Item Description
Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. This is a fantastic example of a WWI era personalized, named and painted wood footlocker. The footlocker belonged to “D.A. Zimmerman”, a mechanic (assumed) with the 872nd Aero (repair) Squadron. We have not found any other 872nd Aero Squadron aside from the Repair Squadron. The paint is retained very well and the detail in the design is quite lovely. A perfect central focal point to build a WWI Air Service display around!
A repair squadron was provided to ensure that all aircraft and components stayed operational during military operations. These types of squadrons would have been filled with all sorts of personnel who essentially served as tradesmen such as mechanics, ammo technicians, ordnance technicians, fuel specialists and so on. When it comes to any aircraft unit, the backbone would most certainly have been the ones who kept the pilots in the sky.
The top lid of the footlocker is beautifully painted with US Air Service roundels and “wings”. The name D.A. ZIMMERMAN is painted on the front with his service number 3451263 painted beneath and 872nd AERO SQUADRON present at the bottom. Both leather carry handles are retained on each side and only one small insert is present on the interior. The interior lid has multiple names and their respective homes written in purple laundry marking, making some excellent research opportunities. Measures 31" x 17" x 13".
Plywood footlockers are a common type of footlocker used by the U.S. Army. They generally follow similar size and designs, undergoing only minor cosmetic changes in color and materials (from 1⁄2-inch-thick (13 mm) plywood to 1+1⁄4-inch-thick (32 mm) plywood, depending on war material needs and/or desire to reduce weight and cost of manufacture and cost of shipping). The corners are reinforced with straps of metal riveted to the locker, and had thick wooden handles on both sides for lifting by hand. After World War II, the protruding wooden handles were replaced with collapsible metal ones, so that each footlocker occupied less space and could be packed together more tightly for transportation. Each footlocker came with an internal 1⁄4-inch-thick (6.4 mm) (or thinner) plywood tray which could store some of the smaller items used by a soldier, and the larger items were kept below the tray.
Comes more than ready for further research and display.
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