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an old leather book with a decorative design on the coveran old photo of a group of men posing for a picturean old black and white photo of a group of men in uniformblack and white photo of a group of men in front of an airplanean old black and white photo of a group of men standing in front of a housean old black and white photo of a group of people standing around an airplaneblack and white photo of a group of men standing in front of an airplanean old photo of a book with pictures of people and animalsan old photo of a family posing for a picture in a bookan old black and white photo of a book with pictures of peoplean old photo of an airplane in a hangaran old photo of a group of people in a fieldan old black and white photo of a woman standing in front of a cara close up of a piece of paper with writing on itan old photo of a group of people sitting on a bench in front of a houseseveral old black and white photos of people standing in front of an airplanean old black and white photo of a plane in a photo albumtwo planes that are flying in the sky over the wateran old photo of a book with pictures of people in itseveral old black and white photos of people and a planean old photo of a group of people in a bookan old black and white photo of a group of men standing in front of an airplanean old photo of a group of people standing in front of a buildingan old black and white photo of a group of people in military uniformsan old black and white photo of a group of people standing in front of an airplanean old black and white photo of a group of people standing in front of an airplanean old black and white photo of a group of people standing in front of a planean old black and white photo of a book with pictures of people and carsseveral black and white photos of a plane on display in a bookan old black and white photo of a plane in a fielda black and white photo of an old airplane in the grassblack and white photo of a book with pictures of people and airplanesa black and white photo of a man sitting in the cockpit of a planean old black and white photo of an aerial view of a cityan old book with a picture of a city inside of itblack and white photo of a book with a bunch of photographstwo men standing in front of an airplane with the name noah borshuns painted on itan old black and white photo of a group of people standing in front of a traina black and white photo of a group of men standing in front of an airplanea black and white photo of a group of men working on an airplaneblack and white photograph of a man sitting in the cockpit of an airplanean old book with a picture of a bird on ita newspaper with a picture of a man and a woman on itnewspaper clipping of a couple on their wedding day with a newspaper clipping of a couple on their wedding day with a newspaper clipping of a newspaper clippingan old black and white photo of a group of baseball playersa black and white photo of a group of people sitting at a tablea black and white photo of a group of people sitting at a tableseveral black and white photos of a man standing in front of a plane
Maître Lydie BRIOULT

Photograph album of Lieutenant Robert J.
See original version (French)

Estimate €250 - €350
Sale commission
Description
Photograph album of Lieutenant Robert J. Kremer, 502nd Bomb Group – 20th Air Force – Pacific – Mariana Islands, Guam (approx. 100 original photographs) This album belonged to Lt. Kremer, co-pilot on a B-29 Superfortress in Captain Woida’s crew within the 402nd Bomb Squadron. This unit was deployed in combat from 12 May 1945 as part of the strategic bombing campaign against Japan. Research has identified all the other members of his crew in this photograph, a large-format print (8x10in., 20x25cm) of which is found in his album. This link contains Captain Woida’s biography on the National Air & Space Museum website, although it does not specify the number of missions he flew: https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/col-joseph-woida-usaf Over three months of operations, Kremer and Woida likely carried out nearly twenty combat missions, at a rate of six per month, or one every five days. Several photographs show B-29s flying in formation during missions over Japan, near Mount Fuji, as well as a B-29 with its bomb bays open at the moment of release, on their return to their base on Tinian. Kremer and his crew flew a B-29 nicknamed ‘ROOSTER WAGON’ (the chicken wagon), decorated with a chicken in a wheeled crate. The small-format but high-quality photographs show B-29 No. 5 from various angles. One in-flight photograph shows this B-29, on which one can make out the ‘nose art’ and the number 5 identifying the aircraft within its unit. The tactical markings of the 502nd BG are clearly visible on the vertical stabiliser: an H within a diamond. The 502nd BG, which comprised three squadrons (the 402nd, 411th and 430th Bomb Squadrons), was part of the 315th Bomb Wing More than twenty photographs of this aircraft with its crew members appear throughout the pages of the album, with Kremer recognisable in a number of the photos. Each crew member was photographed next to the ‘nose art’. A document dated 19 July 1945, signed by the crew’s bombardier (Joe Martinez), corresponds to the bomb load sheet for a mission and indicates that the bombs were 500-pound (approx. 250 kg) M-64 General Purpose bombs. The album contains several family photographs taken in the USA and clearly illustrates the basic living conditions of the crew members of the 502nd Bomb Group. Two photographs show the wreckage of a Japanese twin-engine Ki-49 Donryu bomber. Kremer’s crew were forced to make a stopover on the island of Iwo Jima (2 captioned photographs) after their B-29 was damaged during the raid of 1–2 August 1945 on the Mitsubishi and Hayama oil refineries. Several photographs illustrate this mission and their stopover on Iwo Jima, including two aerial views of the target before and after the raid. An extract from an archive document recounts this raid and the misadventure of Capt. Woida, whose aircraft (H-5) was damaged by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. The final pages of the album contain invitation cards to the pilot’s licence award ceremony for Class 44-H. A digital copy of the history of the 502nd Bomb Group, which includes a list of the unit’s members, will be sent to the successful bidder by email. (Grégory Pons Collection)
See original version (French)
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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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