1943 B-24 Factory (And Hello Shorpy, I Think I Love You)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 07:44PM 
Amazing 1943 B-24 factory photograph from over at Shorpy.com (click pic for hi-res)
I stumbled onto an interesting WWII image in color earlier today and the link for it led me to its source: Shorpy.com, a very cool website that has a simple and seemingly highly accurate tagline: always something interesting. Here's the official description for Shorpy, from Shorpy: Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
So, after clicking that color WWII image and seeing it in super-size, I decided to hit the search box and see what else in the way of extra large history on classic film I could find. I sensed that Shorpy was about all aspects of the history of life, but I also felt that if I searched 'aircraft', some good stuff would have to appear. The first image in the search results was this awesome photograph from inside one of the B-24 factories. When you see it in the large size, you get an amazing opportunity to see details of the people at work, and you get drawn even deeper into those unbelievable lines of B-24's that seem to go on forever. What a fascinating way to experience and acknowledge the hard work and dedication that the American people put into the war effort. And this is just a tiny sliver of that effort.
I highly recommend that you go spend some time at Shorpy.com and experience life in a way that, honestly, we seem to be missing in this high tech world. I posted this on twitter earlier today: I think I miss the days of Kodachrome. That statement really has more to do with the days of the past than it does with Kodak's fabulous color film... but it also points to a certain magic that film seems to have. Digital imagery is really cool, but film, wow, film is just so awesome. And even more, seeing life on film from the last 100 years from so many unique perspectives makes so much of the lives we live today seem disturbingly meaningless.
Yeah, I really do I miss the days of Kodachrome.
Reader Comments (3)
Thanks for the tip about that website I will have a look I have digital for a few years now don't miss film at all and yes the B24 what a great bomber I do think it was a better than the B17
I am desperately seeking information as to the final disposition of B24J serial number 44-40868, or maybe 41868. It was known as "My Ideal" and I have a picture of my father, and aircraft fueler, standing in front of it somewhere in the South Pacific. I have not been able to locate any information other that photos.
Gary, Have you tried the Warbird information Exchange site (AKA "The WIX)? If anyone knows, someone there will! Good luck!
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org
~J~
PS: Post the picture on the WIX if you go there.