FR EN
1 / 50
an old black book with a gold logo on the covertwo stickers on a book with a picture of a man on a motorcycleblack and white photo of a group of pilots posing in front of an airplanetwo old photos of an airplane taking off from an airporta black and white photo of a man in uniform standing in front of an airplanean old document with a lot of information on itan old document with a list of air force members on itan old document with a picture of an air force seal on itblack and white photograph of a man in a military uniforman old book with writing on it sitting on a tablea close up of a piece of paper with writing on itan old paper with a list of items on it sitting on a tablean old document with a receipt on it sitting on top of a tablean old sheet of paper with a list on it sitting on top of a tablean old photo of a book with a picture of a city on itan old black and white photo of a man standing in front of a picture of a cityblack and white photo of an old photo of a man in a suit and tiean old black and white photo of a man in a military uniformblack and white photo of a man in a plane looking out the windowan old photo of a man and a woman in a planea black and white photo of a picture of a man and a womanblack and white photograph of a man standing in front of a firean open book with pictures of airplanes and other thingsan old photo of a plane flying in the skyan old photo of a group of men in military uniformstwo men in military uniforms standing next to each othera book with a bunch of old photos on ita group of men in uniform posing in front of an airplanean old photo of a group of men in military uniformsa book with a bunch of old photos on ittwo men standing next to each other in front of a planean old black and white photo of a group of people in a roomblack and white photograph of a group of men in leather jacketsa book with a bunch of pictures on ittwo planes flying in the sky over a mountain rangea book with pictures of people and animals on itan old photo of a group of people in a fieldan old photo of a book with pictures of people in ita black and white photo of a man kneeling next to a propelloran open book with pictures of buildings on itan old black and white photo of a view of the ruins of a roman cityan old photo of a woman laying on a bed in a rooman old photo of a book with pictures of buildings and a clock towera book with pictures of different buildings and buildings on itan old black and white photo of a book with pictures of buildingsan old photo of a book with pictures of a city in itcertificate of retirement from the united states air forcea black and white photo of a baseball team posing for a picturea document with a seal on it sitting on a tablecertificate of the bronze star medal for the united states of america
Premium Maître Lydie BRIOULT

Photograph album of Captain William A.
See original version (French)

Estimate €500 - €800
Sale commission
Description
Photograph album of Captain William A. Clarke, 450th Bomb Group – 15th Air Force – Italy (86 original photographs) Captain Clarke flew 50 missions as a B-24 Liberator pilot in Italy with the 721st Bomb Squadron of the 450th Bomb Group. One of the remarkable features of this photo album is that it contains two rare original squadron patches (decals applied to leather, known as ‘decal on leather’ in American collectors’ terminology). These are from the training unit through which Clarke passed – the 420th Bomb Squadron at Clovis Air Force Base in New Mexico in 1943 – and his combat unit, the 721st Bomb Squadron within the 450th BG. These patches alone are worth several hundred dollars on the US market. Clarke was part of his unit’s original complement when it left the USA for Italy in December 1943. He took part in his squadron’s very first operations, and his first mission took him to Mostar in Yugoslavia on 8 January 1944. The 15th Air Force’s particular method of counting combat missions was that certain missions were counted twice depending on the difficulty of the target. Thus, the list of missions carried out by Clarke includes missions recorded as ‘Single’ or ‘Double’. The missions that are not crossed out are those in which he took part. The album contains his typewritten biography, which states that, in addition to his role as a pilot, he held several positions of responsibility within the 721st Bomb Squadron, including that of operations officer. The photographs in the album are mainly in the standard military 4x5-inch (10x12.5cm) format, taken with cameras such as the Kodak K-20, and aerial shots taken during operations in the 20x20cm format. Their excellent quality makes them rare documents relating to the 15th Air Force, where, unfortunately, the quality of photographs is often far inferior to that of photographs taken in England or France. The photographs taken during missions are all dated. At the top, they all bear a series of markings, beginning with that of the 450BG, which stands for the 450th Bomb Group. The date then appears in the second set of details. Thus, (8:13:1302) means 13 August at 13:02. The first aerial photograph in Clarke’s album shows the Giens Peninsula with the notation ‘GUN POS/ TOULON AREA’, meaning ‘Artillery positions/Toulon sector’. This mission is indeed listed amongst those carried out by Clarke in preparation for the Provence landings two days later. It should be noted that the designations of targets sometimes contain typing errors. The following photograph is labelled ‘VECSES A/D’ (A/D standing for ‘AirDrome’) and was taken on 9 August 1944 at 11.24 am during the bombing of VECSES airfield near Budapest. This airfield still exists and is now Budapest International Airport. Several photographs show a B-24 Liberator named ‘MISS FURY’, with no specific indication that this is Clarke’s aircraft. Clarke can be recognised in several photographs: at his pilot’s station, leaning against the cockpit window, or holding a propeller blade. He is also pictured with his crew in front of the nose of a B-24 decorated with a star, next to which a large black mark appears to have been applied by the censors to conceal something. An impressive aerial photograph dated 24 April 1944 shows the famous oil refineries at Ploesti in Romania. Several bomb craters can be seen around the hydrocarbon storage tanks as well as around the marshalling yards (M/Ys), which were the main target of this mission. This mission was counted as a double for Capt. Clarke, as was the other mission on 17 August 1944 targeting the ASTRA ROMANA refineries (where ‘OIL REF’ stands for ‘Oil Refineries’). The in-flight photographs show B-24 Liberators bearing the tactical identification markings of the 450th BG on their vertical stabilisers. One of the B-24s photographed in flight over snow-capped mountains bears the name ‘MADAM SHOO SHOO’ and the serial number 42-99805 at the top of its vertical stabiliser. Here is a search link confirming that this aircraft was assigned to the 722nd Bomb Squadron of the 450th BG. https://americanarchive.iwm.org.uk/archive/media/media-418211jpg The photographs show several crew members in flight uniforms, aircraft damaged on landing after returning from missions, scenes of daily life, and Clarke posing alongside another captain in front of the nose of a B-24 (both are wearing their silver pilot’s wings on the front of their shirts). Other photographs show a military show featuring the famous belly dancer Rouhia, who was touring American bases in Italy (one of the photographs was, incidentally, developed upside down), photos of the officers’ mess, the pilots of the 721st Bomb Squadron posing around their squadron insignia: Clarke can be seen holding a glass, the wreckage of a German aircraft, and a rare photograph of a B-24 Liberator ‘Pathfinder’ with a radome in place of the belly turret (serial number 41-28774) https://americanarchive.iwm.org.uk/archive/media/media-418207jpg The following photographs show bombs with dedications, a V-Mail featuring a caricature of Captain Clarke, and several photos of the crew in front of their aircraft, including ‘BOTTOMS UP’ and ‘DRY RUN’. Clarke continued his career in the USAF and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service during the Vietnam War, whilst in charge of a USAF materiel centre. The citation and certificate for this award accompany his photo album. (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
You may also like