good coverage of the Nascar race on Navy Base Coronado, San Diego's military base in the middle of the bay. Right off... they found ta manhole cover was too high, struck by a car, and went through a radiator of another car

and the words to a jingle come to mind, something about " how low can you go,

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CaliforniaPhoto/permalink/2853308188353791

getting helium to the US Navy, probably for blimps, produced by Exell, in 1943

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3348212208699705&set=gm.872289021837666&idorvanity=751896323876937

i like this... everyone familiar with the Navy rating system will recognize that it's a couple ratings

 

this photo impresses the hell out of me, I wish it was a wall sized poster/wall paper. That ratio of plane to jeep is stunning. The Convair Pogo

click on it for full size on your screen

As always, it's from the very cool, Daily TimeWaster 

 https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/02/convair-xfy-1-pogo-experimental.html

Japan, Yokosuka Navy base, 1968, and a cool Falcon truck used by the ordinance dept

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10164662075076018&set=pcb.1413903193454027

Jingle Jets, on the USS Midway museum

Navy veteran Chuck Reeves repairs donated bikes for veterans in need.

The Navy veteran’s bike restoration work started with him repairing bikes for fellow veterans staying at MANA House. Mechanically inclined, Reeves possessed a knack for fixing equipment at a young age. At the homeless veterans shelter, his work began small, fixing a few bikes at a time, to becoming his No. 1 passion.

Bikers Edge Cycle & Fitness in Peoria, Arizona, caught wind of Reeve’s mission and began donating bikes for him to repair. When he finishes a bike, Reeves sends it to MANA House for a veteran to use.

“I’m not out to get rich,” Reeves said. “As long as I can keep going and just help others, that’s what matters.”

Reeve’s work is vital because just under 30 percent of veterans who use transitional housing there have reliable transportation.

Many do not have vehicles, so using a bike can help restore their independence. On a bike, they can get to a job interview or make an appointment on time.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/investigations-and-features/2025/12/11/former-navy-servicemember-repairs-bicycles-veterans-need.html

Love this helmet

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10229573606539752&set=a.10202078354815643

In WW2, and when they needed more contract work, bridge companies would make LSTs for the Navy, and water towers for cities and railroad companies LST-669 was launched by the American Bridge Co. in May 1944.

I posted about the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works making rail road water tanks for steam locomotives, and water towers for cities a couple months ago https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-chicago-bridge-and-iron-works-built.html

https://varney.yolasite.com/xxrs.php

USS Odax SS 484, first of the "GUPPY" submarines, then returned to Key West for an intensive research and development. At this time, ODAX was the fastest of U. S. submarines, and first to get a Snorkel mast (for testing in addition to main induction mast)

 

sold to Brazil with another sub, in 1972

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2833944896903686&set=pcb.2003775719794269
https://ussodax.org/history.htm

Naval air stations in Kansas

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2371980873154964&set=pcb.2796626110509222

Gregg pointed out, in the comments:

A number of pilot training bases were built in Kansas because of more and better flying weather. Some became Municipal Airports. 

The Base south of Hutchinson became the states police training academy and Collins Bus has a manufacturing plant there.

USS Kenton, APA-122 was an attack transport named for Kenton County, Kentucky.

She was launched in August 1944 and was acquired by the Navy two months later. Following shakedown, Kenton transported roughly 1,500 Army troops to Pearl Harbor, and from there to the Philippines.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10000097980002333&set=gm.2903350149836817&idorvanity=186487028189823

Just found a "Disney and the War" facebook page... instant gratification with original insignias and patch art by Hank Porter

USS Sailfish SS-192

15th Observation Squadron

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=25088193104172560&set=pcb.3149600095211820

https://www.facebook.com/groups/186487028189823/

https://clickamericana.com/topics/war-topics/walt-disney-designs-army-navy-insignia-1941

From 1959 to 1993, Larsen Park hosted three different retired Navy jets, each donated to serve as imaginative play structures for the children of the Parkside District. I love this stuff...

The first was a Grumman F-9 Cougar reconnaissance plane from Squadron VC-61, driven up from Moffett Field in Mountain View with the cooperation of the California Highway Patrol and all the police department jurisdictions in between. 

The second jet, a Navy F-J Fury, replaced the Grumman in 1967. Both jets had ladders added to help kids climb into the cockpits. 

The third, and perhaps best-remembered jet, as it occupied the park for eighteen years from 1975 to 1993, was an F-8 Crusader.

https://www.outsidelands.org/larsen_park_jets.php

https://www.facebook.com/groups/remembered/posts/3304387306429764/

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/larsen-playground-project-in-sf-revives-iconic-playground-jet/article_46f74807-e397-500f-8542-55732a11f662.html

The idea for a new plane, is a larger concrete replica, that uses cargo netting for kids to climb on to represent the exhaust

Instead, they got this 

https://sf-pops.com/help-bring-a-jet-plane-back-to-larsen-playground