B-17 FLYING FORTRESS HATCH SIGNED BY WWII, BERLIN AIRLIFT, AND KOREAN WAR AIRMEN

Life raft door hatch from a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress airplane. Approx. 44 x 19 in. Signed by several airmen from different air forces.

A compelling commemorative object, this B-17 Flying Fortress life raft door hatch bears a collection of signatures from airmen associated with some of the most storied chapters of twentieth-century military aviation. Among those represented are men connected with service during the Second World War, including associations with the Enola Gay and the Memphis Belle, while others participated in the Berlin Airlift or served during the Korean War. Gathered on a single surviving component of one of America’s most iconic wartime aircraft, the signatures transform the hatch into a powerful testament to several generations of aerial service.

Developed in the 1930s, the Boeing B-17 became one of the defining aircraft of the Second World War and dropped more bombs than any other American aircraft during the conflict. Conceived as a strategic bomber, it combined speed, altitude, range, and formidable defensive armament, and was employed primarily by the U.S. Army Air Forces in the daylight bombing campaign over Europe. In the course of the war, B-17s delivered more than 640,000 tons of bombs, accounting for 42.6 percent of the total tonnage dropped by U.S. aircraft. As both an original relic of the Flying Fortress and a signed tribute to the men who served in some of the most significant air operations of the era, this is an especially evocative and display-worthy piece of aviation history.

Signatures from top to bottom, left to right: 

1. S/Sgt Elroy Edmonds, tail-gunner and observer, 401st Bomb Gp., Sq. 612, 8th AF

2. T/Sgt Emerson Roberts, radio operator, 401st Bomb Gp., Sq. 612, 8th AF

3. Russell Gackenbach, navigator, flew on the Necessary Evil, 393rd Bombardment Squadron

4. Ira C. Weatherly, pilot of the Straight Flush, 393rd Bombardment Squadron

5. Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, navigator on the Enola Gay

6. Maj. Gen. Frederick Corbin "Boots" Blesse, flying ace, 334th Squadron, 4th Group. 

7. Robert L. Williams, 101st Airborne Division

8. Frederick Bahlau, 101st Airborne Division

9. Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Red Gremlin

10. Col. Gail Halvorsen, the "Berlin Candy Bomber" 

11. B. James George, navigator, 96th Bomb Gp., 3rd Wing, 8th AF

12. Earl M. Clay

13. Brad Truman?

14. Lynn Davis "Buck" Compton, paratrooper, 101st Airborne Division

15. William Robert Lawley Jr., 1st Airborne Division, Medal of Honor recipient

16. Sgt. Romus Valton Burgin, 1st Marine Division

17. T.J. Milne?, 1st Marine Division

18. S/Sgt. Morris W. Thompson, ball turret operator, 92nd Bomb Gp., 325th Sq. 

19. Clarence Emil "Bud" Anderson, 357th Fighter Group

20. Col. Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle

21. Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, co-pilot to Jimmy Doolittle

22. Sam Reighard?, 49th Fighter Group

23. Ned Palmer, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion

24. Warren Schmitt, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion

25. George Francis Fay, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion

26. Samuel R.E. Trayer?, belly gunner, 303rd Bomb Gp. 

27. T/Sgt Eugene Adkins, top turret gunner of the Memphis Belle

28. [ind.], 575 Aub. Co. 

29. Charles W. Morse, 305th Bomb Gp., 366th Sq. 8th AF

30. Robert L. Cunningham, 303rd Bomb Gp., 359th Sq. 

An incredible piece of history that is worthy of further research. 

Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

[World War II, WWII,  FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt,Dwight D. Eisenhower, Adolf Hitler, Allied, Axis, George S. Patton, Air Force]