Don’t what the occasion was, but some event of note brought this group of pilots together in the 1930’s.  Center is Lewis Brereton, later a Lieutenant General.  Brereton has the distinction of being the only officer to consecutively serve in the USAF and all its progenitors: The Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps.  Aviation Section, Signal Corps – Air Service – Army Air Corps – Army Air Forces – US Air Force.

Other notables are in this photo as well, including George “Bill” Holloman, namesake of the Air Force Base.  It is also noteworthy that two enlisted pilots are in this photo, Colby and Rosenberg.

Seen at its home field at Fort Crockett.  This Falcon (30-13), when withdrawn from service in 1937, had the distinction of being the last A-3B in the inventory.

Members of Mitchel Field’s 5th Bomb Squadron pose proudly with one of their brand new Martin B-10’s.

Selfridge Field’s 31st Pursuit Group go for a cruise high in the Michigan sky.

The caption on this photo of an O1-C states: “Lt. Wheeler in Curtiss Falcon attack plane at Curtiss-Wright Airport, Chicago, June 27, 1930. I was in gunner’s cockpit while we flew in formation over the city for an hour.”

What started as a Curtiss O-1E Falcon, turned into a XBT-4, and finally a Y10-1G.  Whatever you want to call it, 29-295 had a short but interesting career.  After all those name changes, 295 crashed in 1932.

General William E. Gilmore, head of the Air Corp’s Material Division at Wright Field, demonstrates the latest wonder to take to the sky: two-way communications.  He’s perched in the nose of a B-2 Condor of the 96th Bomb Squadron.  Photo dated 4-11-30.

With it’s shark-like nose, I prefer the look of the A-8 over that of the radial engined A-12, but I like the aircraft’s overall design, no matter what.

The Curtiss A-8 and A-12 Shrike are hands-down my favorite aircraft of the 1930’s. (The A-8 more so) Unfortunately, there are no survivors of the type.  (Why can’t my favorite plane have at least one example extant?)

Good camouflage job.  In the background are a pair of Boeing 247’s, and a brace of Boeing Model 80’s.

The uniquely shaped air base in the background is it’s home : Randolph Field.  Photo taken in the pre-urban sprawl year of 1940.  Now the area around Randolph is home to thousands.

There are A-3 Falcons and A-12 Shrike’s of the 26th Attack Squadron. The 6th Pursuit Squadron is still flying P-12’s.

Radiator assembly for Boeing’s GA-1, or “GAX.”  You ask “what is GAX?” I answer: “Ground Attack eXperimental.  GAX Almighty was a great armored triplane that was supposed to be impervious to the puny weapons of enemy soldiers.  While bullets pinged off its armored sides, GAX’s gunners amused themselves by shooting the enemy below like they were fish in a barrel.  Well, that was the idea.  In reality, GAX weighed so damned much you could hardly get it off the ground. The Air Service bought 10 of the beasts, flew them for a few years, and then moved on.

 

A Douglas OA-4 Dolphin leads the parade of marauding aircraft at Schofield Barracks in September 1935. Hot on his tail are a gaggle of Keystone bombers.

Newly-minted mechanics of the 5th Bomb Group at Hickam Field in 1941. The names of the men are on the back of the photo and research shows that one, unfortunately, was killed December 7th 1941. Another man was killed at the Battle of Midway.