Thanos Massias
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massiasthanos.bsky.social
Thanos Massias
@massiasthanos.bsky.social
I post things that I find interesting, while referencing sources and providing context.
These gravestones belonged to members of the Perry Expedition. Commodore Matthew Perry (brother of Oliver Hazard Perry) had established this cemetery for foreigners in the Tomari area of Okinawa almost a century ago.

"Marines Mopping Up South of Naha" 1945
🎞️📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/542320390...
December 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🧵 Vertical foregrips.

A BAR with an improvised vertical foregrip.

"Invasion of Aguni"
🎞️📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/542319876...
December 5, 2025 at 1:52 PM
"PAN of bulldozer moving along beach. Wrecked Jap tanker is seen just off shore in BG." Circa 1945.
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/542320218...
December 5, 2025 at 1:24 PM
"A series of low alt. shot over Pisa, see leaning tower."
🎞️📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/165042779...
December 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM
🧵 Aircraft with BOMARC noses.

A modified B-57B (S/N 52-1497) with a 17-foot nose section of a Boeing CIM-10 BOMARC ground-to-air missile spliced on. It was used during the development of the guidance system for the BOMARC long-range, surface-to-air missile.

📷 nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Pho...
December 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Thanos Massias
They're not kidding! 😅😂
youtu.be/SNtA1cbIUSA?...
HILARIOUS EARLY EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS 84430 HD
YouTube video by PeriscopeFilm
youtu.be
December 4, 2025 at 3:23 PM
NATO, before the NATO we now know.

"The North African Theater of Operations (NATO) included French Africa, Spain, Portugal, and Italy."

"The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the […] NATOUSA"

🔗📑 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediter...
Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 4, 2025 at 1:28 PM
🧵 A Jeep with an "A" frame tandem hitch tow bar replacing the front bumper.

"Infantrymen of the 30th Division, Stand by the Jeep in the Snow-Covered and Battle-Scarred Town of Thirimont, Belgium" 1945
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/280956056...
December 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
"Six Unarmed Minuteman III Mark 12 Reentry Vehicles Are Shown Approaching Targets Near Kwajalein Atoll in the Western Pacific Ocean"
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/280957199...
December 4, 2025 at 7:49 AM
"Boeing IM-99 "Bomarc", USAF Area Interceptor Missile, Being Launched at Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex, Florida"
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/280957196...
December 4, 2025 at 7:48 AM
"High Angle, 3/4 Front View, of a U.S. Air Force F-4E Phantom With Bombs, En route to a Target in Southeast Asia"
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/280957188...
December 4, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Thanos Massias
The D.342 was the last transport aircraft produced by the manufacturer Dewoitine.
It had a more modern fuselage than its predecessors, the D.338, as well as a maximum speed of nearly 400 km/h.
It made its maiden flight in 1938 and was operated by "Air France" during the WWII.
December 3, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Aviator humor.

📷 archive.org/details/sim_...
December 3, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Thanos Massias
The Potez 566 was a three-seater observation aircraft from 1938 based on the Potez 56 civil aircraft. Only three examples of the 566 were ever built.

© British Pathé
December 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
🧵 Screencaps from a film from Operation Brassard—the Invasion of Elba in 1944.

This is an LCM(3) Smoker fitted with a smoke generator using chlorosulfuric acid (CSA) and an aircraft engine.

"OPERATION BRASSARD - THE ASSAULT ON ELBA [Allocated Title]"
🎞️📑 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
December 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
An improvised targeting system, using a crosshair drawn (probably with a grease pencil) on the windshield of a UH-1 Huey. Vietnam, 1966

"Helicopter in Flight Firing Rockets, A4B on Bomb Run and Civic Action / PXY-WAR Action and …"
🎞️📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/542324272...
December 3, 2025 at 9:40 AM
These are excellent reads:

① "Mapping the dark side of the world (part 1): The KH-5 ARGON geodetic satellite."
www.thespacereview.com/article/5104/1
December 1, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Thanos Massias
𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗

Lets talk about…

Humanitarian Daily Rations, and how to get them to people quickly by airdroppping
November 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Thanos Massias
Rockphoons
November 29, 2025 at 6:27 PM
🧵 A Lockheed U-2R in Navy markings.

This aircraft was converted to the EP-X (Electronics Patrol eXperimental) configuration and evaluated by US Navy for the ocean surveillance role during 'Project Highboy'.

The story is here:
🔗 www.twz.com/16936/decade...

📷 www.history.navy.mil/content/hist...
November 28, 2025 at 12:31 PM
🧵 TBD-1A was a Douglas TBD-1 Devastator with twin float landing gear added by the Naval Aircraft
Factory.

"(Bureau # 0268) In low-level flight during torpedo drop tests at the Newport Torpedo Station, Rhode Island, 10 October 1941.…"
📷📑 www.history.navy.mil/content/hist...
November 28, 2025 at 10:38 AM
I read a post about the discovery of Kevlar, which claimed that when Stephanie Kwolek formulated it, "a supervisor told her to throw away the 'useless' experiment."

That is not quite accurate.

The following is an account in her own words from a filmed interview:
youtu.be/L1pepaAdkWA?...
Women in Chemistry: Stephanie Kwolek
YouTube video by Science History Institute
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Some amazing footage here: (especially all the experimental stuff)

"THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FLEET AIR ARM [Allocated Title]"
🎞️ www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FLEET AIR ARM [Allocated Title]
Film history of the Fleet Air Arm (viewed without soundtrack).
www.iwm.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 12:05 PM
🧵 1954 footage from development of Mk 39 torpedo, which was a Mk 27 Mod 4 modified by ORL and Vitro Corporation with the addition of a wire dispenser, appropriate controls, and improved propulsion.
🔗 archive.navalsubleague.org/1997/u-s-nav...

"BU AID VITRO PROJECT"
🎞️ catalog.archives.gov/id/81400
November 26, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Waco S-Series (YKS-6 or ZKS-6), registration CF-AYT. Probably with Canadian Pacific Air Lines. 1943
🔗 www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/pa...

🎞️ catalog.archives.gov/id/23429
November 26, 2025 at 10:36 AM