Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

October 1942. Long Beach, California. "Flexible performance of C-47 transport planes is due in part to their two 1,200 horsepower radial engines and to their three-blade variable-pitch propellers. Picture taken at the Douglas Aircraft Company. The versatile C-47 performs many important tasks for the Army. It ferries men and cargo across oceans and mountains, tows gliders and brings paratroopers and their equipment to scenes of action." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.
Maybe today we are just so used to seeing dirty brown or dirty gray skies in Southern California that it's a shock to see that the sky was once blue...
Yep. Those of us old enough to have used Kodachrome 10 are familiar with "Kodachrome Blue"
Is the intense blue sky color a characteristic of Kodachrome transparencies? The other colors are so vibrant and realistic.