B-23 vs. P-40 in 1941 exercise

[Larry Kraus]

The Life Magazine images on Google have some really interesting pictures,although they aren't all that easy to find and the captions are often less than helpful or occasionally obviously wrong.That said,it's worth the effort to see what's there.

These pictures are listed under: U.S.Army's Interceptor Command conducting training Date: 1941 Photographer: George Strock














I assume that this picture had a caption in the magazine referring to the vehicle tracks showing up from the air

[Steve Nelson]

Wow! I take it that's a simulation with pre-planted pyro, and the Dragon isn't really dropping bombs.

SN

[The Inspector]

probably since things were so relaxed that 2 ton trucks had "TANK' painted on their canvas bed covers and some ground troops used plywood cutouts as 'machine guns'

[Oscar Duck]

all that's missing is Laurel and Hardy

[JDK]

Great find, Larry, nice one. A world away from the USAAF's strength a year later.

Note the shift in the 'moving' ground in the B-23 air to ground shot.

all that's missing is Laurel and Hardy

Luckily they were missing a real enemy.

Apart from the different aircraft, it looks a lot like the pre-war exercises on Continental Europe, with the Polish, French and other air forces of the pre-invasion era.

They were fortunate there wasn't a land border with Germany.

[Django]

I think everyone has found all the easy stuff on the Life archives by now. But this hard to find stuff is awesome.

[Dave Lindauer]

Hmmm... a 1941 photo of P-40s in revetments, dispersed in the trees, covered with branches... What if we'd done that on December 7? It might have made the second wave a whole lot more intersting.