Donald T. Hayes World War II Collection

The Donald T. Hayes World War II Collection includes items accumulated by Sgt. Donald T. Hayes of the 452nd Bomb Group, ball turret gunner of the B-17 Flying Fortress "Tangerine." The collection includes Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster citations, a 452nd Bomb Group "Lucky Bastard Club" certificate, and a "magnetic" style photo album (now disassembled) with 113 black-and-white photos. The photographs are snapshots that feature Hayes, his fellow crewmembers, B-17 bombers in flight, life on base, several images of the "Tangerine" following its crash landing in April 1944, vacations, and friends and family. Photographs and citations are estimated to be dated between January 1944 and April 1945 for activities in England, as well as during combat air missions over France and Germany. The "Lucky Bastard Club" certificate is not dated but presumably issued to the crew of the "Tangerine" following their survival of its crash landing.