"oddest item" in your collection?

[Mr.Jerry]

The phrase was recently mentioned in a post on the home-front section on a WW2 lima bean label, and it got me thinking; "what is the oddest item in my own collection?"

 

Without spending too much time thinking about it, I think one of the odd pieces in my own collection is...

(Well, let me first explain that I do have a large collection of woman's military uniforms from WWI to modern) But a few years ago I got in a pair of camo Air Force pants, that were kind of odd, and then it it hit me: they were maternity wear pants! I have to say that my friends did not understand my excitement in finding these USAF issue garments that I never knew existed. I have since added a woodland Army pair to the collection...

 

So what is your "oddball" item that you have to explain to people? (or are generally just too embarrassed to share)?

[P-59A]

The urine tube and holder from the seat of a WW 2 USAAF aircraft.

[ON PATROL]

In a similar light to Mr. Jerry's issue, I run a group that portrays American veterans through our history and had to put together a colonial "Molly Pitcher" outfit. The 6 pounder rammer and bucket were easy, but collecting the skirts, petticoats and tops was rather different; having to repeatedly explain why I needed those items without appearing weird. Outside of that, it would probably be the non-descript baby food jar containing fuel oil from the USS ARIZONA.

[themick]

Wow. On Patrol, how did you get the fuel oil from the Arizona? I love it.

 

Steve

[ON PATROL]

I had the honor and privilege, as a Navy diver and National Park Service Volunteer diver, to assist in the mapping and detail work in the documentation of the wreck back in the mid 1980's. During one of those dives, I collected a sample as it bubbled out of the wreck; little black orbs of oil, slowly coming out and normally rising to the surface to spread out in a sheen over the remains of that once great battleship, now an honored tomb to over a thousand souls.

[zzyzzogeton]

My oddest item WAS a track section from an LVTP-7 that I was presented when I was made an Honorary Marine back in 1979.

 

I say "WAS" because someone broke into the warehouse I had it stored in after I took it home on a PCS move. I didn't want to pack a red and gold 50# chunk of steel from duty station to duty station.

 

But somebody decided they wanted anything I had in storage that was made of metal - the track tread section, 20+ pieces of cast iron cookware, about 200# of weight plates, etc....

[themick]

I had the honor and privilege, as a Navy diver and National Park Service Volunteer diver, to assist in the mapping and detail work in the documentation of the wreck back in the mid 1980's. During one of those dives, I collected a sample as it bubbled out of the wreck; little black orbs of oil, slowly coming out and normally rising to the surface to spread out in a sheen over the remains of that once great battleship, now an honored tomb to over a thousand souls.

Thanks for your answer, On Patrol. An honor indeed!!

 

Steve

[The Rooster]

Mine is an Illinois license plate 1944 or 1945 and its made out of soybeans.

Not a spek of metal on it. Compressed soybean plastic?

[Brian Keith]

I am associated with a museum that has three of the wood exterior shipping crates for the coffins of WW II KIA's from when the earthly remains were returned to the US post WW II. Only once, on a Memorial Day, was one shown. Each has the soldiers name stenciled on it. We did not receive any negative feedback. They are a sad, but true artifact of warfare. I attended the Indiana funerals of two friends who were KIA in Afghanistan. I was curious, but did not ask the funeral homes about the details of the shipping containers, too personal to me. When I deployed later to Afghanistan, I attended every one, but WAY TOO MANY RAMP CEREMONIES on my FOB. I guess the good thing for me was that none were from "my" unit. Sorry if this is not quite PC, but when a US KIA female soldier, in a body bag, under a US flag rolls by you in a combat zone, on her last trip home to her family, it is a bit more disturbing than the male solders that are being loaded onto the same aircraft home. I did not know those soldiers, but when the they roll by, and you know the family doesn't even know their loved one is on their final journey home, I couldn't help but let the tears roll down my face. I'm sure I was not alone. These ceremonies were well attended on the FOB I was on. It is comforting to see the attention our KIA's are respected. I guess it is in the back of every soldiers mind as we line up and salute the fallen, that it actually could be anyone of us the next day.<br />BKW Retired MSG, FOB Salerno, 2012-2013<br />

[P-59A]

The urine tube and holder from the seat of a WW 2 USAAF aircraft.

This is them.

[Garandomatic]

Green and yellow stuffed penguin. Made by a fellow laid up from a catastrophic leg fracture that sent him back to the states. Made during convalescence.

