Spring Military Aviation and Militaria Auction
Lot 97:
Description
This collection includes eight original black-and-white and sepia photographs showing U.S. military aircraft and personnel from the World War II through early Cold War period, documenting aircraft used by both the United States Army Air Forces and the early United States Air Force. The group features a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk on a North African desert airfield marked -92- with a serviceman on the canopy, a North American P-51 Mustang with ?EMMA DIANNE? nose art and a pilot standing beside it, a North American F-86 Sabre jet labeled -A / 1 C SMITH- beneath the cockpit, and a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber positioned on perforated steel planking with crew members present. Additional images include a detailed cockpit interior showing instruments and controls, a portrait of a pilot seated on the nose of a fighter aircraft, and two broader airfield views, one capturing an aircraft in flight. Several photographs have period handwritten or typed notations on the reverse, including the name Harold Wagner, a label reading -P-40 SAHARI DESERT N. AFRICA 1943 P William P Benedict- with the name repeated in handwriting, and another inscription stating -MY AIRPLANE IN TRIPOLI 1488 39 I AM PERFORMING PREFLIGHT INSPECTION.- The reference to William P. Benedict corresponds to Major William P. Benedict, a noted pilot who served in the North African and European theaters and later contributed to early Arctic aviation, including participation in the first aircraft landing at the North Pole in 1952.
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