Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 296:
Description
WWII USAAF Officer’s Four-Pocket Service Coat Named to Captain Clifford George Sturgeon – English-Born Pilot Instructor with 11th Air Force and Airborne Troop Carrier Command Insignia, Tailored by Schwartz Quality Clothes of Cincinnati, Dated 5/21/43 Offered here is a custom-tailored WWII U.S. Army Air Forces officer’s "Class A" service coat, identified through its interior tailor’s label to Captain Clifford George Sturgeon, an English-born aviator who registered for the draft out of San Francisco and went on to serve in the Army Air Forces. No separate published biography of Captain Sturgeon has been located; his service story here rests on the surviving insignia, ribbon bar, and tailoring evidence on the garment itself, cross-referenced against his WWII draft registration card and cemetery marker – illustrated for research purposes only and not included in this lot – which confirm his 1916-2004 dates, English birth in Richmond, Surrey, and U.S. Air Force service. The coat’s paired shoulder patches tell a genuinely diverse wartime story. The embroidered 11th Air Force patch on the right shoulder ties Sturgeon to the command that fought the harsh, often-overlooked Aleutians Campaign and later struck Japanese positions in the Kuril Islands, a theater defined by brutal weather and long-range operations rather than headlines. The felt Airborne Troop Carrier Command patch on the left shoulder documents a further association with the units responsible for towing gliders and dropping paratroopers into combat zones, work fundamental to Allied airborne operations across multiple theaters. The embroidered gold-wire Flight Instructor/Civilian Pilot Training insignia on the lower right cuff points to a further role training cadet aviators, placing an experienced pilot like Sturgeon at the heart of the USAAF’s wartime expansion of aircrew. The coat is custom tailored in olive-drab elastique wool, with Captain’s rank bars on the epaulets and brass U.S. and winged-propeller collar insignia denoting Air Corps branch. A full-size pinback Pilot wing, described in the supporting research as sterling silver (no maker mark is legible in the photographs), is mounted above a three-ribbon bar comprising the Air Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign, and American Campaign ribbons, consistent with Pacific theater service. A single overseas service bar appears on the lower left cuff. All four gilt brass eagle buttons and the matching belt are present and original, and the interior retains its quilted shoulder and chest lining along with a personalized "C.S." monogram. The maker’s label, stitched inside the collar, reads "Schwartz Quality Clothes, Cincinnati, O., " hand-dated 5/21/43 and named to "C. Sturgeon, " firmly anchoring the coat’s tailoring within the war years. No separate accessories, headgear, or paper archive accompany this lot beyond the tunic itself. Condition is very good for the period: the wool shell retains strong, even coloring with only light age-appropriate surface wear and no significant moth damage observed, the insignia and ribbon bar are secure and bright, and the tailor’s label and interior monogram remain fully legible. A well-documented and named USAAF pilot’s coat that bridges two markedly different spheres of wartime aviation – the Aleutians-Kurils war with the 11th Air Force and the glider-and-paratrooper missions of Airborne Troop Carrier Command – anchored by a dated tailor’s label and confirmed identity of a named, English-born American airman.
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