[thorin6]

A small detonator (inert) that was used to drop a sand bag from a Japanese fire balloon. The balloon was shot down by Captain (then LT) Roland H. Kenton, USN.when he was training Cosair pilots in California on March 28, 1945 over Laguna Salada in Mexico. The date on the tag of June 1945 is when it was recovered and tagged. A short history of CAPT Kenton from his obituary:

 

A true patriot, it was clear that serving his country brought him great pride. During World War II, he served in both European and Pacific theatres, flying from aircraft carriers, planning amphibious operations and instructing in operational training. Among his many military accomplishments and memories, a few stand out.

• He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy’s highest honor, for extraordinary heroism during action as pilot of a Fighter Plane in the Solomon Islands on August 7, 1942.
• His aircraft was documented as the last off the deck of USS WASP CV-7 at Guadalcanal on September 15, 1942, the day it was struck by three Japanese torpedoes and subsequently sunk.

I found it quite by accident; my wife was buying some items at a small antique store, and I was just looking at a few items on a shelf to pass the time when I read the tag. I was able to track the tag to the unit and pilot and was fortunate enough to find copies of the monthly war diaries for the unit (VBF-14). I was also able to find the original study on the effectiveness (not much) of the fire balloons which listed the various times they were discovered and shot down.

 

 

[gwb123]

I once had a black, wooden brick that was part of the flooring of the Martin Aircraft Assembly plant in Omaha. The plant produced B-26's and later B-29's. The bricks were wooden in case a metal tool was dropped, it was thought they would prevent a spark.

 

The USAF still uses this huge building as part of Offutt Air Force Base. The local county museum scarfed up a bunch of these bricks from a dumpster when the Air Force remodeled the building. Apparently they caught some heat for that and were dis-invited from ever going back for more. They sold them as fundraisers in their gift shop until the supply was exhausted.

 

My wife gave one to me... I later gave it to a good friend who was a real fan of the B-26.

[kfields]

Probably the oddest thing in my collection is a bunch of scrap metal. I have the container lid well marked so if something happens to me, it doesn't get recycled!

What it is is about 25-30 pounds of scrap metal I picked up off the ground from the site of a crashed P-38 aircraft about 150 yards from my house in the middle of a corn field. The craft was flown by Lt Harry Posey who perished in the crash in December 1943.

I discovered it quite by accident in 2013. I suppose I am probably the only one alive who is aware or knows the exact location or has been kicking around in the field.

Kim

[P-59A]

Probably the oddest thing in my collection is a bunch of scrap metal. I have the container lid well marked so if something happens to me, it doesn't get recycled!

What it is is about 25-30 pounds of scrap metal I picked up off the ground from the site of a crashed P-38 aircraft about 150 yards from my house in the middle of a corn field. The craft was flown by Lt Harry Posey who perished in the crash in December 1943.

I discovered it quite by accident in 2013. I suppose I am probably the only one alive who is aware or knows the exact location or has been kicking around in the field.

Kim

That is very cool! I have been to over 140 crash sites and that is what they look like. Go to your library to find the news story then request the mishap report. I bet if you can locate the POI you will find larger items and more interesting items deeper down. Also take a look at AAIR's web site. Fuller has a listing of mishaps that happened state side during WW2. You will find the date and tail number. This will help out on getting the mishap report. From what I can see it burned up. That hints at a small impact area and those are more or less straight into the ground. A glancing strike spreds debris over a V shaped area and the items that spread out do not burn as much.

[kfields]

I've got the crash report and it came with photos of local firemen putting out the fire. From the photos, it appeared to impact largely in one piece on the surface. Found the local story in the dayton newspaper too. The poor pilot arrived for duty at the airport on Sunday and crashed the following Thursday. According to the report, he was circling at low speed, low altitude preparing to land, stalled it, and fell from the sky.

[P-59A]

I've got the crash report and it came with photos of local firemen putting out the fire. From the photos, it appeared to impact largely in one piece on the surface. Found the local story in the dayton newspaper too. The poor pilot arrived for duty at the airport on Sunday and crashed the following Thursday. According to the report, he was circling at low speed, low altitude preparing to land, stalled it, and fell from the sky.

A drop from the sky due to low air speed...the pilot should have dropped the nose down to pick up air speed to recover if he had the altitude to do it, or he should have bailed out. A corn field indicates a plowed field, that means soft dirt. What does the photo show as to condition of the aircraft at the crash site. A plowed field also means surface debris being dragged around. Is there a spot in the field were nothing grows as well as the rest the crops? Soil contamination leach's down and affects plant growth for decades, that could indicate point of impact. A P-38 was found in a farmers field near Chino airport several years ago here in Ca. Alot of large items were recovered several feet down. Everything depends on the attitude of the nose and airspeed at time of impact.

