Stunning color photographs from 1942 that show Navy cadets preparing for battle during World War II have re-emerged this week.
The images feature both men and women naval cadets and workers inspecting airplanes, wielding machine guns, and trying on protective clothing and gas masks in the event of chemical warfare.
Other images show a Navy sailor loading large munitions into a plane, factory operations, a female worker painting an insignia onto an airplane wing and aviation cadets in training.
The shots were taken at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi by photographer Howard R. Hollemm, who worked for the Office of War Information. The news agency was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt soon after entering WWII. Their purpose was to promote patriotic propaganda by providing news outlets with photos and film of the government’s war efforts.
The photos were shot with Kodachrome film and taken at a time when colored photography was relatively new, meaning the subjects had to hold the pose for some time. And though the images were clearly staged, the subjects were the real deal – military personnel preparing for battle.
Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis, senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Dept. of the Naval Air Base, talking with one of the men, Corpus Christi, Texas
Aviation Cadet Thanas inspects an airplane engine in the photos taken by photohrapher Howard R. Hollemm
A sailor at the Naval Air Base wears the new type protective clothing and gas mask designed for use in chemical warfare, in Corpus Christi, Texas, in August of 1942
Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval Air Base, supervises Charles Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan
Ensign Noressey and Cadet Thenics are shot using Kodachrome film at a time when colored photography was fairly new
After seven years in the Navy, J.D. Estes is considered an old sea salt by his mates at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas, in August of 1942
Painting the American insignia on airplane wings is a job that Mrs. Irma Lee McElroy, a former office worker, does with precision and patriotic zeal. Mrs. McElroy is a civil service employee at the naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. Her husband is a flight instructor
Lorena Craig is a cowler under civil service at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas
The naval base is stationed six miles southeast of the central business district of Corpus Christi, in Nueces County, Texas.
A station had been proposed there since the 1930s but it remained a low-priority construction project until 1940. One year before the outbreak of World War II, a U.S. congressional board realized the Navy didn’t have enough facilities in the event of an emergency demand for new pilots.
With the input of Lyndon B. Johnson, the Navy commissioned a new air training station on Corpus Christi Bay in March 1941.
That same year, 800 flight instructors were brought to Corpus Christi and put to work training 300 cadets each month. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that rate nearly doubled.
More than 35,000 aviators earned their wings at the base before the end of the war, including future President George H.W. Bush, who graduated in 1943 just days before his 19th birthday.
Cadet L. Deitz is photographed boarding a plane. At this time, to get colored image the subject had to stay very still for quite some time
Eloise J. Ellis is a senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department. She buoys morale in her department by arranging suitable living conditions for out-of-state employees and by helping them with their personal problems
Navy N2S primary land planes on the military base that was put into operation in 1941, during World War II
Aviation Ordnance Mate Jesse Rhodes Waller prepares to install a .30-caliber machine gun in a Navy PBY plane
Pearl Harbor widows have gone into war work to carry on the fight with a personal vengeance, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mrs. Virginia Young (right) whose husband was one of the first casualties of World War II, is a supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department of the Naval Air Base. Her job is to find convenient and comfortable living quarters for women workers from out of state, like Ethel Mann, who operates an electric drill.
Aviation cadets in training are pictured in stunning color photographs
Jesse Rhodes Waller, A.O.M., third class, tries out a 30-caliber machine gun he has just installed in a Navy plane
Doris Duke works on reconditioning spark plugs in the Assembly and Repair Department
J.D. Estes loads munitions into a plane in the stunning photos that re-emerged this week