WW2 American 8th Air Force Officers ‘Ike’ Jacket, Attributed to Fighter Pilot ‘Ace’ Lt Col Kenneth W Gallup, 350th Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, consisting of a beautiful ‘Ike’ jacket belonging to P47 pilot, Lt Col Kenneth Woodrow Gallup. The jacket itself is a London tailors made piece, with red lining and named to the inside pocket with the initials ‘K.W.G’ on a ‘Raman, of New Bond Street London label’. complete with original insignia, featuring a British made 8th Airforce patch, silver senior pilot wings maker marked ‘Meyer, New York’ and the rank of Lieutenant Colonel to the epaulettes. The USAAF collar badges are in situ, held in place with pin and catch or early Phinney type clutch backs. Six, ‘six months’ overseas bars don the lower left arm. Below the wings are the medal ribbons denoting, DFC, Air Medal with Oakleaves, American Campaign Medal, EAME and what appears to be the Asiatic-Pacific Medal? The Distinguished Unit Citation is upon the right chest, which the 353rd was awarded in September 1944. The tunic has seen some sunlight damage, due to slight change of green shade across parts of the blouse, but not particularly noticeable. Lt Col K Gallup mainly flew with the 353rd fighter group, firstly assigned as Group Ops officer in May 1944, until becoming the 350th FS commander. He would become an ‘ace’ whilst flying P-47’s mainly ‘Rat A Dat’ and shooting down 9 confirmed air victories, 2 ground targets and sharing 2 others. The 353rd FG flew from Metfield and then Raydon in Suffolk from April 1944, they were heavily involved in all the major European campaigns, Normandy, Market Garden and the Bulge. Kenneth Gallup would also service in the Korean war and retire in 1965 as a Colonel. Accompanying this blouse, is some research paperwork, a book ‘American eagles’ featuring a colour plate of Gallup’s aircraft, and a signed paper sheet by Kenneth Gallup himself. A great piece of USAAF / 8th Air Force history.