see. In 2003, it was moved to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to go on permanent display. It is the last remaining Nakajima J1N in existence."
DM was originally Light Minelayer. DM was changed to Destroyer Minelayer in 1955. In 1969, it was changed again to MMD - Fast Minelayer.
Baby, it's cold outside. "Arches Across an Arctic Sky Image Credit & Copyright: Giulio Cobianchi Explanation: What are these two giant arches across the sky? Perhaps the more familiar one, on the left, is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. This grand disk of stars and nebulas here appears to encircle much of the southern sky. Visible below the stellar arch is the rusty-orange planet Mars and the extended Andromeda galaxy. For a few minutes during this cold arctic night, a second giant arch appeared to the right, encircling part of the northern sky: an aurora. Auroras are much closer than stars as they are composed of glowing air high in Earth's atmosphere. Visible outside the green auroral arch is the group of stars popularly known as the Big Dipper. The featured digital composite of 18 images was captured in mid-December over the Lofoten Islands in Norway."
I snapped a picture in about that exact spot back in 2011! That big beautiful bird behind the Jug has a little history herself
Australia teaches a us to slow down and relax more... I feel like this Wombat today...don't wanna be at work...
Visited the Air Force Museum with my uncle in 1998 and they let him inside the ropes to stand by the P47 in 348th colors for a picture after we talked to a docent. I have to make another trip to Dayton and spend a couple days.
The HNLMS Gelderland, built for the Royal Netherlands Navy, seized by the Germans in 1940 and re-named the "Niobe", sunk by Soviet bombers in Kotka harbor, on July 16, 1944.( an AA ship)