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The highly acclaimed Apple TV+ streaming miniseries Masters of the Air, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, tells the story of the 100th BG.
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission,
carried out by the U.S. Army Air Force
on August 17, 1943, was a large scale
strategic bombing involving a reported
376 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy
bombers, 268 P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
planes, and 191 Spitfire fighter planes.
60 of those bombers were lost with others
suffering heavy damages, 2 Spitfires lost, 7 aircrew KIA and 21 aircrew WIA on returning aircraft, and 557 aircrew MIA or POW. The German Luftwaffe suffered 25-27 downed fighter planes, and a reported 203 civilians were killed during the bombings. The high U.S. losses were disguised in after-mission reports, and unfortunately outweighed the success of
the mission.
The lot also includes a copy of the book “A Year in the Life of a Cowboy With the Bloody 100th” authored by B-17 pilot Owen D. “Cowboy” Roane and originally published in 1995. The book tells firsthand accounts of “Cowboy’s” time with the 100th and mentions his co-pilot Arthur C. “Bud” Stipe multiple times along with the missions they completed together. Page 60 lists Lieutenant Arthur C. Stipe as co-pilot next to Flight Officer Owen D. Roane as pilot, part of the 349th Squadron crew, during the Bremen mission [October 8, 1943] . Page 87 shows a photograph of the crew standing next to “THE BIGASSBIRD II” including Roane and
Stipe right after completion of the second Schweinfurt mission. Page 117 states, “Co-Pilot Arthur C. Stipe went home in October 1943, having been the second pilot to have completed twenty-five missions. Our trails crossed again in November of 1944 when I was assigned to the Seventh Ferry Group at Great
Falls, Montana where he was the assistant operations officer.”
The second Schweinfurt raid, also called “Black
Thursday,” was carried out by the U.S. Army Air
Force on October 14, 1943. Of the reported 291
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers sent on
that mission, 60 were lost, 17 suffered heavy damages
and were scrapped afterwards, 121 more had various
damages, approximately 650 men lost of 2,900 sent, along with 3 P-47
fighter planes lost. The German Luftwaffe lost approximately 35-38 fighter planes and 20 damaged. The losses on the American
side were so great that the U.S. Air Force did not return to the target for four months. Arthur C. “Bud” Stipe and his crew lived to tell about it, along with this historic Model 1911A1 pistol offered. The official mission log of Arthur C. “Bud” Stipe includes 25 missions starting with his first on July 4, 1943, La Pallice, France and ends with his twenty-fifth mission on October 20, 1943, Duren, Germany.
The pistol is all correct with a gray parkerized finish, blue finished High Standard barrel, stamped trigger, checkered slide stop and
safety lock, narrow checkered hammer and checkered main spring housing, and brown plastic checkered Keyes Fibre grips. The left
side of the slide is stamped with the “USS” logo followed by “U.S. & S. CO./SWISSVALE, PA. U.S.A.”, the left of the frame is stamped
with the encircled “R.C.D.” final inspection mark, the right of the frame is stamped with U.S. Property markings followed by the
M1911A1 U.S. Army nomenclature and the serial number “1043298”, “P” marked on the left of the barrel lug with “HS” on the right,
and “L” marked on the lip of the magazine base. Includes a “US” embossed World War II brown leather M7 military pattern shoulder
holster, an 8th Army Air Force patch and an Army Air Force patch, an Army Air Force 500 hours merit pin, rank badges, documents including the affidavit and letter from Arthur C. Stipe, picture of Stipe in front of “THE BIGASSBIRD II” B-17 heavy bomber, scanned copies of newspaper clippings about Stipe, and the mentioned print book.
CONDITION: Excellent, retains 97% original Du-Lite finish, with wear limited to some minor high edge wear and a few light handling marks, the barrel retains 90% plus original blue finish with some light cycling wear visible on the top of the chamber, and the magazine retains 98% original blue finish. Grips are excellent with a few minor handling marks. Mechanically excellent. This both an exceptional and historic Union Switch & Signal U.S. Model 1911A1 pistol issued to World War II B-17 co-pilot Arthur C. Stipe of the “Bloody Hundredth” would be a centerpiece in any advanced U.S. military collection or museum! Provenance: Arthur C. “Bud” Stipe; The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection; Property of a Gentleman.
Estimate: 15,000 - 22,500
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