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an old book sitting on top of a table next to a white tableclothseveral black and white photographs of a plane and a personblack and white photograph of a black and white picture of a planeseveral black and white photos of a group of people in a streeta screenshot of a table with a number of items on itseveral black and white photos of a plane in flight on a tablea black and white photo of a black and white picture of a planeseveral black and white photos of a black and white photo of a citya black and white photo of a man standing in front of a buildingan old black and white photo of a group of people in front of a buildinga black and white photo of a man riding a horse drawn carriagea black and white photo of a black and white picture of a houseseveral black and white photographs of people walking down a streetseveral black and white photos of people and cars in an old photo albumseveral old black and white photos of a street and buildingsblack and white photograph of a group of photographs of people on a boata black and white photo of a book with pictures of buildingsseveral black and white photos of people on a train trackseveral old black and white photos of people on a beach
Premium Maître Lydie BRIOULT

Photograph album of Technical Sergeant Reynaldo C.
See original version (French)

Estimate €300 - €500
Sale commission
Description
Photograph album of Technical Sergeant Reynaldo C. Vargos, 301st Bomb Group – 15th Air Force – Italy (over 150 original photographs) This non-commissioned officer served as an operator in Lt. Baker’s crew. He was identified thanks to the captions at the bottom of the photographs, particularly those taken during their final combat mission on 28 August 1944, and the word ‘Me’ identifying him at the bottom of one photograph, a photograph of the two side gunners taken by him from his radio compartment aboard their B-17, another photograph showing the B-17 flying alongside them and the indication that this photograph was taken from the window of the radio compartment, and finally the research carried out on Lt. Baker and the composition of his crew in order to identify his radio operator. All these photographs were taken by Vargos, not with a military K-20-type camera, but with his own civilian camera. They show B-17s in flight bearing the unit’s identification markings, the streets of Lucera (an Italian town near the 301st BG base), Italian children in the streets, scenes of daily life amongst the Italian population, various views of Capri and Naples whilst on leave, and views of Pompeii. The main interest of this collection of photographs lies in the fact that all the photographs are captioned, and that, beyond the in-flight combat photographs, they provide a unique insight into the daily lives of the American airmen stationed in Italy and its inhabitants. A screenshot from the 301st Bomb Group’s website showing the names of Lt. Baker’s crew members will be provided to the successful bidder. (Grégory Pons Collection)
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Sale of the Grégory Pons collection and miscellaneous items (Aviation and WW2 Militaria)
Auction location
Auction time 11/14/2026 at 1:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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