Very seldomly seen Original World War Two US Army Air Forces Named Bombardier Grouping consisting of Four “Used” Aerial Bomb Cotter Pins with their original Tags and handwritten notations on when and where the specific Bomb’s were dropped.
The grouping belonged to Bombardier Purple Heart Recipient Hyman Ray Finfer of the 319th Bomb Group, 12th USAAF. Hyman Finfer was born January 8th, 1921 and passed away July 26th, 2004. Hyman Finfer was a Jewish-American three war veteran in the US Army Air Forces and became a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force, serving his country in World War Two, Korea, and the Vietnam War.
A fuze pin is a safety device composed of a metal cotter pin with a warning tag that was used on bombs dropped by B-24 aircraft during WWII. All Four Pins are manufactured By Dennison Mfg Co. and are Cadmium plated split pins with printed card label’s attached. Two of them read “To be removed after bomb has been placed in dropping gear and arming wire inserted. If bomb is not dropped, replace pin before removing arming wire.” While the later dated two read; “Pin not to be removed until fuze is about to be placed in bomb. If fuze is removed from bomb replace pin at once.”
These cotter pin’s are annotated with dates, locations (most of which are Italy), and altitude on when and where they were used:
“#25 Padua RR/B dated 10/18/44 4X1000’ “
“#29 ADIGE Mezzocorona RR/B dated 11/9/44 4-1000’”
“#31 - 11/23/44 Faenza Troop Covet. Frags 3:25”
”Mission #2 Tail Fuze 4-1000’ ?/2/44 Allessa??cia 144/B-“
The Bombardier Wings are a beautiful Meyer of New York manufactured Sterling Silver with a lovely natural patination featuring a pin bar clasping mechanism in excellent condition.
Also included is a 12th Air Force Shoulder Sleeve Insignia Patch that belonged to Finfer as well.
Note; the last two photos showing Finfer as well as a his headstone are not included in this listing.
Truly an incredible grouping ready for more research!
