The movie Jimmy is soon to debut in theaters across America. A "biopic" as it's called, many of a younger generation will learn that Jimmy Stewart was more than a beloved actor and Academy Award winner. With a long history of military service in his family, he joined the US Army in 1941, before the United States officially entered World War Two.
Already a licensed pilot (and Academy Award winner) Stewart felt the pull of military service so strongly that he joined the Army as a private. To make a lengthy story short, he soon became an officer, a military pilot and B-24 bomber instructor, eventually making it to England to join the war as a bomber pilot, flying a total of 20 missions against Nazi Germany.
He experienced the same trials and tribulations as many other men, and truth be known, suffered from PTSD like many others after the war.
As part of my personal project to photograph WWII "bomber jackets," I had sought to photograph his jacket, which I learned was in the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Initially my request was turned down, as I didn't have a publisher for my book. As I learned throughout the course of my project, my access request was turned down several times, due to staffing and time constraints of the particular museum.
After my good fortune of photographing jackets in 2015 at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, thanks to curator Dorothy Cochran, other museums began to open their doors, and eventually I was able to photograph collections in 12 different museums across the country. In late 2021, I again submitted my request to the US Air Force for access to the collection at the US Air Force museum, and this time, I was able to submit previously created images from other museums.
Permission was granted in late 2021, to shoot 8 jackets. I asked "Can I do ten?" Since it only took about 10 minutes per jacket, the additional two jackets proved to not be a stretch, and my request was approved. I specifically asked that Jimmy's jacket be one of the 10, to which they museum staff agreed to. I later learned on the day of the shoot that my request to photograph his jacket had actually done the museum a favor.
Asking "Why?" I was told that it was only the second time since 1968 that his jacket had been out of the display case, and it was a good opportunity for the curators to examine the jacket's condition. I soon realized that this meant that no one else has photographed his jacket in this way.
While I'm normally a person that likes to share, I have opted not to share a full image of this jacket online. Having had my work appropriated before via the internet, if you'd like to see the whole jacket, I'd ask that a copy of my book be purchased. It was a very expensive project to produce, and your support in the way of a book purchase is most appreciated. Thanks!
Many Thanks to the staff at the National Museum of the United States Air Force for this rare opportunity!