c. 1943
A woman in the Auxiliary Territorial Services (ATS) at an anti-aircraft emplacement in Britain.
Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Color photography was not exactly a new invention at the dawn of World War II, but it was still a relatively niche, complicated process. In the 1940s, the premier color film was Kodachrome, which Kodak developed in the United States.
On account of international shipping hazards during wartime, Kodachrome was in extremely short supply in Britain. That scarcity makes these vivid, monumental portraits of service members — from ace pilots to air raid wardens to police officers — a historical rarity.
c. 1940
A pilot at a Royal Canadian Air Force training center in Canada.
Image: Ivan Dmitri/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
c. 1940
An RAF pilot in Britain.
Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1942
A soldier at Fort Story, Virginia.
Image: Alfred T. Palmer/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
1942
A rescue worker.
Image: John Hinde/SSPL/Getty Images
c. 1943
An RAF crewman.
Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
c. 1943
American heavy bomber, top gunner and radio operator Technical Sergeant Manley A. Brekken on an airfield in England.
Image: PhotoQuest/Getty Images
c. 1943
A wartime welder on the job in Britain.
Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
c. 1943
An RAF airman in Britain.
Image: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
c. 1943
An RAF airman wearing bandoliers of ammunition.
Image: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
c. 1944
American Lieutenant Colonel Francis S. Gabreski in England. Gabreski was the top American fighter ace, with 28 kills. He then became a Korean War ace.
Image: PhotoQuest/Getty Images
c. 1940
A British air raid warden.
Image: Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images
c. 1940
A police officer.
Image: John Hinde/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images
1944
A highly decorated World War I veteran wears the uniform of an officer in The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment.
Image: SSPL/Getty Images
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