Canada. A Rcaf Photo Album Featuring An Original Photo Of King George Vi

Photo Album has forty-eight black and white photographs, the photos with either a matte or gloss finish, all of which are original. One of the prominent photos is that of King George VI presenting medals to an airman beside a presentation table draped in the the Union Jack, with Queen Elizabeth among a group of officers standing behind the King, with multiple barracks in the background. Many photos are of airmen, at work and at rest, on the home front and in the European theatre, standing alone, or in groups, one airman standing in the snow in front of a steel shed, some with women, one on a bicycle, two airman in the cockpit of an aircraft, one with a single pilot in the cockpit. Another shows two airmen in Niagara Falls, Ontario with the Rainbow Bridge in the background. One 8 x 10 photo is loose in the album and gives prominence to a Training Command group of thirty-four officers, the photo entitled "Officers S.O.O. Branch No. 1 T.C., R.C.A.F. / November 7th, 1941", and lists the participants. Multiple photos are of aircraft, either on the ground or in flight, one of a destroyed enemy aircraft, while another is marked "Rare Photo of Wellington with In-Line Merlin Engines". Two other photos show a building with a garden, another of rail lines beside a river. Twelve photos emphasize the aftermath of air raids upon the Naval Yard at Wilhelmshaven, the city of Cologne showing the Cologne Cathedral with a destroyed bridge over the Rhine River in the distance, the Krupps factory in Essen, the Dortmund-Ems Canal, along with the scorched urban settlements of Bremen and Hamburg. Two are of German Single Seat Fighter Aircraft Identification Schematics, one of the Spitfire VII (Merlin), the other of the Messerschmitt Me 109F (D.B. 601), while another has the Bison Squadron coat-of-arms and is dated June 1944.

Also included are six Newspaper Photos of various aircraft, one of which is entitled "R.A.F. Lancaster Take Off to Blast Berlin Germany"; a Missing In Action Sympathy Card bearing the Canadian coat-of-arms and inscribed "To Mrs. Walter Alfred French / I have learned with deep regret that Pilot Officer Raymond Alfred French, R.C.A.F. has been reported missing. The Government and people of Canada join me in expressing the hope that more favourable news will be forthcoming in the near future.", signed by Colin Gibson, Minister of National Defence for Air (upon further research, J/19042 Flying Officer Raymond Alfred French, 405 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, the son of of Walter A. French and Margaret Ellen French of Kingsville, Ontario, died on February 14, 1945 at the age of 25. He is buried in Durnbach War Cemetery, Durmback, Germany, Grave Reference: 1. J. 2 and is commemorated on page 516 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance); a Letter from The Canadian Red Cross Society, dated October 22, 1941 and inscribed "Mrs. Shackleton, 236 Stanstead Street, Montreal, Quebec / Re: Sgt. R.C. Mackenzie, 402465 Australia / Dear Madam, With further reference to your recent enquiry regarding the above noted. / I have just been advised that he is at Dulag Luft, Germany, but no advice has been received regarding his Prisoner of War Number. / As soon as I receive this information, I will communicate with you again.", signed by D.J. Corrigali, Commissioner, with some repair evident to the letter; two Royal Canadian Air Force postcards, one of a Supermarine Spitfire, the other with the RCAF insignia; a folder entitled "Handy Map of London with the Compliments of The Royal Bank of Canada", enclosing a two-colour map of the city core, with a handwritten note in black ink on the reverse; plus a period Air Gunner "AG" Wing in brown and white embroidery, measuring 82 mm (w) x 35 mm (h).

Most of the items are pasted in place, while a few are secured in place with photo corners, one of the photos is loose, each of the eighteen pages in a thick black paper, with the items placed on one side on five pages and on two sides on four pages, the last seven pages remaining blank, the pages enclosed in a two-piece cover in simulated red leather-look on the exterior, the front cover embossed with an ornate floral design and inscribed "PHOTOGRAPHS", the inside covers of both in black paper, the album held together by an orange string fed through two holes with eyelets on the spine, with a 28.5 mm in diameter black plastic "Bison Squadron" badge secured to the string via a piece of wire, the album measuring 385 mm (w) x 290 mm (h) x 14 mm (d), edge wear evident on the covers, extremely fine.