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(MILITARY—WORLD WAR TWO.) TUSKEGEE AIRMEN. WANAMAKER,
GEORGE.
Small but significant group of items from a Tuskegee Pilot.
Includes:
two group photographs [one with twenty other pilots posed by one of the fighter planes];
the other, a large group of Tuskegee Airmen; framed with Wanamaker’s “wings,” his shoul-
der insignia and campaign ribbon * (together with) his soft leather pilot’s cap with
earphones and goggles, his dog-tag, and a photographic portrait (6
1
/
2
x 4
1
/
2
inches) of the
pilot in his fleece lined flight jacket, taken by African-American photographer Prentiss
Polk.
SHOULD BE SEEN
.
Vp, 1943
[4,000/6,000]
AN EXCEPTIONAL GROUPING
,
INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL RARE SOFT LEATHER TUSKEGEE
PILOT
’
S CAP WITH EAR
-
PHONES AND GOGGLES
.
Tuskegee Airman George Evans Wanamaker Sr.
(1922-2006) was a native of Montclair, NJ. After the war, he became a police captain. The two pho-
tographs framed with the pilot’s “wings” and ribbons, are 7
3
/
4
x 9
3
/
4
inches, showing Wanamaker
with twenty other Tuskegee pilots, and another larger photo 7
1
/
3
x 10
1
/
4
inches of a group of thirty-
six Tuskegee Airmen in dress uniform. Wanamaker and two other airmen were honored before
Congress in 1996. They were among the top pilots who flew on more than 1500 combat missions,
downing 400 enemy planes.
383
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(MILITARY—WORLD WAR TWO.) SLEDES, G. [?]
Oil portrait of an
African-American soldier.
Painted on artist’s board 25 x 20
1
/
2
inches, in what appears to
be the original wide (2
1
/
2
”) tiger oak frame. Signed in the upper left corner, “G.Sledes, ‘45.”
Np, 1945
[1,500/2,500]
A faint pencil note on the reverse reads: “This is the property of John H. Turner, 157 West Street,
Frederick.” Census records, city directories and his gravestone indicate that John H.P. Turner (1907-
1992) of Frederick, MD lived with his wife Annie at 157 West All Saints Street from 1935 to
1960. Turner served as an Army Technician, 5th grade in WWII. After the war, he worked variously
as a paper-hanger, cook and elevator operator. On the reverse are the names of four German men.
Someone has anglicized the spelling as to be more legible and pronounceable. Whether these men were
prisoners of war in Turner’s charge or not we were unable to determine.
382