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Is My Father Wearing an M-41?

Atticus

Well-Known Member
Found a photo of my father when he was a cadet in flight school. If I had to guess, I'd say this was in early 1944. Is he wearing an M-41?



AF
 

watchmanjimg

Well-Known Member
Great pic with the Cadet sleeve patch and I agree that it's an M-41. While the pockets cannot be seen, the epaulets are clearly visible and allow us to distinguish your dad's jacket from the earlier M-38 version which had pocket flaps but lacked epaulets.
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
jack31916 said:
Cool pic ! And yes, your father is wearing an M-41 jacket.
Thought so! And I may have that patch showing on his sleeve. I think I remember seeing it, or one like it, in an old trunk that belonged to my parents. If so, maybe I'll spring for an "At The Front" M-41 and "reconstruct" Dad's cadet jacket.

Thanks!

AF

Of course, his would have been a size 40 or 42. Mine would be...ahemmm...somewhat larger.
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
BTW, he also seems to be wearing some kind of insignia on his left shoulder. Again, this is later in the war...so would that perhaps be a USAAF roundel?

AF
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
And I just noticed this: That appears to be a Ryan PT taxing in the background...I can't tell which one. You don't suppose it could be Han Solo, do you?

AF
 

watchmanjimg

Well-Known Member
jack31916 said:
Atticus said:
BTW, he also seems to be wearing some kind of insignia on his left shoulder. Again, this is later in the war...so would that perhaps be a USAAF roundel?

AF

Hard to see but it looks like the American Ground Forces sleeve insignia

http://d2jxk7u2ol2fk7.cloudfront.net/im ... P_33XX.jpg

I can't imagine that a Ground Forces SSI would have any correlation to an AAF cadet. Has anyone here seen a cadet uniform bearing anything other than AAF insignia? I used to have an original wool shirt from a cadet and I believe it had the basic AAF sleeve roundel on the upper left and the black Cadet patch on the lower right sleeve as depicted here.

PS: I just zoomed in on the sleeve and I can see how it might look like the Army Ground Forces patch. However, the angle is incorrect for the proper placement of an AGF patch (bars parallel to the ground). It appears more likely that the color contrast is that of the AAF wings against the dark blue ground, with the left wing at roughly the 10 o' clock position.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it . . . ;)
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
I think its a AFF roundel, but...

My father was a rare case. He was drafted out of NC State's ROTC and went all the way through Advanced Infantry Training. He was awaiting orders to an infantry unit when opportunity knocked. As he once told me,

"I was sitting in the barracks one Sunday morning, reading a paper, when a corporeal walked in. He look around at the four or five of us there and said, 'Do any of you stupid f*#kers think you've got enough sense to fly an airplane?' Nobody said anything, so he tacked a piece of paper to the bulletin board and walked out. It was a notification that the Air Corps was looking for pilot candidates. I signed up the next day."

So Dad ended up with two occupational specialties. He was an infantryman, and then a year or so later, a single engine officer pilot.

AF
 

dmar836

Well-Known Member
Great story. A friend had a similar one. He signed up with the Air Corps but as he waited he was drafted and was trained as an enlisted mechanic. Finally, he was called for flight training so ended up an officer flying fighters. I was looking at his scrap book and saw him sweeping the barracks in EM utility clothing. That's when I found out he actually had two S/Ns.
Good stuff!
Dave
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
Re-watched 12 O'Clock High last night. There's a ton of (probably original) M-41s and M-38s in that film. If the movie is even close to being an accurate depiction of how typical 8th AF ground crew dressed, then field jackets adorned with AFF insignia must have been a common sight at bomber bases.

Even kindly old Doc Kaiser rocks his M-41 throughout the film.



AF
 

watchmanjimg

Well-Known Member
20150314_132914_zpsm7bory3e.jpg


I ran across this original tunic at a local show earlier today.
 

Atticus

Well-Known Member
Cool! I glanced at the "At The Front" site today. They have a nice M-41...but right now they're sold out in my size. Hopefully they'll restock in May. Not being confident that I'll be able to lay my hands on dad's advanced cadet patch, I bought one on eBay.

AF
 

watchmanjimg

Well-Known Member
Atticus said:
Cool! I glanced at the "At The Front" site today. They have a nice M-41...but right now they're sold out in my size. Hopefully they'll restock in May.

After reading this thread I was actually considering an ATF M41 myself. :)
 

TarHeel1911

New Member
That's a cool M-41! I think about getting one every so often. When I was in junior high, I wore my dad's M-1943 jacket for a long time. Passed it down to my brother and have no idea where it is today.
 
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