This incredible collection of World War II 1945 U.S. Army Postal Service Air Mail envelopes belong to a WWII hero that served in the 402nd Bomb Squadron - 502 Bomb Group. It was during 1945 while stationed on Guam he flew raids on the infamous B-29 during the 502 Bombardment Groups combat debut raid on Rota on 30 June 1945 and this was followed by an attack on Truk in early July. By this stage in the war the Japanese on Truk were unable to harm high flying B-29s so it made an ideal early target. Soon after, the first attack on the Japanese home islands came on 15 July 1945 and after that the group concentrated its efforts against the fuel industry. It was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for attacks on a coal liquefaction plat at Ube, a tank farm at Amagasaki, and the Nippon oil refinery at Tsuchizaki, all in August 1945. After the end of the war the group dropped supplies to Allied POWs in Japan and carried out a number of 'show of force' flights designed to discourage diehards. It was inactivated on Guam on 15 April 1946.

These 1945 Pacific Theater air mail letters are true pieces of World War II history. While the letters in them are lost to history, these air mail envelopes still maintain a near flawless appearance as the day they were addressed, censored and sent. This group of six Air Mail letters are missing the lines in the top left where they would write their names, squadron, bomb group, however, were mixed in with a collection of 20+ that were labeled. None the less, this is still a true piece of history from a veteran that served in with the 502 Bombardment Group. This would make an amazing addition to any new WWII collectors collection.

When purchasing an artifact from our ‘Lot Collection’ you will receive one randomly selected artifact from the lot (group) of relics you see in the photo. The photo represents the exact quantity that is originally available as well as one of the randomly selected relics that you will receive. Meaning that one of the artifacts you purchased and receive is pictured in this exact photo.

502nd Bombardment Group:

Constituted as 502nd Bombardment Group (VH) on 25 May 1944. Activated on 1 June 1944. Trained for combat with B-29's. Aircraft flown by the 502nd and all other three groups of the 315th were built by the Bell Aircraft Corporation at their Marietta, Georgia, plant between January and September 1945. The 315th Wing was in fact unique, for it was equipped entirely with the only true variant of the B-29 ever manufactured—the B-29B. These aircraft were actually stripped-down versions of the normal B-29, bereft of the General Electric gun system and a variety of other components, in order to save weight and increase bomb-carrying capacity. The resultant unladen weight of 69,000 pounds was a vast improvement, lessening the strain on engines and airframe and enabling the payload to be increased from 12,000 to 18,000 pound ordnance. In addition, the 502nd and all of the other 315th groups were equipped with the new AN/APQ-7 "Eagle" radar sets which gave a much clearer presentation of ground images through a wing-shaped radar vane slung beneath the fuselage. It also gave a biplane effect in appearance. The "Eagle" was the product of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology' s Eagle radar development group. It had been designed especially for night missions. Navigation and bomb-aiming skills were excellent. During WWII, this special antenna and equipment for precision night radar missions was so secret that no B-29's were ever shown with it, and there are no actual official photographs in existence. The only armament on these aircraft was in the tail, where two .50 caliber machine guns were installed. Missions had to be planned and prepared so that briefing material could be slanted from the radar point of view. The 502nd group moved to Guam, April-June 1945, and were assigned to the 20th Air Force. It entered combat on 30 June 1945, when the group bombed enemy installations on Rota. The group bombed Japanese-held Truk early in July 1945. It flew its first mission against the Japanese home islands on 15 July 1945, and afterward operated principally against the enemy's petroleum industry. The 502d was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for attacks on the coal liquefaction plant at Ube, the tank farm at Amagasaki, and the Nippon oil refinery at Tsuchizaki, in August 1945. The Ube plant was one of the few plants that remained in high production in Japan. It was not only destroyed on August 5, but also sunk, when the surrounding dikes were breached and the area inundated. Permission briefings were so thorough thatRDOB's had to spend hours going over radar briefing material, including scope-reconnaissance photos of the target, and they had to prove they could draw the details of the target from memory. After the war ended, the 502nd dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners in Japan, and participated in several show-of-force missions over Japan. The group was inactivated on Guam on 15 April 1946.