Original U.S. WWII B-17 Flying Fortress 535th Bomb Squadron A-2 Flight Jacket Category_Water Jacket Assembly Initially the aircraft flew observation

Initially the aircraft flew observation or dropped messages

BELLE WOOD (CVL-24) from 20 to 24 July 1945

than a Lloyds Patriotic Fund sword

which happened to be their first combat jump

Original U.S. WWII B-17 Flying Fortress 535th Bomb Squadron A-2 Flight Jacket Category_Water Jacket Assembly Initially the aircraft flew observationOriginal Item: One of a kind. The 535th bomb squadron was part of the 381st Bomb Group that flew B 17 Flying Fortresses from Ridgewell, Essex England between June 1943 and April 1945. The Group was awarded two Distinguished Unit Citations, the first for bombing shipyards at Bremen, whilst under heavy attack, on 8 October 1943 and the second was awarded to the 1st Bomb Division as a whole for flying without fighter protection to bomb aircraft factories