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numbersix

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
Just spied this on reddit, thought I'd share it here.
A Royal Air Force pilot getting a haircut between missions at Fairlop Airfield Base in Essex, England in 1942
Niyb24Q.jpg

http://imgur.com/r/pics/Niyb24Q

 
ghost

ghost

Lifer
May 17, 2012
2,001
4
Looks like he's reading a copy of this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenmantle

 
drwatson

drwatson

Lifer
Aug 3, 2010
1,721
5
toledo
Boy, that generation was great..My country's getting bombed, but I will smoke my pipe, read a book, and haircut sounds good too!

 
anthonyrosenthal74

anthonyrosenthal74

Lifer
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
I just searched on google soldier with pipe, and there are some truly great photos of soldiers from civil war to current smoking pipes. really cool stuff.

 
undermidnight

undermidnight

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 26, 2012
221
0
Thanks for sharing!!! I will be downloading the book. A book read by a pipe smoker must be good!
Btw.. been enjoying Sherlock Holmes.
Jason

 
cynyr

cynyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 12, 2012
646
113
Tennessee
Turns out that fellow is Francis Mellersh. He stayed in RAF for thirty-some years and retired as an Air Marshal. His father was Ray Mellersh, who was in on the last combat of the Red Baron.
(It just so happens I read this stuff this morning. That pic has been floating around Tumblr, too.)

 
metalheadycigarguy

metalheadycigarguy

Lifer
Apr 26, 2012
3,369
5,444
Washington State
Interesting pic, but part of me thinks this was a couple of guys messing around during some down time. Pretend to read a classic book and smoke a pipe on the air field while getting a hair cut. Especially in the conditions as it does appear to be pretty windy. Kind of hard to read and smoke in those conditions. If it's a legit picture then that's pretty cool.

 
numbersix

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
Interesting pic, but part of me thinks this was a couple of guys messing around during some down time. Pretend to read a classic book and smoke a pipe on the air field while getting a hair cut.
Click to expand...
True, it does have a staged air about it. Could be a photo for Life magazine, etc. Still, a great color photo for the time period.

 
kashmir

kashmir

Lifer
May 17, 2011
2,712
64
Northern New Jersey
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on 20 August 1940. Referring to the ongoing efforts of the Royal Air Force pilots who were at the time fighting the Battle of Britain, the pivotal air battle with the German Luftwaffe with Britain expecting a German invasion.

 
kcghost

kcghost

Lifer
May 6, 2011
13,419
21,914
77
Olathe, Kansas
I am not sure Mellersh served as a pilot in WWII as he would have been in his early 40's and a senior officer in the RAF. He was a WWI ace.

 
withnail

withnail

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2011
737
1
United Kingdom
It could be a propaganda picture showing an officer carrying on as normal despite the loses suffered each day during the Battle of Britain. Either way, the Free World will always owe a debt to the brave young men who took off in their Spitfires and Hurricanes to meet the incoming bomber waves who were intent on destroying the airfields.
Teenagers took to the air with only a few hours training as the experienced pilots were being killed at a frightening rate.
Churhills speech sums things up perfectly. Hopefully it will always remain as our countries darkest hour.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,455
I always admire photos of soldiers/sailors/marines officers smoking pipes during WWII. Guys in uniform

were being force fed ciggies, and it took some real spine to keep track of a pipe and accouterments and

smoke that instead. My dad, who was a minesweeper skipper in the Pacific, chain smoked a pipe through

his war years. Later, I was on a minesweeper, but I wasn't no officer and I wasn't the skipper. Round

bottomed hulls of Washington spruce, had to be the wildest ride in the fleet. Let me tell you about the

typhoon evasion in the South China Sea ....

 
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