Virginia City, Nevada was the site of one of the richest ore discoveries in history. The wealth of the Comstock mines resulted in Nevada being rushed into statehood and was a factor in the Union winning the Civil War as the great riches were used to supplement the war effort.
1944, USS Mercury was attacked by a Japanese torpedo bomber that clipped the ship's cargo boom and cartwheeled into the sea. The boom was the first and only one in the Navy to be credited with downing an enemy plane. A victory mark was painted on it by the ship's winchmen.
A damaged Japanese Showa/Nakajima L2D Transport photographed on Saipan - June/July 1944
The Showa/Nakajima L2D was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3 and was the most important Japanese transport in WW2, the L2D was given the Allied code name “Tabby”.
Nakajima Hikoki acquired the license rights to bulld the DC-3 from the Douglas Aircraft Company for $90,000 in February 1938.
Originally powered by imported Pratt & Whitney radial engines, the first L2D prototype flew in October 1939 and entered production in 1940 with Mitsubishi radial engines, many different variants of the L2D were built during WW2, none survive today. I had no idea the DC3 was used by the Japanese against us!
LIFE Magazine Archives - Peter Stackpole Photographer
