Saturday, January 5, 2013

Look at his eyes


I change my computer background photo almost every day, but for the past three weeks this has been in place.  I'm mesmerized by a photo of 3 men taken early in WWII.  The airman on the left is cipher, on the right a Canadian flight sergeant,  it's the squadron leader in his Mae West life preserver, dead center which holds my gaze.  Look at his eyes.

Perhaps all of 25, became squadron leader through attrition and because he attended college, at least for a while, he also fit within the tight confines of a British warplane. Likely as not none of these men survived the war. Look at his eyes and you begin to wonder if dying may have become welcome.  These brave men saved the Empire in spite of their former king.

For a great story of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flights latest Spitfire resurrection follow the link to  Eclectic Ephemera

J Peterman has dropped the hammer on squadron leaders scarf.  It's $50 this weekend, it was $119. Believing they would never drop the price to a level I was willing to pay I purchased an alternative yesterday. Having acted in haste I am now repenting at leisure.

Toad

4 comments:

Old Polo said...

Toad, I love the new header picture. Great post with a truely interesting picture. Those guys have always been my heros. Sorry about the scarf. Just ordered a bunch of stuff from Mr. Peterman. Never been disappointed in the quality and style of his stuff.

NCJack said...

Thanks for the heads up on the scarf, had my eye on it off & on, but not at retail. Mine ships shortly

heavy tweed jacket said...

Amazing photo. Sad to think about how many lost their lives at such young ages. I also like your new header photo. A lot.

Anonymous said...

The story of the photograph is set forth here: http://gbg-international.blogspot.com/2010/09/face-of-battle-of-britain.html
Your comments are pretty close to the mark.