Warbirds Online has over the years acquired a large selection of original photos taken during service by RAAF personnel as well as official photos taken by RAAF photographers. Today we are sharing several images, mostly taken during WWII from our negatives collection that we have scanned. Given the nature of the conditions in which the photos which were taken and the fact that most were self-developed the quality of the images is not high however the historic value of them is significant. Most of these images were taken either of operational aircraft or at training facilities throughout Australia and the South Pacific theatre of operations.
Some of the aircraft depicted such as the Martin PBM Mariner, Stinson Reliant, DH Sea Hornet and Bell P39 Aircobra are quite rare especially in RAAF usage whilst the Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII, NA / CAC Mustang and DH Mosquito were fairly commonplace. Other more numerous photos in our archive include many taken at training bases in Australia as generally speaking it was easier to take the images and easier to have them processed so aircraft types such as Avro Anson, DH Tiger Moth and Consolidated B24 Liberator are more numerous.
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- Beaufighters at RAAF Wagga
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- DAP Mk21 Beaufighter
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- Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 fighter
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- Bell P-39 Airacobra’s at Townsville
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- RAAF PB2Y Martin Mariners of RAAF 43 Sqn
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- RAAF Martin PBM Mariner
Along with these aircraft in the Warbirds Online Warbird Photo library are many images of the ubiquitous CAC Wirraway used at many training bases across the Australia. Another interesting holding of images covers the amphibious aircraft such as the Consolidated PBY Catalina, Supermarine Walrus/Seagull series and the Vought OS2U Kingfisher.
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- Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII A58 380
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- RAAF P40N 1 Old Crow A29 451 L No4 Sqn5
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- RAAF Torokina Bougainville-P40s Spitfires & a Beaufort
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- Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII of 457 Squadron
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- Supermarine Seagull V RAAF A216
Another interesting aspect is that sometimes we obtain human interest photos of experiences of service personnel going about their duties or undertaking social activities. It was quite difficult to take the photos in operational areas during WWII given the conditions, climate, available equipment and the fact that in principle service personnel were not actually supposed to be taking photos at all!
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- Captured Japanese aircraft – Mitsubishi Ki-30?
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- Vickers Wellesley at Point Cook Victoria
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- Dassault Mirage IIID RAAF serial A3 103
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- CAC CA-16 Wirraway
Warbirds Online acknowledges the original photographer wherever they are known. However the nature of the collection or donation of these images means more often than not the origin of the images is unknown. We often acquire images in junk shops or handed down by relatives or friends with no details of the source or details of time or location and even based on evidence contained in the image itself which may or may not be accurate.
Warbirds Online would welcome any feedback on the location and any other detail about any of the images.
© John Parker 2021