Unknown German WW II pilot's photos

Spoks said:
...
- On the picture of his friends waiting to be sent eastwards is not the friends that is interesting anymore. But the shape of the railway station windows in the background is the source to restoration of the old railway station building to it's original shape today. To mention one example.
Click to expand...

From a historian's or conservator's point of view, I fully agree.

However, I am more interested in the people in these snapshots.
They were young lads like us (or like we were - for some).
When I see pictures like that, I wonder what were the lads like, did they believe the propaganda, and what became of them?

Cheers,
Uwe
 
The Soviets for example had photographers like Yevgeniy Khaldei who made the famous picture of the hoisting of the Soviet flag on the Reichstag. One of the soldiers had several wristwatches on his arm which were removed by retouching. A few months ago a historian claimed that that was not the only way that picture was tampered with.
Khaldey also revisited some of the people whose pictures he had taken and photographed them again.
I live in Austria and among my old folders there is one with the engraving of a French Camera shop, makes me wonder how that Camera made its way. It could easily have been stolen in WWII by a German soldier.
 
Johan,

The most numerously issued camera to the US military in World War 2 would still be the Graflex 4x5 Speed Graphic. Medalists were mainly used by the Navy. But many private purchase cameras were used by all branches of service. Jorge Lewinski mentions that as many as 1 in 2 GIs carried a camera at the end of the war.

British APFU soldiers mainly carried Zeiss Super Ikontas acquired through Turkey, And a few lucky ones got Kodak Medalists (for color). No 35mm film cameras were issued due to the limited supply of film.

As for other forces I can't really say. "Stalin's War" by Laszlo Bekesi has a picture of two Russian Scouts using a FED - NKVD with a massive telelens attached. Probably not for propaganda purposes 😉



Photojournalists from other Allied countries were allowed to witness the horrors of the Eastern Front as well. Margaret Bourke-White amongst them.
 
Uwe_Nds said:
From a historian's or conservator's point of view, I fully agree.

However, I am more interested in the people in these snapshots.
They were young lads like us (or like we were - for some).
When I see pictures like that, I wonder what were the lads like, did they believe the propaganda, and what became of them?

Cheers,
Uwe
Click to expand...

Indeed.

A shrill goes down my spine when reading the comment that the photographer has written on the backside of this picture: Commerades dig graves. Two days later they themselves were burried too...
 

Attachments

  • c1cc5c79efda3eb53ea085e70f65a9fd_image_document_large_featured_borderless.jpg
    c1cc5c79efda3eb53ea085e70f65a9fd_image_document_large_featured_borderless.jpg
    23.9 KB · Views: 0
Mr_Flibble said:
Johan,

The most numerously issued camera to the US military in World War 2 would still be the Graflex 4x5 Speed Graphic. Medalists were mainly used by the Navy. But many private purchase cameras were used by all branches of service. Jorge Lewinski mentions that as many as 1 in 2 GIs carried a camera at the end of the war.
Click to expand...

There's a video around on youtube or so where US photographer and then soldier Tony Vaccaro talks about how much he liked his Contax (I think it was one) over the Graflex and how he used to develope his films at night in helmets. 😀

Regarding the initial posting about the photos - I think that must have been either a guy from a PK unit (for this speak the shots of higher officers, although it could be that they landed near a staff and staged it) or a richer guy given the fact that he had not only one camera and lens.
 
CLE-RF said:
Question: I have shot quite a number of old LTM camera's, but have never had the image extend onto the sprocket holes.

How come I see this quite often with older shots, but not nowadays? Different film size?
Click to expand...


The older Leicas, like the Leica II(I know because I have one and it does this) were made to be used with special Leitz cassettes, which were hand loaded. My guess is that the photographer was using an older Leica with a modern cassette, which makes sense since the frames are numbered. The modern cassettes are a little shorter and cause the image to overlap the sprocket holes.
 
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if these guys aren't still hanging around as retired Lockheed and NASA engineers...
 
I heard a similar story once

I heard a similar story once

no idea if there is any truth to it - a retiring commercial Japanese pilot is asked where he wants to fly to for his last flight, and he picks Hawaii, where he has never flown commercially. Upon seeing the islands, he says something like "wow, it's been a long long time since I've been here...had to leave in a hurry" ...

