all Rights Reserved ©
Third Reich Life & War, World History
Lot 354:
A most unusual pair of artifacts related to the early career of Courtney Whitney (1897-1969) who is best known today as Douglas MacArthur’s closest and most loyal aide, and one of the authors of the postwar Japanese Constitution. The first piece is the core of an early airplane’s wooden propeller, 19" x 7.5" × 4", with the center rotor plate adorned with the Army Air Service’s ‘Prop and Wings’ emblem and the initials "U.S. " Offered together with a pair of aviator’s goggles which have been adhered to a cloth flight ‘helmet’ due to an accident involving Lieutenant Courtney Whitney.Both pieces bear the expected wear associated with age, but are in surprisingly good condition. Whitney’s early military experience was with the Army Air Service at Bolling Field in Washington, one of the earliest military aviation facilities in the United States serving the Army Air Service the predecessor of the Army Air Corps.Whitney, who served as a pursuit pilot at the base, was involved in an accident involving his plane which apparently caught on fire. Safely exiting the plane, Whitney pulled off his goggles, the rubber lining of which melted in the heat of the fire.
Share this lot:
all Rights Reserved ©