JOE BEAN SIGNED BIRTH OF A LEGEND STAN STOKES PRINT WWII B-17 NAVIGATOR

Description: About This Item:We are offering a hand signed unframed Stan Stokes 11 1/2 X 16 print by: Joe Bean (d) and artist Stan Stokes. This item was hand signed in person. In addition this item comes with AI Verified hologram and AI Verified Certificate of Authenticity. Original SRP $129.95 and has been long sold out. About the Print:Colin P. Kelly, Americas first hero of WW II, was born in Florida in 1915. He was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and following graduation Kelly married the former Marian Wick. Kelly received his primary flight instruction at Randolph Field in San Antonio, and after earning his wings he moved across town to Kelly Field for advanced pilot training. Unlike many would-be fighter pilots, Kelly was not disappointed with being assigned as a bomber pilot. Kelly received a letter of commendation from The Secretary of War when he crash landed a Northrop A-17A he was ferrying to Mitchel field in a vacant street in Brooklyn. In September of 1940 Kelly was promoted to Captain, and was assigned to the 42nd Bomb Squadron as commander of a B-17. Kelly trained in Hawaii, and was later made Operations Officer for the 14th Bomb Squadron. In September of 1941 Kelly and his crew flew from Hawaii to Clark Field in the Philippines. The B-17s were an important addition to the woefully inadequate and obsolete air forces which America had in the Philippines. The Japanese Imperial forces attacked the Philippines only hours following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Mitsubishi Zero fighters, flying to maximize their range, were able to accompany Japanese bombers from bases in Formosa. The initial attack on Clark Field damaged or destroyed many American aircraft. Kellys squadron had been moved south to another field and had escaped damage. On December 10, Kellys squadron was ordered to fly north to Clark Field where they would refuel and arm their aircraft for attacks on the Japanese invasion fleet. Kellys regular B-17D was out of service, so his crew was assigned a B-17C. At Clark Field three 600-pound armor piercing bombs were loaded on Kellys B-17 when an air raid hastened their departure. Kelly flew northward to the northern most tip of the island of Luzon. Kelly spotted a number of Japanese ships which were supporting an amphibious landing. The young Captain dropped his three bombs hoping to destroy the largest of the Japanese ships. One bomb struck the vessel, igniting a tremendous blaze. On returning to Clark Field, the B-17 was attacked by a number of Japanese fighters, including a Zero flown by Saburo Sakai. Sakai would become the highest scoring Japanese ace to survive the War with 64 victories. Amazed by the speed of the Flying Fortress, the Zeros needed full throttle to make passes at the B-17. Kellys B-17 was eventually hit and set afire. Captain Kelly ordered his crew to abandon ship. Kelly remained with the aircraft, and he did not survive the crash landing. With America desperate for any good news on the war front, and with Army brass in the Philippines anxious to claim some positive results, Colin Kellys exploits became exaggerated in many news accounts. By the time the story was publicized stateside, many believed he had dived his B-17 down the funnel of a Japanese battleship. While Kelly was indeed an American hero, the unfortunate gross exaggeration of his exploits, should not tarnish the fact that Kelly, like many that would follow him in the years ahead, had made the ultimate sacrifice for his country in the line of duty. Item ConditionAll scans represent the actual item being sold. We do not use representative stock images (unless noted and/or determined by quantitiy available in the listing). Every single piece of our autographed stock is individually imaged. TermsPaymentShippingTerms and ConditionsWe will notify all buyers via e-mail within 24 hours at the close of each auction with payment details. Buyer is responsible to pay for sales tax charged for each purchase. No exceptions!If a buyer doesn't pay within 4 days, our eBay account is set up to automatically open an unpaid item case in the Resolution Center.If the buyer still doesn't pay or reach some other agreement with the seller, eBay may record the unpaid item on the buyer's account.All items will be shipped at the winning bidder's expense (unless stated otherwise). All orders will be shipped out via USPS Priority Mail (with Delivery Confirmation) or via Fed Ex Ground unless otherwise noted in the auction descriptionOrders will be processed within 24 hours after receipt of valid payment information.Feedback is left shortly after the address label and order have been processed.Sales Tax is the responsibility of the buyer.We will do our very best to provide as much accurate information as we can for each and every auction.All offers must be made on eBay. We will not accept emailed offers. No exceptions.We do not meet buyers in person. No exceptions. _gsrx_vers_1547 (GS 9.4.2 (1547))

Price: 36.95 USD

Location: Omaha, Nebraska

End Time: 2025-01-30T15:00:44.000Z

Shipping Cost: 10 USD