Original Items. Only One Available. This is the phenomenal grouping of Lieutenant Robert E. Baumgarten, a pilot with the 375th Bombardment Squadron of the famous Flying Tigers of the 14th Air Force. He flew the B-24 Liberator in China, Burma, and the India Theater. Included is his beautiful 375th B.S. patch, featuring the grim reaper.

The grouping includes:

-Baumgarten’s jacket patches including a 375th Bombardment Squadron patch depicting the grim reaper wearing a flight jacket and helmet, holding a bomb and his scythe. Also included are his CBI (China, Burma, India) patch, his Flying Tigers patch, his two 2nd Lieutenant patch insignia, and his U.S. Flag patch, which has some damage as shown, and is missing some of the stripes. These all came off of his jacket originally.

-Baumgarten’s name tag, reading R. E. BAUMGARTEN.

-Baumgarten’s Pilot Log Book starting on the date August 26th, 1943. Many of the entries are legible but the majority have some water damage and are difficult to read. The final readable date is May 17th, 1944. Every entry appears to be stateside for training. Baumgarten filled in the information on the first 2 pages, with his name and address, in Maplewood, New Jersey.

An English-Japanese phrase book he carried overseas.

“Take-Off” the Official handbook of the Corps of Aviation Cadets, named to Baumgarten.

-A Group photo of Baumgarten and his crew, all wearing pilot’s wings and patches. Baumgarten is one of the four officers standing.

Robert Eugene Baumgarten was born on November 4th, 1921 in Newark, New Jersey. He was a manufacturer’s representative at the Trade Service Corporation in San Diego, Calif., for 35 years. He was a graduate of Columbia High School in Maplewood, the Peddie School in Hightstown and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. He joined the Corps of Aviation Cadets and trained to become a pilot during World War II, serving with distinction with the 375th Bombardment Squadron of the Flying Tigers in China, Burma, and India.

The 375th Bombardment Squadron

The squadron was activated at Gowen Field, Idaho on 15 April 1942 as the 375th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 308th Bombardment Group. As the squadron was forming and beginning its training in Consolidated B-24 Liberators, at Alamogordo Army Airfield, New Mexico in August 1942, almost all its personnel were transferred to the 330th Bombardment Group.

The following month, a fresh cadre taken from the 39th Bombardment Group joined the group. In addition to its own training activities, at the beginning of October, the unit was briefly designated as an Operational Training Unit The squadron began its movement to the China Burma India Theater in January 1943. The air echelon ferried its Liberators across the Atlantic and Africa, leaving from Morrison Field, while the ground echelon moved by ship across the Pacific.

Combat Operations

In late March 1943, the squadron arrived at Chengkung Airfield, China. In order to prepare for and sustain combat operations in China, the squadron had to conduct numerous flights over the Hump transporting gasoline, lubricants, ordnance, spare parts and the other items it needed. The 375th supported Chinese ground forces and attacked airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina. It attacked shipping, mined rivers and ports and bombed maintenance shops and docks at Rangoon, Burma and attacked Japanese shipping in the East China Sea, Formosa Straits, South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin. On 21 August 1943, the squadron conducted an unescorted bombing attack on docks and warehouses at Hankow, China, pressing its attack despite heavy flak and fighter opposition. For this mission it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). Its operations interdicting Japanese shipping in 1944 and 1945 earned it a second (DUC).

The squadron moved to Rupsi Airfield, Assam, India in June 1945. Its mission again was primarily air transport as it ferried gasoline and supplies from there back into China. The unit sailed for the United States in October 1945, and it was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation on 6 January 1946.

This is a phenomenal named grouping to a pilot in one of the most famous bombardment groups of World War II. The squadron patch is gorgeous and the group is perfect for any World War II or aviation display. Don’t miss it!