Silver Surfer
Well-Known Member
a recent acquisition. this is a super rare first contract [w535ac 16159] rough wear. according to Gary's book, 9700 were made in 1940. this one is numbered 268. ostensibly a plain Jane till ya get to the back, where a b-17 in on a cloud is painted on a patch stitched to the jacket back. when I received the jacket,, the wrist knits were shot, and the upper back of the liner frayed and torn. I repaired the liner [some of my crappy stitching skills and fabric glue], and sent the jacket to Steve to have the wrist knits replaced with a set of near match originals that I had. on the liner is the name r. lash [Robert b. lash]. he was a radio operator on the b-17 "Sylvia" [42-29945] that was shot down aug 12 1943. he spent the rest of the was as a prisoner in stalig 17-b. I have a printed out interview he gave in 2013, where he discusses his time in 92nd bg, and in the Stalig. he was also written up inn an article in July 2014. this a-2 is now an occasional wearer without issue. no idea why the pix came out, out of order.
