War in the Air: Rare WW2 Photos In Colour

Rare colour photographs bring to life the key role air power played in the Second World War.

Following the success of The Second World War in Colour, a new book from IWM publishing War In The Air - The Second World War in Colour presents a further selection of original colour photographs from the IWM collection, focusing on Allied aircraft and airmen. Shot from the ground and from the air, these powerful images show how Allied victory in the Second World War owed much to air power.

Ian Carter, author of War in the Air and Senior Curator at IWM, says, “Colour photography was a rarity during the Second World War; film was scarcely available and images were expensive to print. Each photograph has been carefully optimised by IWM’s team of expert restorers to bring back colour accuracy and detail which over the years have faded from both paper and memory”.

War in the Air: The Second World War in Colour is available to purchase from the IWM online shop. Here are 10 highlights from the book.

1

Hawker Hurricane Mark IIDs of No 6 Squadron, Royal Air Force rolling out at Gabes airfield soon after noon on 6 April 1943 for a tank-busting raid.

‘Flying tin openers’: Hurricane Mk IIDs of 6 Squadron prepare for take-off from Gabes in Tunisia, April 1943.

2

Sub Lieutenant H H Salisbury, RNVR, of the Fleet Air Arm.

Sub-Lieutenant Harold Salisbury prepares for a sortie in Supermarine Seafire Mk Ib NX942 ‘AC-E’ of 736 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton, September 1943.

3

Three Avro Lancaster B Mark Is of No 44 Squadron, Royal Air Force based at Waddington, Lincolnshire, flying above the clouds.

Avro Lancasters of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, September 1942.

4

A gathering of men of No 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force to celebrate the completion of 100 operations by the Avro Lancaster R5868/`PO-S' (S for Sugar) after its sortie on 11 - 12 May 1944 to a communications target in Belgium.

Celebrations at Waddington to mark Lancaster R5868 (S-Sugar) reaching 100 missions while serving with 467 Squadron in May 1944.

5

All three Kittyhawks display the squadron's distinctive 'shark mouth' insignia.

Kittyhawk Mk IIIs of 112 Squadron preparing to take off at a desert airstrip in Tunisia, April 1943.

6

B-26 Marauders of the 320th Bomb Group, 12th Air Force fly in formation during a mission.

Martin B-26 Marauders of the 441st Squadron, 320th Bombardment Group, 1945.

7

A Vickers Wellington XII JA412 of No 221 Squadron, Royal Air Force Coastal Command, operating from Hassani, near Athens, on its way to drop supplies including newspapers, leaflets and clothing to isolated Greek villages cut off by the enemy's demolition of bridges.

Wellington GR Mk XIII JA412 ‘S’ of 221 Squadron over the Aegean, March 1945.

8

Captain Edwin O Fisher of the 362nd Fighter Group atop his P-47 Thunderbolt (serial number 42-26919) nicknamed "Shirley Jane III".

Captain Edwin ‘Bill’ Fisher of the 377th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, atop his P-47D Thunderbolt Shirley Jane III at a landing ground in France, summer 1944.

9

Royal Air Force cadets take a break from the hot Florida sun beside a Stearman PT-17.

RAF pilots in training with the Embry-Riddle Company at Carlstrom Field near Arcadia in Florida, 1941.

10

Sixteen instructors (front row) and pupils parade with North American Harvard aircraft.

Instructors and pupils of No. 20 Service Flying Training School pose with their North American Harvard Mk IIAs at Cranbourne, in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, 1943.

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