WW2 photos of Margaret Bourke-White, John Florea, J R Eyerman, and George Silk for Life magazine

Thanks to T Wilson 66 for telling me about this video of the tank battle of Cologne, it's incredible, and that Panzer in the photo is the one in the video

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/01/18/45959/

https://www.facebook.com/Radio.WW2/

the WW2 War Department film on how to waterproof a Jeep

this goop is Asbestos Waterproofing Compound, AWC

I wouldn't have thought about the battery vents... good idea!

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/1631935880418477/?fref=nf

1st time I've seen tanks used to fill in a crevasse so other tanks could get across

Found on http://ww2live.com/en/content/world-war-2-hobarts-funnies-strange-looking-tanks-79th-armoured-division-used-normandy

A lot of spare tread... doubles as armor I guess

https://www.facebook.com/WW2-Colourised-Photos-393166910813107/?ref=stream

Some days I end with something cool for you to see first thing in your day, but I love to hit a home run and show you something you've never seen before. Like an elephant pulling a WW2 amphib airplane

It's a Supermarine Walrus. Yeah, I've never heard of that, and couldn't come up with a good joke about elephants and walrus.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/103715686627022/

this Spitfire was restored, and they had to figure out what it's history was before they could get it certified ready for flight

The Isreali Air Force had acquired it in 1948, belly landed it in Burma in 54, the Burmese repaired it and flew it until '57

A researcher was hired who went through the Israeli archives and he found “Ex 633” written on an aircraft servicing form. Learning this led to finding its whole history

RAF Spitfire SL633 was built in at the end of WWII in 1945 and with 53 others it would be part of a Czech fighter wing. There it was used in various roles until the communist takeover in 1948. The Czechs had promised to help the new Israeli state with military arms and the SL633 was part of that aid package.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/how-to-assemble-a-crated-spitfire-from-burma.html

the Jeep graveyard of Okinawa, 1949, photographed by a Life Magazine photographer

Found on http://jpfreek.com/2015/01/08/insane-wwii-jeep-graveyard-photos/

Tom Cotter found some Cobras in barns, but never a Panther in a basement!

Last seen 37 years ago, and never since, the Panther was suspected of being in the possession of a certain military relic collector, but they didn't know, nor did they suspect he had torpedos. Yes, he did.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/ww2-panther-tank-recovered-from-a-cellar.html

"When a Kiel prosecutor suspected the existence of war relics in a villa in the town of Heikendrof, the only way to find out was the police raid. Possession of war relics, or weaponry is banned in Germany and is a prosecutable offence. The raiding party and prosecutors were in awe to find a fully intact panther tank in the underground garage as well as a number of other weapons from the Nazi era." 

The Flugboot, the flying boat of the Nazis, there was only one, that's why we've never heard of it

German sources, based in part on the testimony of nearby inhabitants and Blohm & Voss employees, claim that the BV 238 V1 was discovered by the RAF between 23 April and 26 April 1945

The Allies were reportedly concerned that Adolf Hitler could use it to escape to South America, and so an attack followed shortly afterwards, and on May 4th they staffed it and sank it

Found on https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/12/11/the-beuatiful-ugly-german-flugboot/

approximately 40 B-17s were repaired and put back into the air by the Luftwaffe, I did not know that... even the Japanese fixed and flew them

And Kim wrote in to let me know "The German use of B-17s effectively made her the 3rd largest operator of that type, after USA and Great Britain. They were mainly used for teaching fighter pilots which angles the bomber's gunners couldn't cover. During WW2 a good number of B-17s landed in neutral Switzerland and Sweden, where they too were put to use by the local air forces." 

Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/103715686627022/?fref=nf

Macin sent me links to a couple webpages that fill in information about the German use of captured B 17s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kampfgeschwader_200  about a secret wing of the Lufftwaffe, the 200. A book was written about the 200 Geoffrey Thomas: KG200: Luftwaffe’s Most Secret Squadron, Hikoki Publications, August 2004, ISBN 1902109333
and http://www.2worldwar2.com/kg200.htm

KG 200 was a unique unit, which operated a wide variety of aircraft–from the Blohm und Voss Bv-222 Wiking (the largest flying boat of the era) to the Junkers Ju-52, Ju-90, Ju-290 and Ju-188, the Heinkel He-111, and even captured British, Russian, and American aircraft such as the Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The majority of the captured allied aircraft were repaired, repaired, maintained and flown by the Zirkus Rosarius

https://www.facebook.com/groups/103715686627022/

Force-landed at a Luftwaffe airfield in France on Feb. 4,1944. Repaired and flown by KG200 as A3+KB. She was recaptured at Salsburg,Austria in May 1945.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsheley/4235540555/

Mechanics at work reconditioning Merlin engines at an RAF Repair & Salvage Unit in the forward area in Central Burma.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/103715686627022/

Long Range Desert Group trucks, 1942, crewed by New Zealanders, many of whom joined the Long Range Desert Group in 1940 from a consignment of troops who found themselves at Alexandria without their arms and equipment, which had been lost at sea.

It was essential to stop at midday in the summer because the shadow of the sun-compass needle was too short to give an accurate reading. Compass below, being carefully checked

sand mats were used to get out of trouble

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1002544656475969.1073741850.174281975968912&type=3

One of these trucks was found in Libya in 2010, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/02/ww2-built-vehicle-was-designed-to-take.html 

Dec 7th, 1941

Some photos I haven't seen before, which is amazing, as the 50th anniversary brought so many photos to the news papers and magazines, and I was stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time, and collected them all.

From a big gallery of photos I haven't seen before https://www.facebook.com/SFRProductions/?fref=photo  via  https://www.facebook.com/groups/103715686627022/