[kfields]

I reread the accident reports and there were 2 possible causes: one was that he had run 45 minutes on his reserve tank which they said put it at empty, ran out of gas and crashed on his approach to land while at an altitude of 800-1000 feet; the second was that upon approach to land, he had his landing gear down at 800-1000 feet, the landing gear slowed him even more and his speed dropped, he stalled it and didn't have time to recover. They seemed to lean towards the running out of gas theory.

Here is a fuzzy copy-from a copy-from microfiche of the crash scene and what it looks like today. I live at the house to the right of the big white barn and small white barn.

Also one of the reports from a guy at the scene said that some debris was scattered at a radius of 300 feet from the POI.

My sorry metal detector seems to only detect down to about 4-6 inches so I'm sure there probably is other stuff buried deeper.

Kim

[Salvage Sailor]

Oddest you say.....

 

 

USN Bedpan from a SEABEE grouping. He was a USN diver and demolitions man.

Full grouping here

 

 

[P-59A]

I reread the accident reports and there were 2 possible causes: one was that he had run 45 minutes on his reserve tank which they said put it at empty, ran out of gas and crashed on his approach to land while at an altitude of 800-1000 feet; the second was that upon approach to land, he had his landing gear down at 800-1000 feet, the landing gear slowed him even more and his speed dropped, he stalled it and didn't have time to recover. They seemed to lean towards the running out of gas theory.

Here is a fuzzy copy-from a copy-from microfiche of the crash scene and what it looks like today. I live at the house to the right of the big white barn and small white barn.

Also one of the reports from a guy at the scene said that some debris was scattered at a radius of 300 feet from the POI.

My sorry metal detector seems to only detect down to about 4-6 inches so I'm sure there probably is other stuff buried deeper.

Kim

The post impact fire indicates he had fuel at the time of impact. His gear was down, the field was clear. The P-38 was not in a nose down attitude. I see no buckling of the aft section of the aircraft. If he lost airspeed due to gear down drag it looks like he attempted to recover by going nose down and pulling up for a forced landing. He had forward momentum as indicated by the blow off debris you mentioned that was enough to take out his landing gear. He may have pancaked IE he hit too hard parallel to the ground in the attempt to make a forced landing. That strikes me as what may of happened based on the photo and statements. If it was a flat spin his landing gear would have folded under the aircraft. W hat does the report say about a flat spin? Nice job of doing the then and now photo. Based on what I see I don't think you will find much at any depth in the ground.

[cutiger83]

Oddest you say.....

 

 

Why would a demolition guy have a bedpan? Was this in case the defusing went badly and scared them? ?

[P-59A]

I reread the accident reports and there were 2 possible causes: one was that he had run 45 minutes on his reserve tank which they said put it at empty, ran out of gas and crashed on his approach to land while at an altitude of 800-1000 feet; the second was that upon approach to land, he had his landing gear down at 800-1000 feet, the landing gear slowed him even more and his speed dropped, he stalled it and didn't have time to recover. They seemed to lean towards the running out of gas theory.

Here is a fuzzy copy-from a copy-from microfiche of the crash scene and what it looks like today. I live at the house to the right of the big white barn and small white barn.

Also one of the reports from a guy at the scene said that some debris was scattered at a radius of 300 feet from the POI.

My sorry metal detector seems to only detect down to about 4-6 inches so I'm sure there probably is other stuff buried deeper.

Kim

What I can't make out are the props. I don't see them at all.

[Major Z]

I have an intact Eight U.S. Army waxed milk carton with the Quartermaster insignia on it. It is red and white. I'm assuming it came from Korea? If you all want a picture of it please advise and I'll post one. How something like that survived well-preserved for probably over 60+ years is beyond me!

[cutiger83]

I have an intact Eight U.S. Army waxed milk carton with the Quartermaster insignia on it. It is red and white. I'm assuming it came from Korea? If you all want a picture of it please advise and I'll post one. How something like that survived well-preserved for probably over 60+ years is beyond me!

I hope the milk is no longer in the carton! ?

 

Post a picture!!

[Salvage Sailor]

On 7/18/2019 at 8:47 AM, cutiger83 said:

Why would a demolition guy have a bedpan? Was this in case the defusing went badly and scared them? ?

 

I'd say for practicality and comfort while he was engaged in combat landings and extended duty in the Pacific jungles. His unit, the "Fighting Fortieth", was subjected to both close combat and long periods of boredom in primitive conditions in the tropics.

 

Sailors are always practical in methods of increasing the comfort of our situation.

 

It's a portable outhouse.  Why would you crap in your own foxhole?