An air-force uniform does not necessarily mean a pilot. Del Prado’s WAAF airwoman represents the women whose communications, plotting and technical work helped an air force function, even though they were not its combat aircrew.
The distinctive helmet and camouflage smock carry the airborne identity. By 1944, however, that identity did not mean the soldier was about to jump: German paratroopers were also fighting prolonged ground battles.
The leather jacket gives this captain a very different appearance from a marching infantryman. It also opens a revealing question about French armour in 1940: how much work could one commander be expected to do inside a tank?
The dark coat and sailor’s cap make this a naval subject at once. They do not, however, identify a submarine crewman. Del Prado’s sailor is a chance to widen the naval story beyond the U-boats that dominate so many accounts.
A tank formation is easy to reduce to its vehicles. This Del Prado sergeant brings the scale back to a person—and requires one important identification: the subject is the American 2nd Armored Division, not the French 2e Division Blindée.
The tasselled cap catches the eye before the date does. Yet 1922 is the detail that makes this officer interesting: the Spanish Legion was still a young formation, and the setting was Morocco rather than the later Spanish Civil War.
The boonie hat is a useful corrective to the word “airborne.” Del Prado’s 1971 American sergeant is dressed for service on the ground, not suspended beneath a parachute, and that is central to understanding the subject.
The pith helmet and rifle identify a regular soldier in Del Prado’s late-war Vietnam subject. The date is the key: 1975 belongs to the final campaign, two years after the agreement that ended direct American military involvement.
The red beret and camouflage are familiar, but the year is easy to overlook. This Del Prado colonial paratrooper belongs to 1952, when the experience of an air-supplied position at Na San still lay ahead of the catastrophe at Dien Bien Phu.
A machine gun, short sleeves and a forward-moving stance give this figure a different presence from Del Prado’s formal uniform portraits. The 1973 date places him in a conflict often remembered through tanks, although the fighting was never only an armoured contest.
