Archive update: 27/10/15

Some items I picked up in the thrift stores of Omaha while I was Stateside recently:

1949 pattern USAF dress blues.
These were the first proper USAF uniform after they were formed as a seperate force from the US Army in 1947, and would have been the type worn when Alconbury reopened in the mid-1950s.







Here's our good friend Walter Marr wearing this pattern of uniform when he received the Air Installations Airman of the Month award at Alconbury in June 1956.



US Army & USAF 1946 pattern khaki shirt.
One of three I found, all named to the same guy as the blues. One will be giving up its sleeve rank badges to replace the ones missing from the dress uniform.
I'm still looking for a supplier in the UK for the metal US collar discs that had also been removed.





USAF CWU-36/P Nomex flight jacket.

Assorted smaller items.

Air Force pins







North American Aviation employee's one-year service pin.



WWII USAAF Technical Specialist sleeve patch, in this case Engineering.



Mid-Late WWII USAAF enlisted men's collar insignia.



WWII US medals. Clockwise from top:
EAME Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
Air Medal
WWII Victory Medal

Sadly the Air Medal is un-named, so the story of whoever these originally belonged to has now been lost forever.

Slightly more modern small items.

Sealed pack of carded USAF T/Sgt. rank pins, dated 1985.





Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbons.

The dress blues are now on the last spare mannequin awaiting completion, alongside the 1980s woodland BDUs which I managed to find the correct cap for.
We still urgently require a replacement strap for the blues peaked cap.

The medals and pins etc. are now in the main display cabinet awaiting labelling.



My thanks go to the team at the Bottisham Airfield Museum for the loan of a 1943 B-3 Mae West to enhance the late-WWII flight clothing display.

Thanks NP,

The "fireman" was a crude temporary covering on the 1942-43 8AF ground crew Class As mannequin while I was using that uniform elsewhere.
I'd dearly love to have a proper fire setup on show, but until I can source a period helmet and pair of fire boots, at the bare minimum, the nationally-important cold-war USAFE
fire gear collection will normally remain on its hangers.