Item Description
Original Group. One-of-a-Kind. This is the spectacular ephemera & flight helmet grouping of Frederick F. Shook, who served with the 715th Bombardment Squadron, 448th Bombardment Group in Europe during World War II. The grouping includes two great painted squadron & group patches as well as his name tag, flight helmet, and a ton of ephemera.
The grouping includes:
- Shook’s AAF flight helmet Type A-11 Size Small. In great shape overall without many flaws.
- Shook’s name tag with embossed Aerial Gunner wings reading F.F. SHOOK.
- Shook’s A-2 Jacket-removed 715th Bombardment Squadron Patch. This patch features a superhero rabbit with a lightning bolt on his chest riding a missile. It’s in fair shape mostly but the face has been folded over and much of the paint has been lost here. Still a phenomenal patch on its own. Roughly 7 x 5½”.
- Shook’s A-2 Jacket-removed 448th Bombardment Group patch, featuring the early variation of the group’s DUI, in amazing shape overall. Has flags of the US, UK, Soviet Union, and China. Great shape overall. Measures 7¼ x 7¾”.
- Shook’s Aerial Gunner’s wings, pinback, marked Sterling.
- Shook’s mini Aerial Gunner’s wings, also marked Sterling.
- Shook’s pair of Staff Sergeant chevrons.
- Shook’s Overseas stripes, Bullion. 3.
- Shook’s wristwatch with a cracked plastic dome, strap in fair shape. Non-functional.
- Shook’s Air Forces Cadet ID Card named to him with serial number 13188211.
- Mini Air Corps badge.
- Air Corps pendant.
- Four Army Air Forces patches, all similar.
- One gorgeous bullion 8th Air Force patch, named to Shook on the back. AMAZING SHAPE!
- Folded German map, Das neue Europa. Mostly ripped but nice addition.
- Great unit photo of Shook’s unit with his photo also shown at the bottom. Some men are named on the reverse. Really great photo. 11 x 14”.
- Dozens of aerial photographs likely taken by Shook or by his unit, all original photos. At least 50. GREAT ORIGINAL MATERIAL!!!
- Some photos of Germany during and post-war showing its destruction, some aerial shots, some shots of tanks, some French reprint photos.
This is a fantastic group with period squadron patches and a ton of photos, ready for further research and display.
715th Bombardment Squadron
The squadron was first activated on 1 May 1943 at Gowen Field, Idaho as one of the original four squadrons of the 448th Bombardment Group. After completing initial training with Consolidated B-24 Liberators, it moved to Wendover Field, Utah for Phase 2 training, and to Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa for final training. The ground echelon moved to Camp Shanks, New York and sailed for England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 23 November. The air echelon completed final processing at Herington Army Air Field, Kansas and deployed with their Liberators via the southern ferry route.
The squadron flew its first combat mission from RAF Seething on 22 December 1943. it was primarily engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, attacking ball bearing plants in Berlin, marshalling yards at Cologne, a V-1 flying bomb assembly plant at Fallersleben, aircraft factories in Gotha, an airfield at Hanau, a chemical plant at Ludwigshafen, synthetic oil refineries near Pölitz, aircraft engine plants at Rostock, among other strategic targets. The squadron participated in Big Week, an intensive campaign against German aircraft manufacturing plants from 20 to 25 February 1944.
The squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic bombing mission to fly interdiction and close air support missions. It bombed V-weapon launch sites, airfields and transportation facilities to support Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, and on D-Day attacked coastal defenses and choke points on German lines of communication. It struck enemy positions to assist the allied attacks on Caen and Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo. It dropped supplies to allied troops during Operation Market Garden, the attempt to seize a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands. During the Battle of the Bulge, it attacked transportation and communications targets in December 1944 and January 1945. In the spring of 1945, it again dropped supplies to airborne troops in Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine near Wesel. The squadron flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945, an attack on a railroad yard near Salzburg, Austria.
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