A Glimpse Into the Past

      It's time once again to post some art work.  And once again the art work is photography.  You might think after this that photography is my favorite medium, but in reality my favorites are oil paintings, and various forms of sculpture, and various media of drawing - all equally.  Then comes using different printing processes for the sake of art, and oftentimes utilized in abstract compositions.  For me photography falls somewhere after that. 
      This art work today is from a collection of photos that is very special to me.  They were taken by my grandma's brother.  Uncle Chuck had always wanted to get into professional photography, but a lack of funds prevented him from going to school for it.  Nevertheless he created a dark room in their house and started to practice.  He was seld taught in the basics, and he proved that he did have "the eye" for it. 
      Then WWII broke out, first in Europe, and then its rages finally reached America.  Uncle Chuck signed up.  This was both for patriotic reasons, and because he wanted to choose his branch of service, rather than wait to be drafted and leave it all up to chance.  He chose the Army, and specifically the Army Air Force. 
      His self taught photography skills were just enough to get a formal education in the subject for free.  I think it was a poster on base that he answered after his basic training that said something like "Photographers Needed."  He went in and applied.  As I have been kind of appointed as the "family historian and records keeper" (unofficially - I'm not sure how that happened, but when a family member dies, I end up with a lot of his or her stuff), After Uncle Chuck died I ended up with a huge box of his old photos - complete with negatives.  Having to wait to get this stuff till after they die is a bugger though, as I find so many things then that I would love to ask them questions about.  I end up looking through their artifacts, and am then forced to play "History Detective." 
      During the war, Uncle Chuck was assigned to a reconnaissance unit that ended up being based in the Indian Ocean, and specifically on the Irrawaddy River in what was then called Burma (Myanmar).  I have hundreds of these pictures he took while on assignment.  There are some pictures of downed US aircraft, such as a series from the smoking remains of a "Flying Fortress."  There are others he took while still on base in Tennessee of a field full of the gliders that were used on D-Day.  Another interesting series was when his unit was out in the jungle on assignment with an "Aussie" unit (ANZAC's).  And since he was their base's best photographer he was assigned to take a ton of pictures of a USO show that came there.  There are pictures of stars and starlets whom I have no idea who they are.  If people would actually start commenting on this blog I would post some of them some day, so that I could get feedback from you all as to who these people might be.  Unfortunately, the people who would recognize them are becoming more and more scarce every day. 
      While a regular soldier would have had his letters intercepted, and the photos confiscated, Uncle Chuck had high level security clearance, and was able to send many photos home, along with their negatives.  That fact blesses me with an awesome collection today. 
      I have only chosen to post a few of the pictures here.  If you like what you see and/or want to see more of these you will have to ask for them in a comment.  I'm not sure what kind of camera he used, but the negatives are almost as big as the photos themselves.  That and his skill makes them absolutely crystal clear. 

This picture and the next one was taken while still on base in Lebanon Tennessee.  Note: you can even see the pilot's face in the cockpit of the other plane.  The same goes for the next picture. 

This picture is absolutely awesome.  I know that some Military history painter (not Don Troiani, but someone like him) has painted this picture and sells prints of it for a hundred bucks or so.  I think I have also seen it as an official poster for the Army Air Force (which became the USAF after the War).  But,... I have the negative.  I saw that someone has given this picture a title of some kind that I can't remember.  We just call it "The Picture Uncle Chuck Took of All the the Planes Flying in Formation." 

Reconnaissance units often had to go out behind enemy lines over enemy held territory.  Armed with only a camera, they had fighter escorts that went with them, just in case something happened.  One night something did happen, and Uncle Chuck took this picture of the event. 

                             This picture is just plain great. 

      This is enough for now.  If you want to see more of these you will have to ask for them in a comment below.