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three brown books are lined up on a white surfacetwo men in uniform standing next to an airplane with a propelloran old black and white photo of a woman standing in front of an airplaneblack and white photo of a group of men standing in front of an airplanetwo men sitting next to each other in the woodsan old newspaper with a bunch of pictures on itan open book with pictures of military men on itan open book with pictures of airplanes on itan open book with a picture of a man standing in front of a mountainan old newspaper with a picture of a plane on itan old newspaper with a picture of a plane in the airan old newspaper with a picture of a man and a woman in front of a planea newspaper with a picture of a train on itan old book opened to a page with a document in ita piece of paper that has a list of things on ita piece of paper with a letter on it sitting on top of a tablea close up of a piece of paper with a handwriting on itan open book on a table with a piece of paper on top of ita close up of a piece of paper with writing on ittwo old papers are on a table next to each otheran old newspaper advertises a picture of a young man in a military uniforma newspaper piece with a picture of a woman in a hatan old book opened to a page with a picture of a man and a womanan open book with an american flag and other items on ittwo patches of different colors and sizes are on a brown surfacean open book with a piece of paper on top of itan old book with a drawing of a man in a military uniforman open book with pictures of mountains on itan old book with pictures of planes flying in the skyan open book with pictures of airplanes on itan old book with a drawing of a bomb jar in itan open book with a picture of a plane in the skyan old book opened to show a picture of a planean old newspaper with a picture of a plane flying in the skyan old newspaper with a picture of a man and a plane on itan old newspaper with a picture of a plane flying in the skyan open book with a picture of a woman and a man on ita red, white and blue shield with two stars on ita book open to a page with pictures of people on itan open book with a picture of a map and a map of japan on ita close up of a piece of paper on a tablean image of a piece of paper that has a document on itan old book with a picture of a plane on itan old book with pictures of airplanes on itan old newspaper with a picture of a man riding a horse on ita book open to a page with pictures on itan open book with pictures of airplanes on itan old photo of a couple of men standing next to an airplanea lot of old newspapers and magazines on the tablean old photo album with pictures of people and a plane
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Photograph albums of Lt. Tom C.
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Estimate €300 - €500
Sale commission
Description
Photograph albums of Lt. Tom C. Evans, 794th Bomb Squadron, 468th Bomb Group – 20th Air Force – Pacific – India and China (4 original photographs + 6 original insignia, press cuttings) These three albums contain a large number of press articles relating to the B-29 Superfortress, centring on a bombardier officer, Lt. Evans, who was attached to the 794th Bomb Squadron and died in action after his aircraft was struck in flight by a Japanese aircraft on 21 December 1944 over Mukden in Manchuria. Captain Benedict’s crew, of which Evans was a member, was initially declared MIA (‘Missing in Action’) before being declared KIA (‘Killed in Action’). What makes these albums, compiled by Evans’s wife, unique is that she included a large number of articles about the B-29 Superfortress, as well as press cuttings on the aircraft’s first combat operations from India and China. Several newspaper front pages report on these operations against various targets, notably Formosa, as well as the first raids on Japan, including those on Tokyo and Yokohama. The most moving aspect of these albums lies in the telegram and letters sent to Lt. Evans informing her of her husband’s death, along with a list of all the members of his crew, accompanied by the flight log—including the flight parameters—completed by her husband during the mission he undertook three days before his death. Another particularly moving detail is that Evans and his friend Warren Dailey had both married twin sisters who were widowed at the same time; Dailey’s wife had given birth to a baby girl, Pamela Anne, after her husband had left, and he never had the chance to see her. The album also contains several original insignia, including two 20th Air Force insignia—one standard-issue and one embroidered in canette thread—accompanied by a leather name tag bearing Evans’s name, two locally made Asian CBI (China Burma India) shoulder insignia, one of which is leather; a multi-piece leather American flag typical of bazaar-made items in India, intended to be worn on the back of flight jackets to identify the airman; a leather nameplate bearing the name ‘Evans’, intended to be worn on his flight jacket, inscribed in Chinese and Sanskrit, as well as a caricature of Evans drawn in North Africa whilst they were en route to India. All these insignia and mementoes were sent by Evans to his wife. Only four original photographs feature in these albums. They were taken in India and show Evans and Dailey in front of the nose of their B-29, with Evans pointing to the mission markings on the nose of the aircraft, as well as the crew and their team of mechanics posing next to their aircraft, with the early combat markings of their unit on the tail fin of another aircraft visible in the background, as well as a photograph of Evans hunting for souvenirs whilst holding a Japanese flag. A particularly original and touching collection on a subject rarely so well documented. (Grégory Pons Collection) (full photo dossier available on request)
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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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