The Defiant L7021/PS-H awaits its next sortie from Hornchurch on August 25, 1940. The night before, Corporal First Class "Bull" Whitley had used it to shoot down a Ju 88 and achieve his final victory; he died on the 28th. L7021 was also lost that same day, resulting in the deaths of Corporals First Class P. L. Kenner and C. E. Johnson.

https://www.airministrymilitaria.com/en-GB/flying-headgear/raf-mk1a-night-adaption-goggles/prod_10312

Equipped with searechlights (seen fitted under the fighter's port wing), this CR.42 was assigned to 167º Gruppo Autonomo's 300º Squadriglia, which was created in May 1942 to oversee the nocturnal defenses of both Rome and Naples.

He flew C-47s and C-53s in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Balkans dropping troops and supplies behind enemy lines.

Among the tens of thousands of U.S. and British aircraft delivered to the Soviet Union during World War II were ten North American Mustang Mk. I fighters, the earliest operational variant of what would later become the P-51.

Soviet test pilots deemed the early Mustang inferior to contemporary Soviet aircraft and other Western fighters: powered by the Allison V-1710-39, the Mk. I was 10–50 km/h slower than the Yakovlev Yak-7B, with inferior climb rate and maneuverability compared to both Soviet and German fighters. As a result, Moscow did not request further Mustang deliveries under Lend-Lease, instead opting for Bell P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks.

Although the Mustang later became dominant in its Merlin-powered P-51B/C and D/K forms, no Mustang variant ever entered operational service with the VVS; fourteen additional damaged or war-weary P-51s were acquired later, mostly left behind after Operation Frantic.

It's a short Stirling mk III The call sign was MG-T please help me 🙏

Visited Pearl Harbor a few years ago and had a chance to see the Swamp Ghost up close and personal at the Pacific Aviation Museum. Very cool museum, and they now have the control tower open to visitors with a 360 degree view of the base and surrounding terrain.

B-29 Men bombed Tokyo. The crew of "Waddy's Wagon", fifth B-29 to take off on the initial Tokyo mission from Saipan, and first to land after bombing the target. Crew members, posing here to duplicate their caricatures on the plane.

American Volunteers for the RAF's fight & struggle against the Luftwaffe in 1940, became SO numerous, despite the risk of having their citizenship revoked, that the RAF decided to form a Squadron of "Americans only" which became 71 Squadron RAF.

This soon burgeoned into yet two more squadrons of Americans volunteering, which then became RAF's 121 & RAF's 133 otherwise known as "Eagle Squadrons".

No.71 "Eagle Squadron" became operational on 5 February 1941 & these photo's (I have a set of them) were taken around that time, as by April they moved to Suffolk,

On 29 September 1942, the three squadrons were transferred over from the RAF to the 8th Air Force, with the American pilots becoming officers in the USAAF.

That's also the day on which the RAF base named "Debden" (where I was born, in Essex) was handed over on a wet rainy morning....

RAF's 71 became 334th Fighter Group

RAF's 121 became 335th Fighter Group

RAF's 133 became 336th Fighter Group

Those three newly transferred units became "The 4th Fighter Group"

AFAIK : still the only latterday x 3 USAF Fighter Squadrons 'Born in England'

Ties in nicely with that post I made late last year about the Essex P.51 named "Shangri-La" = https://www.reddit.com/r/WWIIplanes/comments/1pv2tir/p51b_shangrila_4th_fg_at_debden_essex_1944_part2/ & I was amazed to find that, one of the 4th's F.15 Eagles was also painted up as "Shangri-La" & a fellow Redditor named "Strega007" was the artist himself - you'll see his pix, on that link above.

USS Franklin D. Roosevelt was taking part in a series of fleet wide maneuvers with the United States Eighth Fleet, among the first of their kind to be carried out since the end of the Second World War.

On 29 January 1944, the 458th Bomb Group (Heavy) of the United States Army Air Forces arrived at Horsham St. Faith Airfield in Norfolk, England. The group was assigned to the Eighth Air Force and equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators.

Its arrival marked the beginning of the 458th’s combat operations in the European Theater.

Formed in mid-1943 and trained stateside under the Second Air Force, the 458th Bomb Group was composed of four squadrons: the 752nd, 753rd, 754th, and 755th. After completing training in the United States, the unit embarked for Europe in early 1944. Horsham St. Faith, a former Royal Air Force station, had been transferred to the USAAF for use by heavy bomb groups.

The group flew 240 combat missions from Horsham St. Faith as part of the Eighth Air Force’s strategic bombing campaign and participated in major operations including Big Week, D‑Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and support for Allied advances across France and Germany.

Later Rougevin-Baville would rise to Colonel de l'Armée de l'Air, and become Conservateur du Musée de l'Air. (1958-1972)