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Nicest A-2 Bomber Jacket I ever found out of the Woodwork


ludwigh1980
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ludwigh1980

I don't specifically Collect A-2's or Army Air Corp for that matter and have owned only enough original A-2's to count on one hand. This one has been the best and one I will keep. I liked the multipiece leather patches, especially the chit on the back. I posted this on the forum a few years back however I had a very crummy camera and it did not do the piece justice.

 

It came to me at the most un-opertune time financially. Income taxes were due in a month and I had most of my money pooled for that and not much else. How I miss the days of a tax refund! A friend Coin dealer called me and told me to come down to his shop as he had got in a WW2 Bomber Jacket with art in from the original family. Original bomber jackets have never been a common occurance in my area and without hisitation I jumped in the car and sped down to his shop about 5 miles away. Upon my entry into his office, he held up this gleaming A-2 with wonderful multipiece leather patches and on top of that in remarkable condition. The family of the vet had taken off the original name tape as well as his name panel inside. Another name (not his) was visable. Researching that name yielded that the original owner of the A-2 had been killed along with his fellow crewman when their B-29 had crashed into a mountain somewhere in the CBI theater. At some time the Jacket was reissued or re-used by the owner that had the present patches installed. A ghost of the stitching from the patches of the killed crewman are still visable. In the pocket was another leather patch that had been installed at one time. According to information relayed by the family to the coin dealer, this patch had belonged to the friend of the 2nd crewman to own this jacket and he kept it in the pocket as a momento. Sadly the family would not give up the original name tape or his medals but this jacket remains one of my all time favorite pieces of Militaria. If I remember right the patches are unique to a war time patch maker in India.

post-23325-0-48261600-1370924299.jpeg

post-23325-0-02553200-1370924323.jpeg

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History Man

Beautiful jacket, the patches and chit are amazing as is the condition! I can see why this is a keeper.

 

Philip

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ludwigh1980

Have not been able to identify what Aircraft was the POSTVILLE EXPRESS. If I put this patch on ebay I wonder how may would think it was a repro...

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ludwigh1980

New Information. Just found this which explains the patch. Looking at NARA reveiled that the original Owner was a Mchael(A)Kundrat (ran it together for privacy reasons).

From that I found the following link:

http://www.468thbombgroup.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=o%2BW0WxCtjAw%3D&tabid=67&mid=399

 

Solves the mystery of the Jacket and Patch but not to the last owner...

 

Sad tale.....

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It is sad the family chose to erase the man's history. I can understand keeping the medals, but the nametape? O well, hopefully your information was passed along to them if they ever decided to let go of the rest it would at least be together.

 

Fantastic jacket and even better for it to have such a short custody chain. For some reason I like the look of the 20th patch the best.

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ludwigh1980

Thanks TRR! I have seen strange things with families and thier hierlooms. I hope I can possibly track down a photo of the crew of the MISS SHORTY wearing their A-2.

Here is a link to one such picture but no A-2's.

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/shootski/793rdBombardmentSquadron468thBombGroup#5495350893900597618

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You do have a lot of puzzle pieces. Some cross referencing, tracking down the location of other crew members, a little-lot of luck, and you may be able to narrow down who was the last owner.

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ludwigh1980

It is amazing what one can find out with Google. Anyone have a roster of the crew of the Miss Shorty Aircraft No: 42-65272 468th Bomber Group?

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ludwigh1980

Thanks Jack's Son and Sabrejet!

 

Well the story of this jacket is quite amazing. After reading the link that I posted initial, some things about this artifact become more clear. The original owner was a M. A. Kundrat. He was a member on the ill fated POSTVILLE EXPRESS. Coundn't find much about it a couple years ago when I was researching the jacket however more has become availiable. He applied his stencil inside. He was killed in the crash that occured on Jan 11th 1945 after engaging with Japanese aircraft near Seremban Malaysia

 

Apparantly this jacket was left back in his quarters with the rest of belongings. The family of the vet that brought the jacket back belonged to had mentioned that the jacket patch for the POSTVILLE EXPRESS had belonged to a friend of his that had been killed in the war. The 2nd owner kept it with him as a momento.. I wonder if his friend was Kundrat and upon the death of his friend retrieved the jacket and retrofited it for himself. Not to un-common. I am further curious as about this time another B-29 crewman and veteran of the 20th Airforce passed away locally around the same time as I got this jacket. I have his stuff too which was not much, he joined the new U.S. Airforce and served in the Korean War and eventually rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel. Its a stretch but I wonder if there is a chance it might have been his. Just have to find the roster of the Miss Shorty to confirm.

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Johnny Signor

You may want to try posting the photos/info and what you're looking for on this site , it's a good one for photos/help etc ...........................

 

ArmyAirForces.com

 

You have to register to post , but it's a free site and free to join , good luck and like already mentioned your jacket is an Awesome find !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Johnny

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Ye of little faith! I knew I'd seen that name.

 

From Steve Birdsall's book "Saga of the Superfortress". Mr. Birdsall has been a member here for a short time now too so he might have more. We got him into Renfield's B17 photos thread.

Pottsville_zps77b5b6fa.jpg

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You are right. That is a beautiful jacket. The patches are very very nice. This group and a couple others liked to have their aircraft names made into patches or painted direct on the jacket. This example is a beauty.

 

Very nice to add the photo of the plane 38Driver! Nice work!

 

JD

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