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8th AAF Officer Uniform


aurelius180
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Locally there is a weekly summer flea market where occaisionally some decent militaria can be found. Last year I picked up this 8th AAF Officer Uniform with bullion patch tunic along with shirt, pants and tie. Now that the wife and I are finally settled into our house I've had an opportunity to start going through my collection to examine any details I may have overlooked when I purchased them

 

This tunic has 1LT bars along with a nice bullion patch and what appears to be a name stamped on the QM tag. I've only just started to research the name and have not had much luck. The seller indicated the tunic had wings but that "someone walked off with them." I do not see an indication that there were ever wings present so I have not restored them. It did however have a spare 1LT bar in one of the pockets.

 

The officer shirt appears to have the remains of a service number stamped in the collar. It looks to begin with 15 and end with a 3. Hopefully it will help in the research. Oddly I just realized yesterday that there was a folded piece of paper in the rear pocket for the 1st Cavalry Division Artillery Special Order 65 which is dated April 2, 1962.

 

I just wanted to share this flea market find and any comments are welcome. This was one of the first uniforms in my collection.

 

 

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post-154043-0-21088400-1409522153.jpg

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post-154043-0-23074300-1409522169.jpg

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Thank you for the input. I would rather know than not know.

 

After doinworkinvans comment I took a closer look at the patch and realized how poorly applied it is as well.

 

Anything else I'm missing?

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What about is obvious? I'm afraid I'd be suckered, too. I tend to roll the dice on 8th AF stuff a lot, so if it were on ebay with a decent buy it now price, I'd have probably jumped.

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AAF_Collection

The patch on the coat you have is basically one of the generic bullion repros, probably Paki made. The overall style is the giveaway.

 

The three photos you posted above are all known original patterns, all Brit made. The patch in the lower picture is not bullion though, and the edging was added during the war.

 

Matt.

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Very similar 8th AF patches are available on ebay here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/8TH-ARMY-AIR-FORCE-A-A-F-STUBBY-WING-PATCH-/191305391830?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c8ab09ed6

post-32676-0-09233100-1409611661.jpg

 

That isn't a serial number in the collar, it's a shirt size (like 15 1/2x33). I would try to research the name on the label (F W BUNNELL) and go from there.

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Thank you Matt! I removed the SSI from the tunic and it's very clearly a repro and does match the one in your link. At the very least this was a good learning experience.

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It's still a good WW2 officer's uniform. I've found 2 Frederick W. Bunnells, one from Wisconsin (May 4, 1917- Jan 5, 1995) and one from New York (Dec 20, 1919 - Jun 2, 2006) in the army in WW2.

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For what it's worth note the placement of the other insignia on the uniform too. The winged props and "US" are not 'regulation' in their placement so I'm guessing they are not original to the uniform either.

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Man...I'm really taking a beating on this one! At least it was a fairly inexpensive learning experience. In my exuberance when I began collecting I overlooked a few things. I'm learning to take a step back and look with a more critical eye.

 

I do appreciate all of the comments.

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