D -DAY Aviators

19/06/2026

Picture taken in Normandy less than a year after the June 6, 1944, DDay Landings - Spring 1945

Ralph Morse Photographer
LIFE Magazine Archives / WWP-PD

19/06/2026

19/06/2026

19/06/2026

In June 1944, when the invasion in Normandy took place. Bayeux had no bypass and all the trunk roads (RN 13, RN 814 and RN 172) ran through the town. The narrowness of the streets and the crossroads in the old medieval town were ill suited to traffic consisting of army lorries and convoys of heavy equipment. This prompted British command to take the decision to build a bypass around the town.

The now ring road was designed to solve the problems of congestion and the resulting delays. It ran across fields over fairly level ground that did not require major earth-moving work and was unmetalled, simply covered with lay rolls of Sommerfeld track. This consisted of very strong mesh reinforced at intervals with steel bars. The Royal Engineers of the British 2nd Army had “ the bypass” built by the end of the month of June, after just three weeks of toil. This provisional road, which greatly facilitated the circulation of military vehicles, underwent major development after the war.

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18/06/2026

A WWII bomber disappeared over Berlin in 1943… leaving behind seven crew members and families with no grave, only a telegram. Now, 77 years later, a chance discovery in a Dutch lake has revealed what may finally bring Sgt Leonard Shrubsall home. A son who never met his father is about to face the wreckage of history—and the possibility that his remains are still inside. But what divers found among the mud and metal suggests this is not just recovery… it’s a long-buried secret finally breaking the surface.
https://bicnews.com/son-of-raf-gunner-whose-bomber-was-shot-down-and-vanished-after-wwii-raid-on-berlin-can-finally-lay-him-to-rest-after-plane-and-remains-of-crew-were-found-in-dutch-lake-77-years-later/

17/06/2026

17/06/2026

During the Normandy campaign, British tank commander Bill Bellamy was driving along a quiet country road near Villers-Bocage when he noticed soldiers moving along the roadside. Assuming they were friendly troops, he continued forward. Then came the shocking realization: “I suddenly realised that the soldiers were wearing green uniforms and I was driving quietly along in the middle of a company of German infantry.”

Bellamy found himself almost face to face with one of the Germans. “He regarded me with the same look of astonishment on his face that I must have worn myself.”

Instinctively, Bellamy floored the accelerator and the jeep shot forward. Moments later German machine-pistol fire erupted around them. An explosion showered the vehicle with debris and Bellamy was wounded in the head. Somehow they escaped. At the dressing station, covered in blood, Bellamy expected the worst. Instead, the doctor calmly informed him: “It was mainly blood and little wound.”

Seven stitches later he walked out again. A remarkable reminder that in Normandy, survival often depended on seconds, instinct, and a great deal of luck.

📖 Troop Leader: A Tank Commander’s Story — Bill Bellamy

📸 July 10, 1944: A wounded British soldier from the 3rd (GB) Infantry Division is loaded onto a medical jeep in the Caen sector in Normandy. Photo: IWM B 6826

17/06/2026

B-17 bomber that crashed near Steinbourg, France 20 January, 1945
https://bicnews.com/shadows-in-the-flak-the-lifespan-and-final-stand-of-b-17g-44-8151/

17/06/2026

The Battle for Normandy: On 17 June 1944, Sherman tanks of British 30th Corps are pictured passing through Bayeaux in Normandy. The tanks are of great interest to the local children. The town was liberated by the British 50th Infantry on 7-8 June.

### Corps (30 Corps) was a corps of the British Army during . The corps was formed in the Western Desert in September 1941. It provided extensive service in the North African Campaign and many of its units were in action at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942. It then took part in the Tunisia Campaign and formed the left flank during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, before serving in the Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944.