Spring Military Aviation and Militaria Auction
Lot 78B:
Description
This archive documents the service of an Francis Doran within the American Volunteer Group (AVG), known as the Flying Tigers, during the 1941 pre-Pearl Harbor period. The collection features an enameled insignia badge manufactured by Bastian Brothers Co. of Rochester, New York. The badge depicts a winged tiger leaping through a blue-bordered V. The reverse of the badge is stamped with a circular B hallmark, 1/10 10KT, and GOLD FILLED. This is the standard smaller sized cap pin. The archive includes three multi-page typed letters dated August 19, 1941 from the New Carlton Hotel in Los Angeles, November 1, 1941 from Rangoon, Burma, and November 21, 1941 from Kunming, China. These letters are addressed to family members and detail the subject’s travel and arrival in the Far East. Accompanying the documents is a collection of original black and white photographs. Notable images include Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft with shark mouth nose art, a truck with AVG door markings, and various candid shots of personnel and local landscapes in Burma and China. One portrait shows the subject in a four-pocket service dress uniform with a Sam Browne belt. The materials are housed in a three-ring binder with plastic sleeves.
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