Item Description
Painted WWII American A-2 Flight Jackets have realized unprecedented prices in the past year. For example, jackets at Rock Island Auctions sold in 2022 for $32,000+ and $23,000+ respectively. They can be found at this link and this link. When comparing the Rock Island Auction jackets with the one offered here, one can easily see that our offering is an exceptional value!
Original Grouping. One-of-a-Kind. This is a phenomenal & extensive A2 Flight Jacket grouping of Navigator Lieutenant William "Bill" Lloyd Briner who was a member of the crew on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress "Gamblers’ Choice (Serial # 43-38330) , 614th Bomb Squadron, 401st Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. Briner flew 35 documented missions between October 23rd, 1944 and the end of the War in Europe in May, 1945. He received numerous awards including the Air medal on 12/18/1944 and three Oak Clusters before the end of the war.
A photo of Lt. Bill Briner wearing this very jacket during WW2 is available on the Rember Our Heoro's website at this link. Further information about Lt. William Briner can be found at the 8th Air Force website at this link and his grave marker with obituary and war time photo can be found at this link.
More information on the plane, Gambler’s Choice, can be found at this link, as found in the American Air Museum of Britain.
The group includes Briner’s A2 Flight jacket which is painted gorgeously on the back with his B-17’s nose art, Gamblers’ Choice, and on the front with his squadron insignia and the 30 bombs indicating the 30 bombardment missions he flew. The group also includes his medals, flight plans & logs, souvenirs, some flight gear, and six enormous binders filled with thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of original letters, documents, telegrams, data sheets, and a great deal of post-war veterans association paperwork, as well as a packet of printed research information including printouts of summaries of every combat mission Briner flew on.
The highlight of this group is of course the extraordinary A2 jacket, which is in amazing shape with the paint so miraculously intact. Briner’s name, Bill, is painted on the front left of the jacket above his painted squadron patch, which is very well retained. The patch for the 614th Bomb Squadron depicted the devil’s head between a winged horseshoe with a bomb under his head, on a green background with a white border. On the right side of the front are 30 painted bombs indicating the 30 bombardment missions Briner flew on. The left shoulder has the painted insignia of the 8th Air Force, and the shoulder boards each bear leather 2nd Lieutenant bars. On the back of the jacket is the painted nose art of Briner’s B-17, “Gamblers’ Choice”, depicting a red-headed woman wearing a horseshoe on her head, a bra of 8 Balls, a pair of dice earrings, a loincloth bearing hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, and golding an Ace of Spades card and a 4-leaf clover. Around her on a red horseshoe-shaped banner is painted in yellow, GAMBLERS’ CHOICE. The tag on the interior of the jacket reads:
TYPE A-2
DRAWING NO. 30-1415
A.A.F. CONTRACT
NO. W535-AC-27753
PROPERTY
AIR FORCES, U.S. ARMY
(SIZE) 38
The liner of the jacket appears to be original and is in great condition. This is one of the most well-preserved painted A2 Jackets we have ever seen. Even some of our best examples had very heavy wear to the paint, but this example has been kept in stellar condition for 80 years.
The rest of this spectacular grouping consists of the following:
- Six Enormous Binders each with dates of Briner’s service which contain thousands of letters, original photographs, souvenir ephemera, and much much more. The binder of his overseas service is broken down into day-by-day mission updates with the letters he wrote and newspaper clippings found on that day organized accordingly. This would have taken someone hundreds of hours to put together and organize. The binders are dated March - July 1943, July 28th 1943 - February 3rd, 1944, February 8th - October 16th, 1944, and October 18th, 1944 - March 31st, 1945. The post-war binders are dated April 1st, 1945 - April 13th, 1951 and July 15th, 1976 - December 19th, 1992. These binders contain most of Briner’s entire life. You will never find a more comprehensive archive of the day-to-day life of a WWII Navigator.
- Framed “The Court of King Neptune’s Airmen” Certificate measuring 11⅞ x 14⅞”. This certificate was awarded after Briner flew across the Atlantic for the first time with his crew, a great piece of AAF culture signed on July 23rd, 1945.
- 22 Original Flight Plans used by Briner each measuring 11¼ x 17½” and stored in plastic sleeves, dating from November 1944 to February 1945, with the names of the locations bombed noted at the top. These are all filled out and are unbelievable pieces of ephemera in their own right. Along with this is a fragment of map around the same size which was used to write a long letter on the back to his parents.
-”His Service Record” A book sold to families of soldiers to be filled with ephemera and information about their service. This example is FILLED with information as well as photographs and dozens of original newspaper clippings with mentions and photographs of Briner, as well as souvenirs he pasted in near the end including a large leaf and roses, a patch, and more. Over 30 original photos with an AMAZING photo of him and his father wearing his World War I uniform!!!! This service record is filled as much as it could be!
- A Riker case which displays 3 photographs of Briner in uniform, his Lieutenant’s bars & US Insignia, a theater-made AAF patch, a cut-out 8th Air Force patch, his Presidential Unit Citation ribbon, his 2-spot ribbon bar with an Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters and his European African Middle Eastern Campaign medal with 3 campaign stars, his Bronze Star Medal (unengraved), his Air Medal (unengraved), his US WWII Victory Medal, his Navigator Wings and a smaller pin of them, his two dog tags, a parachute log record filled out, and one of his “Calling Cards”.
- A second Riker case which displays his Pilot Log from training in 1943, with several pages filled, his address book in which he took down names and addresses of friends he met overseas, 4 more photos of him, a second address book filled with names and addresses, a small piece of glass with a note reading Miami Florida Bill 1943, and his nametag from his Bomb Group’s veterans organization.
- Briner’s Aircraft Navigation plotter in its original sleeve, something he would have used extensively as a navigator.
- Briner’s Rude Star Identifier A-N Type 1, another integral tool for Briner’s work as a navigator.
- Briner’s Dead Reckoning Computer, yet another integral tool used for navigation.
- Officially printed copies of his Military service record with tons of information on his service. These are the only remaining copies of this record in existence, as the rest would have been burned in the National Archives fire in the 1970s. It is very difficult to find groupings with this paperwork.
- A box of Briner’s calling cards, roughly 40-50 cards still retained! WOW!
- A souvenir large piece of cork with a provenance note of it being picked up in England.
- A large folder of original documents and notes taken by Briner in Navigation school. Dozens of handwritten pages and official navigation documents.
- A packet of printed research information including printouts of the mission details of likely every mission Briner flew on as well as research on him and his family.
- Dozens of issues of the 401st Bombardment Group (H) Association newsletters from the 1980s.
- Dozens of issues of the 2nd Air Division Association Journal dating from the 1980s and 1990s.
William Lloyd Briner was born on April 14th, 1924 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He spent over a year training at a flight school before officially entering active duty on August 7th, 1944 as a Navigator. He departed for Europe on October 23rd, 1944 and returned stateside on July 20th, 1945, being separated from service on September 30th, 1945. He passed away on December 16th, 1990 at his home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
This is without a doubt one of the most extensive A2 Jacket groupings we have ever offered. There is enough material in the binders to spend literal years reading through. The jacket is also one of the most well-preserved examples we have offered. This group comes ready for further research and display.
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Eligible for all payments - Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, Paypal & Sezzle
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