NAVAL AVIATOR CERTIFICATES 1937-1955

[JDK]

I wondered if you got that

 

Kurt

Haha...I couldn't resist. I paid for it, but I love fighter ace related items!

 

JD

[KASTAUFFER]

Here is another early Type I to add:

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

Here is a nice early Type I to a USMC 2nd LT, who later earned a DFC at Midway in 1942.

[jack cook]

The certificate posted by 'Jumpin Jack' off Paul Bucher's NA certificate was interesting. My dear friend Bill 'Beads' Popp of VF-17/VF-84 was his division leader. Bill was the other half off the mid-air having been hit by Butcher who had lost sight of him. A few years before Bill passed he received a phone call out of the blue from a member of Butcher's family swearing at Bill and then hanging up. :-( I have Bill's certificate and a few other odds and ends inc his uniform, photos and a piece of the Corsair he up-ended at Torokina after getting his by Zeros over Rabaul.

[KASTAUFFER]

The certificate posted by 'Jumpin Jack' off Paul Bucher's NA certificate was interesting. My dear friend Bill 'Beads' Popp of VF-17/VF-84 was his division leader. Bill was the other half off the mid-air having been hit by Butcher who had lost sight of him. A few years before Bill passed he received a phone call out of the blue from a member of Butcher's family swearing at Bill and then hanging up. :-( I have Bill's certificate and a few other odds and ends inc his uniform, photos and a piece of the Corsair he up-ended at Torokina after getting his by Zeros over Rabaul.

 

Hi Jack

I have some mail Bill Popp sent while with VF-17 in 1943 that I bought at a Stamp Show in Oregon years ago. Unfortunately there are no letters, just the envelopes.

Kurt

[KASTAUFFER]

back up

[KASTAUFFER]

1940 dated certificate to a Naval Academy graduate who served with VPB-105 during WWII hunting German subs.

 

His ID book is covered with muddy sand . I have all of his material and am assuming he may have been in an accident at some point that caused it to get like this. None of his other material is in this kind of condition so I don’t think it was in a house during a flood.

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

This one filled a hole in my collection.

 

this is a naval aviator certificate issued to a British fleet air arm pilot who was trained by the US Navy. He flew Avengers throughout the war.

[KASTAUFFER]

1951 dated Naval Aviator Certificate to a 1946 Naval Academy graduate who died in a plane crash at Pensacola in 1951.

 

https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/JAMES_M._SMITH,_JR.,_LTJG,_USN

[B-17Guy]

Here is a recent NAP addition-

John

[KASTAUFFER]

Nice example to a Navy Cross recipient

 

CITATION:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade William Merideth Hall, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron SEVENTY-ONE (VF-71), attached to the U.S.S. WASP (CV-7), in action against enemy forces in the Solomon Islands, on 27 August 1942. During operations of the United States Naval and Marine Forces in support of the occupation of the Islands, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Hall, with utter disregard for his own personal safety in the face of tremendous anti-aircraft fire, pressed home a fearless and determined attack against a hostile four-engined flying boat and shot it down. His gallant initiative and courageous devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

[KASTAUFFER]

Example to a Flight Surgeon 

 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Gotta catch 'em all

[B-17Guy]

Sweet!

[pfrost]

I think this is your guy.

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83077274/joe-ellis-lanier

 

He earned his MD prior to WWII.  I don't know if this certificate means that he was trained as a pilot or if he was trained in the duties of a Naval Flight surgeon.  Many of these guys (Flight Surgeons) were not really involved in the day-to-day medical care of aviators but were more trained in dealing with the more specialized aspects of flight medicine.  Extreme cold, low oxygen, altitude sickness, medical exams of flight cadets, etc. I had the privilege of talking to a flight surgeon at UCLA (he died a few years ago).  He told me that his duties were not to care for injured pilots in the clinic but to work within the specific specialty of flight medicine, which was still a novel field.

 

You can go to any major university (or send a letter to the U of Georgia School of Medicine alumni association) and probably find all sorts of other information on him.  CHeck the American Medical Association year books for the 1940's. They would be in any large library. They will list his professional qualifications.

 

That is a really neat item.