The Photo That Started My Love Of Flight Jackets

[Atticus]

Some of you may recall that my father passed away in July....and that my mother is in a nursing home. So Jackie and I have been slowly cleaning and refurbishing their house in Beaufort for use as our summer home, and maybe for a place to retire.

When I was a child, a photo of Dad wearing an A-2 hung in our den. I remember seeing it and wishing with every fiber in me that Dad had kept his jacket. In fact, I remember times that I was almost angry at him for returning it to the USAAF. Dang it, didn't he know that I would be born ten years after the war, and would love flight jackets, and would want his A-2? No question in my mind...that photograph is the first reason that I love flight jackets.

Over the last twenty years, I've looked high and low for that photo. Every time I visited Mom and Dad in Beaufort I would ask about it. Mom didn't remember it at all, and Dad thought that it had been thrown away. Dad always thought anything he couldn't find at the moment had been thrown away. At best, they thought it might be in an upstairs closet that was filled to the brim with sixty years of junk.

Saturday, Jackie found it. It was buried behind a mountain of books in a downstairs book case. With it, there was a letter that Dad had written to my grandparents, inviting them to his graduation from OCS. It is clearly a studio photograph. I'm guessing it was taken in late 1944 or early 1945...maybe very soon after he got his wings. There's not much detail to go on, but can anyone hazzard a guess as to the make of the A-2?

AF

 

[Clark J]

This is what did i for me!!!

 

[Silver Dollar]

I eliminated this myself. It wasn't appropriate. Sorry Atticus and sorry to the moderators and the rest of the board.

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Geoff,

Great to hear that you finally found that photo and great story behind the reason you love flight jackets so much. Always loved those studio portraits they did "back in the day". Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[sealbeachbum]

I guess I haven't been around in a while. This is the first I heard of your fathers passing Geoff. I'm very sorry for your loss. I lost my dad three and a half years ago and still miss him terribly.
That's a very cool picture! I agree with Danny. I love those old WWII portraits. I have a few of those of my dad.

 

[atkins]

Thanks for sharing AF.

 

[dujardin]

many thanks for sharing this with us.

happy that you have this special (to you) photo back in your hands; for sure it's a real treasure.

byeeeeeeeee marcel

 

[nogbat]

great picture of your dad, and a nice storey behind it too...having lost my dad in recent years i understand the thoughts behind it .. but the second picture what can i say shes lovely

 

[Falcon_52]

I'm sorry to hear about your father, Geoff. My condolences to you and your family. Looking at the photo, going by the large, pointy collar and the long-looking epaulettes I would say it's a Rough Wear, maybe a 1402 Werber (their last contract). It's tough to tell from the limited view but it looks like it has a collar stand, which again would indicate those makers. Just a guess...

Noel

 

[Andrew]

Great photo and story. Must have been a special moment to locate that amongst what I imagine is an incredibly difficult job.

 

[Atticus]

Thanks for the replies, all.

After looking a the photo again, I believe that it was taken when Dad was in flight school or shortly there after. My clue was his helmet. I remember Dad telling me that he soloed in an open cockpit PT-18. In those aircraft, the instructor-pilot sat in the rear cockpit and spoke to the student via gosport tubes that connected to the earflaps of the student's flight helmet. Of course, the student couldn't talk back....but it was presumed that he didn't have anything usefull to say, anyhow. Looking at Dad's photo, one can see the gosport tube connectors in the earflaps of his helmet. So I think that the photo was taken when he was still in primary. If this is so, it was taken in early 1944.

Here he is in advanced training. His helmet now seems to lack gosport tube connectors, and somebody has given him a better set of goggles.

By the way, I found the .38 he carried. He was issued a .45 but didn't care for it because it was too big. My grandfather let Dad borrow my great grandfather's .38 short, Harrington Richardson to carry instead of the bulky 1911. I guess he never gave it back, because I found that ancient H/R in Dad's chest of drawers.

AF

 

[Andrew]

That's an excellent photo too, and they only had one chance to snap a shot unlike today with digital.

Another amazing find. When I was a very young teenager I was given an inactive beaten up old revolver that I think came from my Grandfather (you know at the time you're more interested in the thing not where it came from). It and I parted ways about 25 years ago when I moved overseas and I suspect it was cleaned out by the oldies. I have no idea where it came from (and now no idea where it went for that matter...)