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So what’s the story?

It’s a photo inside a London nightclub during WW2. Black American serviceman dancing with white British woman. No racial segregation in this photo.

This picture kind of reminds me of some stories I've read. When Americans were stations in England, the American commanders brought over their racial segregation. Many black Americans found some freedoms in British nightclubs, pubs & bars.
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There's a famous incident called the “Battle of Bamber Bridge”. Racial violence between American military police & black servicemen. The incident started in an English village pub, then spilled out into the street. Two black soldiers being shot in the back, & one in the neck. The 'battle' involved racial slurs; fist fights; the calling in of reinforcements on both sides; machine guns; grenades; road blocks, and the death & injury of black servicemen. The confrontation was over 5 hours long.

Story starts about 1:22 into this video.

 
This photo is from Friday 23rd June 1944.

A very grainy photo of a German V-1 Flying Bomb being chased by a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire over southern England. Many of these bombs got through to London. Casualties from these flying bombs was around 6,000 deaths and almost 18,000 injured.

The pilot of this Spitfire was Australian Flying Officer, Kenneth Roy Collier, assigned to the UK. Using a later version of the Spitfire, with its more powerful Rolls Royce Griffon engine.

Kenneth ran out of ammunition whilst trying to shoot down the bomb. He then positioned his aircraft alongside the bomb; poisoning his wing tip under the bombs wing. Banking his plane & flipping the bomb over. The bombs guidance system was unable to recover. The bomb then crashed in a field.

Later pilots discovered that they didn’t need to touch the bomb with their own aircraft. Just simply placing their wing tip close enough to the bomb would cause disturbance in the airflow over the bombs wing, causing it to lose control. This technique was thought to be safer than chasing it with gunfire, as it then exploded causing damage the fighter plane.

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As a civilian you start worrying when the bombs engine stops.


Artists’ impression.
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