A few A-2's from the collection

[nickgp]

Welcome to the forum Jon. Thank you for sharing some of your collection. I particularly like the painting of Ann and the B-17 on the most recent jacket you have posted. It's just superb.

that is beautiful

 

[JGC]

Welcome to the forum Jon. Thank you for sharing some of your collection. I particularly like the painting of Ann and the B-17 on the most recent jacket you have posted. It's just superb.

that is beautiful

Thanks Nick, its one of my favorites. Jon

 

[Flyingmariner]

Hi Jon....
Wow what a fantastic collection.
It's just gone 8 PM here in England and I have spent the last 20 minutes really enjoying the pics, descriptions and stories associated with your superb collection.
With best withes,
Wayne.

 

[JGC]

Just picked up an interesting grouping to a Navy pilot who's career covered the end of WWII thru the late 50's. Stephen Graliker was a student at Notre Dame in 1942 and enlisted with other members of his class, later to be known as the "Flying Irish". He was a carrier based pilot that flew F6F Hellcat's and later jets from the USS Biroko, Siboney, Kula Gulf, and Ranger. He was attached to VF 38, 924, and 923 during his flying days, and was also in the Naval Reserves while at NAS Lambert Field, St Louis. Pictured is his G-1 from about 1957, some of his flight gear from the time he was flying jets, and a great WWII era AN 6551 summer weight flight jacket that has a VF-38 patch on the chest and a VF-924 patch on the shoulder.Thanks Jon

 

[JGC]

Here are some more interesting items from the Graliker grouping. One of the pictures shows Graliker being presented with an award from a flying competition made from a Stoneware jug. Also pictured are a number of pilots that were members of the Flying Irish, and his flight logs.

 

[bombs away]

Hello Jon,

Fantastic grouping ! As usual...

Thank you for sharing tour amazing collection.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Peter Graham]

"The flying Irish", fantastic. That AN-6551 is a beaut. Thanks for posting.

 

[JGC]

Tim and Peter, thanks for the thumbs up on the group. I've posted another photo of the "Notre Dame Flying Irish" NAS Glenview Class 1942. Jon

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice set! I never knew about the "Flying Irish". Thanks for sharing!

 

[crazyace]

Hi, Going back a few pics, It is so cool to see a vet wearing his jacket that he wore so long ago! It is one thing to see an original A-2 but it puts it all into perspective seeing the vet who owned it wearing it today like he did back in the day! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful collection with us!!!!

 

[YoungMedic]

I see the flying contest jug was presented at NAS Cecil Field, That's over in my neck of the woods. Very cool grouping!

 

[JGC]

It's been awhile since I posted last, so I thought I'd show this grouping that I recently picked up at a local auction. The grouping is to the late Colonel William Foster Smith, of the St Louis area. I've had some problems finding information on Col Smith, a partial obituary is all I could come up with. From his medals, I've got a good idea when and where he served, but not much in the way of details, any help would be greatly appreciated. Included in the group is his Korean War A-2 flight jacket manufactured by Perry Sportswear, its a little worn and the zipper is broken, but it has a great looking painted Blood Chit on the back. A nice framed letter to him, signed by the President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, dated 1958. All of his medals and wings which are also nicely framed. Unfortunately there were no photos or paper work with this grouping. Again any assistance on details of his career would be appreciated. The flight suit and hat are not part of the group, I just added them for the photo. Thanks Jon

 

[CBI]

wow - I recently sold an original Aero that had the identical artwork on the back minus the green leaves.

Very cool

 

[Roughwear]

Really nice first contract Perry. The art work is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice Jon!

 

[JGC]

Andrew and Jeff, thanks for the thumbs up on the grouping. Jon

 

[ADC]

Jon, from the looks of the scale of your drawing it's been done at actual size which suggests that they just traced over her to make their version. I found that this was probably done on a jacket I used to own. Just for fun I did some reconstructive archaeology on the art so I took a one to one copy from my original calendar and overlaid it and it was a perfect fit. Makes sense as they could bet the best rendition of it plus they are already at a good scale for jacket art.

This was the final reconstruction of how it might have once looked (using photoshop)

Bumping this great thread because it deserves it. To add my piece of trivia, 6 HITS AND A MISS were a very popular swing singing group during the war years.