Hi All,
My uncle, Harry C. Jennings, piloted the B-17G "Lucky Partners" over Germany in 1945. He flew 18 missions. The nose art from his plane is preserved in the Mojave Museum of History and Art in Kingman Arizona. Pictures can bee seen here. http://www.447bg.com/43-38450.htm
Harry had a leather flight jacket with the same nose art painted on the back. Harry died from lung cancer in the 1960's, survived by his wife, Sybil, and four young children. In 1995, after a long illness, with a series of caretakers and live-in nurses, Sybil passed. When her children, now grown, with families of their own, went through the task of clearing Sybil's home, they discovered that Harry's flight jacket was missing. Along with all of the other emotions of that time, it must have been a hard blow to find that family heirloom, and relic of their dad was gone.
I didn't hear the story of the missing jacket until a few weeks ago, when I was researching B17's, and found the 447th BG Association's web site and the photos of the plane, and what I'm pretty sure is a photo of Harry leaning out of the cockpit window of "Lucky Partners". The caption says that the picture was taken after the plane's 70th mission (Harry flew missions 69-72), and his brother (my dad) identifies the man in the photo as Harry.
When I asked my dad about the photo, he was surprised to see a photo of his brother, and his plane, and he reminisced that "Harry had a jacket with that logo on it. He wore it quite a bit right after the war." That's when I asked one of Harry's sons, my cousin, about the jacket, and he told me that it was missing. (My cousin's daughters had a nice replica made for him a few years ago, but it's not the same as having something that your dad wore, and touched and fought in.)
It seems to me that Harry's jacket, with that art on it, is a valuable item in its own right, let alone its pricelss value to his kids, and whoever took it will sell it at some point. I want to keep an eye out for it and hope to maybe some day get it returned to Harry's family. I've been keeping an eye on e-bay, but there must be other venues where such items are sold. So, my question to you guys is, do you know of places where historic items like authentic flight jackets from WWII might show up for sale? Where would you look?
Thanks so much for any advice you might have.
Greg Jennings
My uncle, Harry C. Jennings, piloted the B-17G "Lucky Partners" over Germany in 1945. He flew 18 missions. The nose art from his plane is preserved in the Mojave Museum of History and Art in Kingman Arizona. Pictures can bee seen here. http://www.447bg.com/43-38450.htm
Harry had a leather flight jacket with the same nose art painted on the back. Harry died from lung cancer in the 1960's, survived by his wife, Sybil, and four young children. In 1995, after a long illness, with a series of caretakers and live-in nurses, Sybil passed. When her children, now grown, with families of their own, went through the task of clearing Sybil's home, they discovered that Harry's flight jacket was missing. Along with all of the other emotions of that time, it must have been a hard blow to find that family heirloom, and relic of their dad was gone.
I didn't hear the story of the missing jacket until a few weeks ago, when I was researching B17's, and found the 447th BG Association's web site and the photos of the plane, and what I'm pretty sure is a photo of Harry leaning out of the cockpit window of "Lucky Partners". The caption says that the picture was taken after the plane's 70th mission (Harry flew missions 69-72), and his brother (my dad) identifies the man in the photo as Harry.
When I asked my dad about the photo, he was surprised to see a photo of his brother, and his plane, and he reminisced that "Harry had a jacket with that logo on it. He wore it quite a bit right after the war." That's when I asked one of Harry's sons, my cousin, about the jacket, and he told me that it was missing. (My cousin's daughters had a nice replica made for him a few years ago, but it's not the same as having something that your dad wore, and touched and fought in.)
It seems to me that Harry's jacket, with that art on it, is a valuable item in its own right, let alone its pricelss value to his kids, and whoever took it will sell it at some point. I want to keep an eye out for it and hope to maybe some day get it returned to Harry's family. I've been keeping an eye on e-bay, but there must be other venues where such items are sold. So, my question to you guys is, do you know of places where historic items like authentic flight jackets from WWII might show up for sale? Where would you look?
Thanks so much for any advice you might have.
Greg Jennings
