Update: MONDAY 04/15/24: GREETINGS from FLYING TIGER ANTIQUES & Vintage Historical Artifacts!!! !!
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If you would like to PAY for an Artifact with a CREDIT CARD, please Call or Email and I will get an invoice emailed to you ASAP, or Process the Purchase Myself!!
Kanae has returned from her trip to Switzerland, and we are busy PACKING Orders & will start LISTING New HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS Tomorrow!!!
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Thank you for visiting. We hope you will find some vintage artifacts here on our site to add to your collection.
Happy Collecting, Ron & Kanae
ARTIFACT:
This is an EXTREMELY RARE Jacket Patch for the United States Army Air Forces 493rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. The patch is either French, or Belgian, made, and shows a skull at the center with lightning bolts penetrating its eye sockets. It reads MORS INIMICIS (Death to the enemy).
The Squadron flew Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, starting off their combat history briefly in England, assisting the Normandy invasion by dropping bombs on bridges and gun positions, attacking rail lines and trains, and providing visual reconnaissance reports. Later in June, the squadron began leap-frogging through French airfields, then one Belgian airfield, before landing in Germany in early 1945, making their way through 3 airfields in that country, mostly supporting the First Army, before V-E Day.
This unofficial, but worn and cherished, patch is seldom encountered, and is only the 2nd one we've had in over 35 years of dealing in historical artifacts. And, although it may not look it, this is one of the nicest examples of the patch I have seen. The light colors of 50% of the patch leave it prone to soiling, and most of the worn examples I have seen of this patch, including our previous offering, have been heavily soiled. This patch is relatively clean, with only light to moderate storage soiling. It does not appear to have been worn, and the note on back seems to secure that idea: Send Home Please!
A wonderful, hard to get, and highly sought after addition to any WWII USAAF Flight Jacket Patch, and particularly Fighter Squadron Patch, collection
VINTAGE:
World War II, circa 1944.
SIZE:
Approximately 5-1/8" in diameter.
MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION:
Chenille embroidery on silk/rayon background cloth.
ATTACHMENT:
To be sewn onto Flight Clothing.
MARKINGS:
N/A.
ITEM NOTES:
This is from a United States Army Air Forces Squadron Patch collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months.VEJJX17 LAEGEX07/16/22 SAEGEX10/03/22
CONDITION:
8 (Excellent-): very light soiling and storage wear, especially when compared to other known examples of the patch.
GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.
