Marilyn Monroe and the Drones

My dad spent a couple of years in the South Pacific during World War II. He never really elaborated on it, but said he and his crew maintained and flew remote control airplanes used for target practice.

 I never quite understood what that was all about - until I found an almost forgotten roll of black & white negatives. I am in the process of scanning THOUSANDS of old family negatives, and when I scanned these, suddenly the whole thing got a lot clearer.

Then we ran across an internet story with a couple of pictures of a woman assembling these radiodrones during WWII, in a factory in Van Nuys CA. British actor Reginald Denny had started a company making these large scale flying models, and the Army Air Force ordered many for training purposes. One of the women working in the factory was tagged to pose for some photos - the photographer suggested she should do some modelling, which she did. She also bleached her hair, and changed her name - to Marilyn Monroe.

The drones my dad photographed in the South Pacific are the same ones in the Marilyn pictures, and were indeed the first "drones" used in a war-time setting!

How my dad would have LOVED knowing that he had a connection to Marilyn Monroe!

Railway Tunnel - STOP - Keep Out

For many years, this sign was posted at the West Portal entrance to the Twin Peaks streetcar tunnel in San Francisco. It didn't always work - there were many, many times the tunnel was closed due to people driving in and getting stuck on the tracks!

This sign has been dragged around all over the place since I rescued it from a trash pile back in 1973. I'm sure of the exact date, but the glass marble reflectors and the California Automobile Association bug on the bottom make me think probably late 1920s.

There are lots of initials and names carved on the back - are any of them yours?