Original U.S. WWII B-17 “Aces N’ Eights” Turret Gunner Distinguished Flying Cross Recipient Technical Sergeant Stanley Young Painted A-2 Flight Jacket - 527th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group
-
Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is the lovely & worn A2 Flight Jacket of Turret Gunner Technical Sergeant Stanley Russell Young of the B-17 42-37888 / Aces N’ Eights, 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. Young flew a staggering 37 combat missions while overseas, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters before returning to the United States in August 1944 to serve as an instructor. Young’s jacket is extremely worn, and has a large period-repaired gash across the back. From a photograph of him we found online, he appears to be wearing the jacket with his civilian clothes while holding his newborn baby. It only makes sense that the jacket would see heavy wear over the coming decades as he wore it everywhere.
Young’s Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads: “For Extraordinary achievement while serving as an engineer top turret gunner of a B-17 Flying Fortress during combat bombing attacks over German Europe. The courage, coolness, and skill displayed by Sgt. Young upon these occasions reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Young’s A-2 Jacket is painted on the left breast with Stan, the shortened version of his name he likely went by. The back of the jacket is painted with a B-17 Flying Fortress under his aircraft’s name, Aces n’ Eights. This is surrounded by the 31 locations of his bombing missions up to this point. This doesn’t include his last 6 missions, so he certainly wore this jacket on those final missions as well. The paint on the front and back is extremely worn, which is how it would look after being worn by Young for decades after the war. The Talon zipper is still fully functional, but it appears to be a post-war aluminum example.. The knit waistband and sleeve cuffs are still intact and in worn condition, but they may have also been period-replaced. The lining of the jacket appears replaced, certainly done in the post-war era by Young. As mentioned there is a very large gash in the back of the jacket which was period-repaired. There is still a partial tag at the top of the lining which provides the drawing number, but the size tag is gone. There was thankfully a small tag in the pocket which identified the jacket to Young along with his hometown, Augusta, Maine.
Stanley Russell Young was born on May 26th, 1922 in Augusta, Maine. He attended Cony High School and entered the service on February 24th, 1941, joining the Infantry but eventually enrolled at the Chicago Aeronautical University and took a course at Allison Service School. He later trained at the Laredo Texas Flexible Gunnery School before going overseas & joining the 527th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. He flew 37 missions as a Technical Sergeant Engineer & turret gunner, being awarded the DFC and Air Medal with 4 OLCs. He returned stateside on August 3rd, 1944 to serve as an instructor. After the war he worked as a salesman in a paint and wallpaper store. He passed away on December 11th, 2000 at the age of 78.
This is an extraordinary jacket to a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, with decades of wear from being worn in the post-war era. Comes ready for further research and display!
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Eligible for all payments - Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, Paypal & Sezzle
We Buy Military Antiques
Our team expert buyers travels the world to pay fair prices for entire estate collections to singular items.
START SELLING TODAY
