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Early Bancroft Flighter crusher cap identified to 20th BS Bombardier


jonesy1275
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Arriving last week was this beautiful early Bancroft Flighter officers crusher cap that I had bought off Ebay. To my surprise the name M.V. Kite was written on the underside of the visor. That piece of info wasn't in the sellers description. The Bancroft is an early Flighter due to the lack of Patent Pending or Patent wording embossed into the logo on the rim of the cap and is in excellent condition with the leather still soft and supple. The Luxenburg officers cap badge makes this crusher a real beauty.

 

A quick check of the National Archives and Records Administration Air Medal award cards shows there was only one M.V. Kite awarded an Air Medal during WW2. His full name was 1st Lt Max Vernon Kite and it looks like he spent his war flying bombers in North Africa and Italy from 1943 onwards. Nic Cannarozzi came to my rescue and quickly identified him as being a B-17 bombardier in the 20th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group who flew in the MTO. Nic had found details about him on the 2nd Bomb Group website including a crew photo where they were stood in front of B-17F 42-29602 'Evil Eyed Egbert'. Lt Kite is standing on the far right in the second row. I came up trumps on Ancestry.Com as well where I found a fantastic studio portrait of him in his flight gear. 

 

It's very fulfilling when the research goes to plan. 

20201215_131642USMF.jpg

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Really great cap and excellent finding the info! He is likely wearing that cap in the crew photo.

Thanks for posting it.

Nice photo's also!
BKW

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