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a picture of an old book with a marine emblem on itseveral black and white photos of people standing in front of an airplanea group of men in uniform standing in front of an airplanea black and white photo of a man standing in front of an airplanea book with a picture of a man standing in front of an airplaneblack and white photo of a group of people standing in front of a planeblack and white photograph of a man on a boat in the oceanan open book with a drawing of a dog on itan old black and white photo of a group of people sitting on a benchan old black and white photo of a group of people posing for a picturean old photo of a group of people in the snowblack and white photograph of a man standing in front of a planean old photo of a group of men standing next to each otherfour black and white photos of a man sitting in a planea black and white photo of a group of people in front of an airplanea black and white photo of a man in a military uniforma black and white photo of a man standing next to an airplaneblack and white photo of an old family photo in a bookan old black and white photo of a book with pictures of people and animalsan old black and white photo of a group of people sitting on a benchan old black and white photo of a group of people posing for a picturean old black and white photo of a group of people sitting on a benchan old black and white photo of a group of people in a fieldan open book with pictures of people on the beachan open book with pictures of trees in it
Maître Lydie BRIOULT

Photograph album of Warrant Officer George C.
See original version (French)

Estimate €250 - €350
Sale commission
Description
Photograph album of Warrant Officer George C. Schaeffer, VMF-222 – US MARINE CORPS – South Pacific, Solomon Islands. (71 photographs, 65 of which were printed from the original negatives in the 1970s and 1980s) This album belonged to Warrant Officer George Schaeffer, an intelligence officer with the VMF-222 fighter squadron, which was equipped with F4U-1 Corsairs, during the period when the squadron undertook three tours of duty in the South Pacific, in the Solomon Islands sector, whilst stationed in turn in the combat zone at Munda, then at Vella Lavella alongside the legendary VMF-214 commanded by Major Gregory ‘Pappy’ Boyington, and at Cape Torokina on the large island of Bougainville. This album comes from the collection of Jeff Millstein, author of the reference work on US Marine Corps squadron insignia, ‘U.S. Marine Corps Aviation Unit Insignia 1941–1946’, who acquired it directly from George Schaefer himself. The first four photographs on the first page are original prints, as are those on the third page showing Captains Hacking and Winfield at El Toro Air Station in 1943. Following its training period in Santa Barbara, Squadron VMF-222 transited via Hawaii before proceeding to Midway Island, where it was stationed for a time to acclimatise to the coral islands. It reached the combat zone in the South Pacific after a stopover in Nouméa, arriving in the Munda sector of New Georgia in September 1943, where American forces had just restored a recently captured Japanese airfield. At that time, the squadron was commanded by Major Max Volcansek. Following this first tour of operations, VMF-222 moved to the island of Efate, near New Caledonia, for a period of rest, before proceeding to the island of Vella-Lavella, where it was stationed alongside VMF-214, in order to carry out several operations in support of the landings on 1 November 1943 on the island of Bougainville and subsequently conduct operations against the Japanese naval air base at Rabaul, during which four pilots from VMF-222 took part in the first fighter raid on Rabaul on 17 December 1943, with the formation led by Boyington. The photographs in this album end with the second combat tour at Vella Lavella. Yet they provide a valuable record of these micro-units which operated in some of the most remote corners of the globe, under conditions far from idyllic: heat, humidity, deadly insects, dense jungle, malaria… whilst engaging in aerial combat during which the pilots – among the best in the world – fought battles of rare intensity. (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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