World War 2 – Richard Broom Photography

They don’t make them like they used to…

The Radial Engine – Richard Broom Photography

The Amphibion – Richard Broom Photography

An Air Transport Auxiliary veteran. This woman and many women like her were pilots during WW2 and receive the equal amount of pay as male pilots – an all time first for the British Government. But, it is interesting to note that the UK politicians didn’t manage to bring in the Equal Pay Act until 1970 – 25 years after the end of World War 2. Politicians? Who needs them!?

These very brave women pilots were so very impressive on many levels. This lady had flown just about every allied aircraft there was to fly during WW2. She is seen here standing next to a Spitfire Mk1 which was her favourite aircraft to fly.

The Groundbreaking Women – Richard Broom Photography

One of the heroic ‘small’ boats which rescued allied soldiers from the beach in Dunkirk at the start of World War 2. More information here.

The Dunkirk Small Boat – Richard Broom Photography

They don’t get much longer than this!

The Long Nose – Richard Broom Photography

I’ve reprocessed (is that a word?) this image – an old favourite

The Lancaster – remade. – Richard Broom Photography

The Scottish Aircraft – Richard Broom Photography

A rusting weapon, probably from World War 2, found lying around close to a taverna in the mountains in Crete. War – what is it good for?

The Rusting Weapon – Richard Broom Photography

The Lancaster – Richard Broom Photography

The Hurricane – Richard Broom Photography

The Back End – Richard Broom Photography

The American Fighter – Richard Broom Photography

The American Bomber – Richard Broom Photography

The Spitfire – Richard Broom Photography

A re-made image taken quite a while ago…an old favourite…

A larger version of this image can be seen by clicking here.

The D-Day Veteran – Richard Broom Photography

A WW2 Enigma Machine used for encoding and decoding secret messages…

The Cypher Machine – Richard Broom Photography

The Pilot (3) – Richard Broom Photography

The Sunderland – Richard Broom Photography

The Seaplane – Richard Broom Photography

Over 57,000 aircrew were killed during World War 2 (46% death rate). I can’t help wondering how many more young men and women will be killed if fighting breaks out (again) in Iran/Iraq and beyond. Ultimately a pointless and tragic loss of human life. We never seem to learn.

The Utter Pointlessness of War – Richard Broom Photography

The German Fighter – Richard Broom Photography

Very brave men flew these Lysander aircraft during WW2. The RAF pilots who flew these aircraft behind enemy lines, landed and either picked up or dropped off resistance fighters. The pilots would land in the dead of night in out of the way fields guided by only three people on the ground who held torches. No GPS or navigational aids in those days. The aircraft were unarmed.

The Lysander Cockpit – Richard Broom Photography

Not just any printing press. This press was used by the Dutch Resistance during World War 2 to print leaflets. More than 20,000 Dutch people were arrested because of their work with the Dutch Resistance. 2,000 Resistance workers were executed. Many Resistance workers were sent to concentration camps. So many brave people.

The Printing Press – Richard Broom Photography

Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, GCB, KBE, MC & Bar, DFC was a New Zealand soldier, First World War flying ace and Second World War Royal Air Force commander. He was in operational command during two of the most significant air battles in the European theatre in the Second World War, helping to win the Battle of Britain and the Battle of Malta. In Germany, he was supposedly known as “the Defender of London”.

Sir Keith Park – Richard Broom Photography

The Yellow & Red Nose – Richard Broom Photography

The American Warbird – Richard Broom Photography

The Spitfire (2) – Richard Broom Photography

The Spitfire (1) – Richard Broom Photography

The Lancaster (2) – Richard Broom Photography

The Silver Bird – Richard Broom Photography

The Night Fighter – Richard Broom Photography

The American Warbird (2) – Richard Broom Photography

The American Warbird (1) – Richard Broom Photography

The Short Sunderland – Richard Broom Photography

The Mean Machine – Richard Broom Photography

An old favourite reworked…

The T1154 transmitter and the R1155 receiver were the first radios I used to transmit and receive signals (in my teens in the 1960s). These transmitters and receivers were used in Royal Air Force heavy bombers and other aircraft during World War 2. These transmitters and receivers used Morse code and the morse code signal used to ‘chirp’ (sounded a bit like a demented bird on drugs!). Some ‘chirping’ Morse code here.

Transmitter (top), receiver (bottom) – Richard Broom Photography

Courtesy Wikipedia and the Imperial War Museum

The Spitfire – a truly elegant aircraft…

The Spit (1)

…..but which aircraft?

The letter ‘J’ stands for Jewish on identity cards like the one below. It was a death sentence for untold number of Jewish people during World War 2. It is what happens when great evil finds itself in a position of power. In today’s world, we should do everything we possibly can to prevent evil taking hold. We only have to look to history to see what happens when evil people do take control. I fear that our politicians are so utterly distracted by their own (often pointless) agendas, they cannot see that we’re in danger of sleepwalking towards a huge global catastrophe – and this time, Mr Trump, it might final.