Special Thanks to Mason K (Eric) who turned me on to the Estate Sale.

If it wasnt for him I would not have known about it.

I am proud to own this grouping.

Cant wait to see what turns up in his records.

Fantastic grouping. Besides the obvious I also really enjoy the smalls that come with many groupings. Nice pick up. Congrats.

What a great group! Did you have to grab these items up individually or were they selling it as a group? Were you there right at the beginning of the sale?

Great group , also curious about he sale. Lot of people behind you for the same thing ? Did they sell it as a grouping ?

Just In time for Christmas!

Great find!

Wow. That's amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us! It's great knowing someone is there keeping the memories alive!

I waited in line and gave them my bid.

I was one of the first 10 in the door.

The guy who ran the estate sale said he wanted to sell as a group. I bought it all as a group.

I got 3 flight suits with it and the model airplane

What was in the wood box?

 

Any history on when he joined the unit?

The 511th went into France in July 1944.

 

They built an airport in one day near St Mere Église.

 

I think it’s very possible the German helmet came from a victim.

Goggle also looks like non US production.

Thank you for all of the kind comments.

As for the Estate sale:

I got to the estate sale at 5:30 in the morning.

I was sixth in line and waited until 8 am when they opened the doors.

The guy running the sale left 10 people in at a time.

He was selling the entire group and would not sell anything separate.

When I asked about the group he told me I could put a bid on it and he was going to wait about an hour so that everybody could have a chance to bid if they wanted the items.

Apparently others were bidding online.

I was the highest bitter and waited approximately 40 minutes milling around the house to see if anybody would outbid me.

At that time the seller announced to the people still outside that if anyone wanted to bid on the group they had to do it now.

There was one last person who did not outbid me.

Then they told me that someone matched my bed and if I wanted I could bid another hundred dollars.

At that point I told him I would give the extra hundred only if they guaranteed I would win. Which they did.

As I was handling payment to the seller another person came up and wanted to bid on the. As I was handing payment to the seller another person came up and wanted to bid on the group

I told him that it was sold in front of the sellers and they stood by me in the end.

Good on you, one of the best groupings ive seen in a long time. maybe you should have look a little harder his real plane might have been there somewhere. Lol

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

Does anyone know what this is?

It appears to be some type of bladder that gets inflated?

It has a nozzle where a hose would hook to it (I believe).

To Bill: I didnt get his real plane but I got a model of it that he built.

The maps were a nice surprise.

Does anyone know what the thing that looks like a stick of gum in the upper left corner is?

I think there is something medal inside but I didnt want to break it open. It was inside the map pouch.

The "gum" thing is a hacksaw blade. They are probably the hardest part of the map kits to find. DO NOT OPEN IT! Opening it will hurt the value quite a bit.

 

Your "paratrooper" first aid kit is actually a PARACHUTE first aid kit. They are often found tied to the parachute harness especially by fighter pilots, and crew that had individual chutes issued to them. Since there is morphine in them, the kits had to be controlled. That is why your guy's laundry number is written on the back side of the kit.

 

Beautiful group! Congrats on keeping it together.

 

Allan

Very nice grouping. Are you collect a USAAF stuff normally?

 

Cheers,

Jerry

As for the Estate sale:

I got to the estate sale at 5:30 in the morning.

I was sixth in line and waited until 8 am when they opened the doors.

The guy running the sale left 10 people in at a time.

He was selling the entire group and would not sell anything separate.

When I asked about the group he told me I could put a bid on it and he was going to wait about an hour so that everybody could have a chance to bid if they wanted the items.

Apparently others were bidding online.

I was the highest bitter and waited approximately 40 minutes milling around the house to see if anybody would outbid me.

At that time the seller announced to the people still outside that if anyone wanted to bid on the group they had to do it now.

There was one last person who did not outbid me.

Then they told me that someone matched my bed and if I wanted I could bid another hundred dollars.

At that point I told him I would give the extra hundred only if they guaranteed I would win. Which they did.

As I was handling payment to the seller another person came up and wanted to bid on the. As I was handing payment to the seller another person came up and wanted to bid on the group

I told him that it was sold in front of the sellers and they stood by me in the end.

Congrats on getting the winning bid at the auction....I mean estate sale! I am glad that that is not how estate sales work in my area. It is first come first serve; no metering of letting people in in small doses.

its an inflatable pillow for the M1935 officers bed roll. The one I need to complete the bed roll I have...Ha

Beautiful group! Congratulations!

Did you get the wood box with all Cecils paperwork?

 

It looked like a suite case.

 

And did you check the rest of the house for other things of his?

 

The seller overlooked some things.

 

The fighter group history was in one of the book cases.

 

I was informed of this sale and talked to the seller but realized early on that I wasn’t a contender.

The bed roll was probably used in Normandy.

Good score . Sounds like the auction thing for the groupings is becoming a thing at estate sales due to the many offers they sometimes get from out of towners. Dont blame them to a point , they are there to make a profit . I had a similar experience over the Summer here for M42 set. In the end , if you are willing to step up and pay like you did , it will work out.

Did you get the wood box with all Cecils paperwork?

 

It looked like a suite case.

 

And did you check the rest of the house for other things of his?

 

The seller overlooked some things.

 

The fighter group history was in one of the book cases.

 

I was informed of this sale and talked to the seller but realized early on that I wasnt a contender.

Yup, always look everywhere! Dont count on the estate sale operators to put everything together. They usually miss stuff. I put together a really cool USMC WW2/Korea grouping once, with everything scattered literally everywhere throughout the sale.

The worst thing is getting there slightly late and then put the group together buying things from other buyers.