Biplane Bomber Sees "Action"...in 1939

[Fletch]

Here is a remarkable U.S. Army Air Corps photo, showing one Lieut. Hutchinson in the nose gun position of a Keystone B-3 Panther with the 9th Bomb Squadron at March Field, Calif., in October, 1932.

A crop of this serves as my avatar over on the VLJ Forum.

The pic must have seen publication or distribution somehow, because 7 years later we have this.

Fred Guardineer's cover for Action Comics #18, November, 1939.
Action of course was the comic where Superman began. This, coincidentally, was the last cover that didn't feature him.

No, of course the AAC didn't paint planes all-over red. In 1932 it was OD fuselage, chrome yellow wings & empennage. The OD was supplanted in 1933 by brilliant cobalt blue.

 

[carter]

Fletch, What a terrific photo and the Action Comics tie-in is a nice bonus. Thanks for posting this.

 

[dhermann1]

Interesting how as late as 1939, when truly modern aircraft were already in the air fighting, such a hilariously antiquated type could be portrayed in a publication and still seem reasonably believable.
I had a friend who was in a university air cadet training program in South Africa in 1938. He described flying in a 20's vintage British biplane bomber, where the bombardier laid on his belly at the bottom of the plane. To aim the bombs he removed a piece of fabric, which was all that stood between him and space, and aimed the bombs. He said if you got scared you could put the little piece of cloth back, so you wouldn't see.
Hard to think of a time when technology lept ahead with such a jolt.

 

[Fletch]

Don't know about the story inside Action 18 - perhaps it was a WW1 story - perhaps there wasn't one at all.

Here's a strange pic, a twin-tailed Panther (the early variant LB-6) in "WW1 German" paint, probably for war games, in the late 30s. The Keystone did resemble the WW1 German Gotha.

Gotha
It was suggested this was a film shoot. But the plane has the 23rd BS insignia, indicating Hawaii. Why shoot WW1 aerial footage in Hawaii?

Fun fact: The cruising speed of the Panther was all of 98 miles per hour.