In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground – and in the air – in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang”, featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE.

Photo: Man your battle stations: The crew chief of helicopter Yankee Papa 13, lance corporal James C. Farley, mans an M-60 machine gun during a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam on March 31, 1965. (Photo by Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures)

One of the largest paddle steamers afloat in Britain is the H.M.S. Royal Eagle, former peacetime excursion boat which carried passengers on pleasure jaunts from Tower Bridge to Southend, Ramscate and Margate. Commissioned two years ago as a warship of the Royal Navy, the craft has been in action 52 times against enemy aircraft. The Eagle took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk where she was dive-bombed 48 times and brought home nearly 3,000 British troops. Members of the crew cleaning the paddle boxes of H.M.S. Royal Eagle in London on January 18, 1943. (Photo by AP Photo)

These rare photos capture the Flight Deck (cockpit) of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, fully powered for one of the final times. Just a few weeks later, at 9:58am EDT on May 11, Endeavour was powered down for the final time in history. It was the last of the three space shuttles to have power. Below, other views show the mid-deck, gutted of its lockers and storage areas, and three final photos show the white room entrance in the Orbiter Processing Facility, signed by thousands over the years.

Karim Nafatni is an Airline Captain and photography enthusiast. He seriously got into the Art when he got his first DSLR 3 years ago. Addicted to height and fan of architecture,he climbs the highest skyscrapers of Dubai to take his pictures ,sometimes more than 300 meters above ground. As the top of the biggest buildings in the world is not high enough for him,he carries his camera with him during work to document his daily routine in"his Office" and shoots from his flight deck.

In this photo provided by Jean Revillard, Solar Impulse 2, a plane powered by the sun's rays and piloted by Andre Borschberg, approaches Kalaeloa Airport near Honolulu, Friday, July 3, 2015. His 120-hour voyage from Nagoya, Japan broke the record for the world's longest nonstop solo flight, his team said. (Photo by Jean Revillard/Global Newsroom via AP Photo)

A participant attempts to control his craft during the Red Bull Flugtag Russia 2015 competition in Moscow, Russia, July 26, 2015. Enthusiasts competed in disciplines on the longest distance of the flight, on the creativity of self-made aircrafts and on the originality of the performance in an attempt to win the contest, according to organizers. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Stacked stones are pictured during the European Stone Stacking Championships 2018 in Dunbar, Scotland, on April 22, 2018. The European Stone Stacking Championships are Europe’s largest championships for all Stone Stacking and Rock Balancing artists and practitioners. The overall winner of the European Stone Stacking Championship will receive financial support for flights to the World Stone Balance Championship in Llano, Texas the following year. (Photo by Andy Buchanan/AFP Photo)

“The Carnival Triumph finally made port on Thursday night, after what should have been an idyllic four-day cruise turned into a grueling week-long ordeal for more than 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew. Some kissed the ground as they disembarked the ship, while others swore never to go on another cruise again. Many spoke of the well-documented unsanitary conditions on board the 272-metre Triumph, which lost power in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday”. – Tom Dart and Adam Gabbatt via Guardian

Photo: Kendall Jenkins of Houston kisses the ground after stepping off the Carnival ship Triumph (Photo by AP Photo)