New person from Worcester, with a purpose

[DRMandell]

I'm not a collector, but am hoping through this forum to obtain the Army Air Corps flight jacket (see photo below) that my father wore in WWII, and which he sold to a collector in the early 1970s when we were living in Long Beach, California.  See the Family Search forum for more.  Yes, I assume I'll need to buy it from whoever has it now.

[ludwigh1980]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I wish you much luck on your quest. Information that would help you in your search is to determine what units your father was in as well as what unit the patch on the flight jacket indicates. In the event that the flight jacket still survives since the 50 or so years from the time it left your families possession and per chance was not donated to a museum, taken to Europe or sold to vintage clothing collector in Japan, perhaps it now resides with a collector here in the USA.  Many of the big buyers of vintage military flight Jacket were from Japan and hence many of them ended up there. Many have gone to Europe to reside in collections and many currently are now displayed in Museums over there as well. Should it remain in a private collection here in the States, please note that not every military collector is a member of this forum or even maintains an online presence. There are some collectors that don't even have a computer.  Your best bet is to post everything you know about your father's military history, including his name here on the forum.  Google searches may determine if his jacket has been ever sold on ebay, auction houses, or dealer websites in the last few years. If not, then who knows where it is now. I high quality reproduction with a hand painted leather patch may serve as a wearable memorial to your father. Lastly, if it still exists and a collector owns, he or she may choose not to sell it to you. Depending on the history it may have cost them well north of $1000 to acquire it, its value has appreciated significantly since the 1970's.  Again, I wish you much luck and look forward to hearing more.