Photos That Show the Glory and Grit of Fighter Pilots
During World War II, the sky was its own battlefield, and the fighter pilots who owned it were a different breed. They were young, fearless, and sharp enough to dance with death at 20,000 feet. Leather jackets and boisterous goggles marked these brave pilots. Whether they were slicing through clouds in a Spitfire or roaring across enemy lines in a P-51 Mustang, these vintage photos of fighter pilots made flying look equal parts chaos and poetry.
1. US Navy Pilots Walking Toward Their Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats (1943)
2. Tuskegee Airmen Getting Briefed Before a Mission (1945)
3. Basic Airborne Course in Fort Benning (1953)
4. Elizabeth L. Remba Gardner, Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (1943)
5. Pilot Instructor Teaching Cadets How To Fly During WWII
6. B-24 Pilot on His Way to the Pacific Front (1944)
7. Pilots of the American 8th Bomber Command Wearing High Altitude Oxygen Masks (1942)
8. Royal Air Force and Their Dogs During the Battle of Britain (1940)
9. Jimmy Stewart as a B-24 Command Pilot (1944)
10. Pilot in the Navy
11. Training To Be a Navy Pilot (1950)
12. A WASP Trainee on a Solo Flight in a PT-19 Near Avenger Field in Texas (1943)
13. WWII Fighter Pilot
14. Air Force Pilot With His Wife
15. German and American Pilot Having a Beer Before Leaving the Air Base (1981)
16. Civil Air Patrol Student Pilot (1944)
17. Pilots Coming Out of Their Cockpits (1943)
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