Iwo Jima, Feb 19, 1945 – Mar 26, 1945 ...

[Mark Allen M]

Chidori airfield # 1. 4 August 1944


Smoke from a ship damaged in the East Boat Basin. Note shadows cast by the berms of Chidori airfield # 1


View of both airfields under attack 16 June 1944. The runway of airfield # 2 is in the center, #1 lies beyond, Suribachi at top


SB2C's over Iwo Jima on D-Day


SB2C's over Iwo Jima


SB2C’s give air support to initial landings on Iwo Jima












An American Marine second world war cemetery on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. The cemetery forms a cross shape under Mount Suribachi and the earth is volcanic ash.

[Chris Brame]

In the last photo, what's the meaning of the three markers that are stakes rather than crosses?

[mike furline]

In the last photo, what's the meaning of the three markers that are stakes rather than crosses?

Perhaps unidentified? The crosses seem to have dog tags attached.

[Mark Allen M]

[Mark Allen M]

Marine TBM Avenger Squadron on Iwo Jima 1945


VMTB 242 Iwo Jima, 1945


P-51D 15th Fighter Group based on Iwo Jima, 'Squirt' was the mount of Commanding Officer James Beckwith


P-51D mishap Airfield #1 Iwo Jima, 1945


Iwo Jima P-51's


P-51D-25-NA 44-72637 (45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF) in landing accident at South Field, Iwo Jima Jun 5, 1945


A pranged B-29 on Iwo Jima


P-51D's 46th FS, 21st FG, 7th AF Iwo Jima 1945


P-51D 72nd FS, 21st FG Iwo Jima 1945

[Mark Allen M]

Iwo Jima in Bonin Islands, closest to mainland Japan, captured in February 1945. USS Bismarck Sea (CVE 95)

[Mark Allen M]

[martin_sam_2000]

In the last photo, what's the meaning of the three markers that are stakes rather than crosses?

Could they be Jewish and making a star of david would have been too hard...

the crosses seeming to have dogtags and those ones not is also an interesting detail...


Sean

[Mark Allen M]

P-51D_44-63955 Tiny gay Baba 46th FS 21st FG Iwo Jima 1945


P-51D Mustangs 531st FS 21st FG Iwo Jima 1945


P-51D Mustangs 330, 320, 311, 303, 321, 306, 308 of the 531st Fighter Squadron 21st FG Iwo Jima Spring 1945


North American P-51'S Of The 78Th Fighter Squadron, 15Th Fighter Group At Their 7Th Air Force Base On Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. 10 March 1945


P-51D Mustangs 21st FG on Iwo Jima


P-51D's lined up on Iwo Jima


North American P-51D Mustangs of the 46th Fighter Squadron on Iwo Jima prepare for a mission, March 1945.

[Mark Allen M]

B-25 Gunships on Iwo Jima, late spring 1945.


USMC F4U Corsair VMA-321 Hell's Angels Iwo Jima 1945


USMC F4U Corsair VMA-321 Hell's Angels Iwo Jima 1945


VMF-321 F4U-1D Corsairs on Iwo Jima 1945


USMC F4U Corsair VMA-321 Hell's Angels Iwo Jima 1945


FG-1D Corsairs from MAW-4 on the ground at Iwo Jima c 1945

[Mark Allen M]

P-47N Thunderbolts, including (serial number 44-88572), and (serial number 44-88707) of the 414th Fighter Group, 7th Air Force lined up on hardstanding at Iwo Jima.


TBM-3 of Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 242 (VMTB-242) of the Fourth Marine Air Wing pictured on Iwo Jima's newly captured Motoyama #2 airstrip




TBM-3E Avenger of Marine Torpedo Bomber Squadron Two Hundred Forty-Two (VMTB-242) pictured taking off from Iwo Jima's Motoyama Number One Airstrip


TBM-1C with Composite Squadron Eighty-Eight (VC-88), pictured on flight line at Iwo Jima Motoyama Airfield Number One


P-47N Thunderbolt of the 413th Fighter Squadron belly-landed at Central Field, Iwo Jima, on September 7, 1945

[Mark Allen M]

Marines and Army ground crews look over the first Sikorsky R-4 helicopter to land in the fighter strip on Iwo Jima, Mar 23, 1945


Off Iwo Jima, the the LST-776 (landing ship tank), specially equipped with booms and cables for launching light aircraft, achieves the first successful launch

[Adam Kline]

Thanks for posting. Fantastic pics.

[Mark Allen M]

Your welcome Adam, all I care about is that these photos will help us to remember what was sacrificed by so many so long ago. It's far too easy to forget the past and what happened in these photos to fade away. I love the old warbirds for what they are today but I despise the thought of what they had to be created for. I wish these photos were the last look at what war was about. Unfortunately that's only wishful thinking in my dreams.

[Waltz41]

Mark, great photos and thanks for posting. So many people will enjoy watching a P-51 at an airshow or get excited about the next restoration, but it's really important that we remember where these aircraft came from and what they did, including the all people behind them.

Are some of the photos you posted original photos you have collected/scanned? Many I have seen before and some are official USAAF photos, but a few are very new to me. Are they from personal collections?

By the way, mind if I add a few 7th FC P-51 related pics???

'Lil Ole Meanie II' of the 457th Fighter Squadron, 506th FG


Lineup of 462nd Fighter Squadron P-51's


47th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group P-51 ready to take off