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WWII: Jay Rowbarts's B-24 'Th’ Broken Dollah' A-2 Flight Jacket

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
WWII: Jay Rowbarts's B-24 'Th’ Broken Dollah' A-2 Flight Jacket

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Auction Date:2019 Aug 07 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
A WWII USAAF 15th Air Force B-24 crew A-2 flight jacket with painted back belonging to Tech. Sergeant Jay Rowbarts, gunner on “Th’ Broken Dollah” (759th Bomb Squadron, 459th Bomb Group), along with his hardbound diary. This is an attractive, extensively decorated, dark brown leather, issue jacket with russet-brown elastique hem and cuffs. The jacket has a single, original Talon front zipper with collar snaps, and a hook and eye fastener at the throat. The label was removed, and the name “PEYTON” is written in ink near the hanger loop (significance of the name is unknown). The exterior leather is slightly stiff, with minor wear and flaking along the edge seams, collar, and on the forearms and sleeves. The cuffs and hem are in excellent shape without any real fraying or insect damage. The jacket is embellished with a heavily flaked, incised leather 15th Air Force patch on the left shoulder, large circular incised leather unit patches on the breast for the 459th Bomb Group and 759th Bomb Squadron, incised leather Technical Sergeant rank chevrons on the epaulets, painted Texas flag (with beaded border) and USAAF Engineer specialist emblem on the right shoulder. Incised leather was a construction technique commonly found on locally manufactured Italian patches. The back of the jacket has a large painted longhorn steer head with 35 mission 'bombs,' a painting of a B-24 Liberator, and the aircraft’s nickname “Th’ Broken Dollah” in the center. The bombs are marked with the targets for each mission, but most are flaked to illegibility, however the last five, which are painted red, are clearly legible and denote Vienna and Munich as the targets (other readable targets are Prague, Linz, Zeltweg, Verona, Bologna, Brenner Pass, and Padua). A leather name tag is present on the left breast: “JAY ROWBARTS” under embossed Aerial Gunner Wings, a Ruptured Duck pin is fastened through the left collar, and a small Alpine cowbell is attached to the neck hook. The interior lining of the jacket is light brown cloth, and is in very good shape, with some fraying at the neck, and a few scattered stains.

Included with the jacket is Rowbarts’ hard-bound journal which gives a brief snapshot of his life in the Army Air Force, along with doodles and cartoons (very skillfully done), which includes his 'Little Black Book' recording interests of women he dated, and a selection of photographs (Rowbarts was something of a lady’s man). The 459th Bomb Group was comprised of the 7156th, 757th, 758th, and 759th Squadrons, and flew sorties from their base at Giulia, Italy from 1944 until the war ended, attacking strategic targets across Southern Europe. The Group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for leading the 304th Bomb Wing on an attack on the aircraft factory at Bad Voslau, Austria in April of 1944.