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This is a specially produced bookplate featuring an original pencil drawing of Masters of the Air navigator author Harry Crosby by Steve Teasdale. Harry Crosby’s genuine signature has been professionally mounted underneath the drawing. The bookplate is made from sepia recycled card and will fit most books on the US air war and in particular Harry’s own book A Wing and a Prayer. This is a rare signature on a lovely portrait in graphite and white pencil.

On December 13, 1941, following the Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor, Crosby suspended his graduate degree studies at the University of Iowa to enlist in the United States Army Air Forces. He was assigned to Mather Field, California, where he trained as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress navigator. Transferred to Boise, Idaho, Crosby was assigned to the 418th Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group. In May 1943 his was one of 36 original "Bloody 100th" combat crews who flew their B-17s to Warton, England and a week later to their base at RAF Thorpe Abbotts, in East Anglia.

In November 1943, Crosby was promoted to lead navigator of the 100th Bomb Group. He would go on to lead missions of as many as 2,000 heavy bombers. By war’s end, he had flown 32 combat missions. Harry Crosby was played by Anthony Boyle in the Apple TV series Masters of the Air, suffering from air sickness in the early operations and regularly narrating the story. This is one of the more prominent Masters of the Air signatures.

Masters of the Air Navigator Harry Crosby Signed Original Drawing Bookplate

£155.00Price
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