The beginning of my collection

[Adrian Stevenson]

Very nice to see how your collection has grown and evolved.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jaybone]

Nice collection, I envy your air core collection nice 8th AAF uniforms, b-3 jacket, b-3 life vest, and a-6 boots what size are they
-Ben

Hi Ben! The boots are size XL. They belonged to the same Vet as the jacket. I was fortunate to purchase many of his items as well as his Brother-In Law's at an estate sale this past summer. The 8th Air Force Ike is very cool, Vet lived about 1/2 mile from me. The patch is British made. Which items would you like close ups on? I will work on it later tonight.

I was fortunate enough that when I decided to act on my life long desire to collect militaria I had the means to do so. By that, i mean I had substantial collection of sports memorbiia I had collected for 25 years. I was able to move that and put the money into a collection i purchase among other things. Ive made a couple of good connections with local pickers. I am not above waking up at 430am to be first in line at a good sale either. Ive also made a couple of really lucrative and lucky finds, such as some Polish medals that i was able to flip to fund my collection. Believe it or not, 90% of what I have actually belonged to Vets who live/lived within a 25 mile radius of my home. Even the 101st Ike is from a Michiganian!

[Jaybone]

Very nice to see how your collection has grown and evolved.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks Ade! Believe it or not, there is focus! And almost all of it is named. Part of the fun for me is the hunt, then the research.

[AmericanKraut]

I would love to see the b-3 jacket the stubby winged 8th patch, and your b-3 life vest if you wouldnt mind. These are all thing I would like to acquire someday

[Jaybone]

A couple more pics, its always a work in progress!

[AmericanKraut]

I cant stop drooling your collection is magnificent... Some day I hope to reach a capacity such as this!!! Thanks for the close ups now I want a B-3 jacket even more.
-Ben

[Jaybone]

Ive been very lucky. Lots of getting up at the crack of dawn, fighting crowds, and sheer dumb luck to find what i have so far. The B3 is exceptionally cool. The owner, Stuart Adams, is a descendent of former US President John Quincey Adams. The family had a large property in the area for long time. I found his canteen half buried on a tool bench in a barn. It has his name scratched in it. A local picker beat me to the boots, but fortunately i was able to reunite them.

[Jaybone]

Some more tweaks! Everything I have on mannequins is named, etc. The bringback stuff isnt, but i have the names of the soldiers who liberated it and brought it home.

[António Fragoeiro]

Outstanding, its great to see it from the very beginning and seeing it now.
Impressive display.
Congrats.
Cheers.
Nuno

[Sir Payne]

Where do you go to acquire such pieces? Garage sales, estate sales, auctions? or do you go around picking yourself?

Regards, Corey