Paul T. said:
Beautiful photos.

The ones of the cities have an eerie duality about them. They look like tourist photos, but of course they aimed to obliterate the sights they were recording.

THis always reminds me of a French friend's joke; he'd stayed with me once in Hull, when I was a student, and happened to mention the city to an older, German acquaintance he'd met at over dinner: "Ah, Hull," the chap responded. "I have not visited it. But I have bombed it."
Click to expand...
 
ampguy said:
no idea if there is any truth to it - a retiring commercial Japanese pilot is asked where he wants to fly to for his last flight, and he picks Hawaii, where he has never flown commercially. Upon seeing the islands, he says something like "wow, it's been a long long time since I've been here...had to leave in a hurry" ...
Click to expand...

That reminds me of another story about a British commercial pilot flying to Frankfurt. Upon landing and accidentally picking the wrong gate to park up he has an argument with the control tower. "You have messed up the entire flight schedule! Have you not been to Frankfurt Flugplatz before!". To which the pilot replies: "I have. A few times before. Only at night, and I didn't land"
 
I love the photograph of Dserschinski-Platz - photo #12. I'm surprised I had not come across it in my architectural studies. It makes me think of Steven Holl's "Linked Hybrid" building in Beijing which recently opened.
 
On the sprocket-hole allignment, every Kiev I've owned overlaps sprocket holes, so the camera might have been a Contax.
 
Mr_Flibble said:
That reminds me of another story about a British commercial pilot flying to Frankfurt. Upon landing and accidentally picking the wrong gate to park up he has an argument with the control tower. "You have messed up the entire flight schedule! Have you not been to Frankfurt Flugplatz before!". To which the pilot replies: "I have. A few times before. Only at night, and I didn't land"
Click to expand...

My father was a pilot during the war and flew first this rare bird at Akurøyri Iceland- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_N-3PB and the somewhat better known Mosquito IV (bomber version) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito - the last one over the landings at Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, among others.

In the late 60' or early 70' he flew with different airliners from Sydney Australia back home to Norway and 'knew all the pilots'. Most of whom had flown bombers over Germany during WWII. My father was a pilot in RNAF up until 47' (or thereabouts, I am not sure, really) when close to half the airforce was sacked. There were no use for them anymore.
 

Attachments

  • Northrop_N-3PB_in_flight.jpg
    Northrop_N-3PB_in_flight.jpg
    36.4 KB · Views: 0
  • De_Havilland_Mosquito-DK338-1942.jpg
    De_Havilland_Mosquito-DK338-1942.jpg
    36.3 KB · Views: 0
Mark D. said:
I love the photograph of Dserschinski-Platz - photo #12. I'm surprised I had not come across it in my architectural studies. It makes me think of Steven Holl's "Linked Hybrid" building in Beijing which recently opened.
Click to expand...

AS you might know, St.Petersburg is a architectual revelation. Not only the old part, the Winter Palace, Nevsky Prospect, along the Moika and all that, but also the buildings from the Stalin era. The buildings from this era is in a ring around the old city and far far better than the dull, grey and awful department blocks built later. And indeed, the famous and beautiful Moscow Metro is a product of the Stalin age. He had good taste, that old bugger!
 
Thank you for posting these. Fascinating and terrifying.

He nailed the exposure inside the plane. Did he use a meter, I wonder? Or just Sunny 16? I doubt he called it that...
 
vdonovan said:
Thank you for posting these. Fascinating and terrifying.

He nailed the exposure inside the plane. Did he use a meter, I wonder? Or just Sunny 16? I doubt he called it that...
Click to expand...

Good question.

My experience is that it is actually difficult to set exposure from planes. It depends on if you are pointing the camera downwards or includes some sky. In the latter example, - as my picture bellow. You have to open up considderably when pointing the lens towards the ground. It can't have been easy. That's all I can say.

The photo bellow have I taken from a glider. Over Wärmland, Sweden on a beautiful summers day. With my old Canon EOS3 - 100ASA Kodak Gold.
 

Attachments

  • TOM00009copy.jpg
    TOM00009copy.jpg
    73.6 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Thank you for this time capsule . It serves as a reminder of the humanity of war - I feel I know something about this man from 60 years ago from these images . Some of his portraits and in cockpit shots are very good. Thanks for posting
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom