Wooden box with US Army Air Corps label

[seesul]

Hello,

a friend of mine showed me a small wooden box that he got from someone who lives in a village close to the crash site of B-17G. No one knows the origin of this box but there's a label fixed to the box and there's written: U.S. ARMY AIRCORPS, TYPE G-I BATTERY, DWG., E.S.B. Co., DWG DD-25100 XD.
Could it be a part of the B-17G equipment or just a box of some crew members who made it for himself and fixed that label to it? I also wouldn't exlude that it was made by some of the villagers after the war. Can anyone help to identity it? Al least the label. Thank you.

 

[gumbyk]

I'm thinking that someone's used a bit of aircraft to make a lid for that box. The rivets on the left are too close to the edge for standard rivet spacing, and the latch looks like something off a suitcase.

 

[seesul]

Thx, also my opinion. But I'm wondering where is the label from.

 

[GrauGeist]

Roman, keep in mind that the US Army Air Corps was relegated to a branch of the US Army Air Force in 1942 - the B-17G went into production in 1943.

What got my attention is the E.S.B. Co. part - if I'm not mistaken, the E.S.B. Co. stands for "Engineer Support Battalion" and that battery tag may have been from a communication battery compartment.

The box itself and especially the metal piece, are not consistent with GI issue containers. I suspect someone was created an interesting item from several sources.

 

[seesul]

Thank you Graugeist, that makes a sense. But G version were assembled also from many subassemblies produced originaly for F versions so I wouldn' t exlude yet that the label could come from some of the subassemblies. But your version seems to be the right one to me.

 

[Wurger]

Roman do yuo have a pic of the inside of the box?

 

[seesul]

Unfortunaty no Wojtek but it is just a wood.

 

[Wurger]

Grasped. IMHO the box looks like a container of a mobile battery pack. Not sure but it might have been used for a radio-set by guerrillas for example. Also it could come from airdrops for the resistance movement. Just an idea. But the GG's idea seems to be more likely.

 

[Wurger]

BTW.. the E.S.B.Co. may stand for the Electric Storage Battery Company

 

[gumbyk]

Grasped. IMHO the box looks like a container of a mobile battery pack. Not sure but it might have been used for a radio-set by guerrillas for example. Also it could come from airdrops for the resistance movement. Just an idea. But the GG's idea seems to be more likely.

The more I look at it, the more I think the panel is just decoration...
There are two lines of rivets that have been drilled out, and you can see the wood under the line on the right (red), as well as the marks left by whatever structure was removed (blue).
Also, there's no corresponding damage to the wood that lines up with the damaged aluminium in green. That rivet doesn't appear to go into any aluminium structure either, just the wooden part of the box.

 

[Wurger]

The more I look at it, the more I think the panel is just decoration...
There are two lines of rivets that have been drilled out, and you can see the wood under the line on the right (red), as well as the marks left by whatever structure was removed (blue).
Also, there's no corresponding damage to the wood that lines up with the damaged aluminium in green. That rivet doesn't appear to go into any aluminium structure either, just the wooden part of the box.

And that's the reason I agreed with GG's opinion. It is clearly seen that the right row of holes was for riveting of a kind of a flat bar. Its outline can be still noticed there. So the metal top cover of the top box was made by somebody from scratch using aluminium plate from something else. It can be noticed at the back edge where the last hole of the right row is at the bending edge of the plate.

 

[ODonovan]

Roman, keep in mind that the US Army Air Corps was relegated to a branch of the US Army Air Force in 1942 - the B-17G went into production in 1943.

Although technically that is correct, in practice both names were used through the end of the war. Pracitcally speaking, transport pilots, ferry pilots, and such were not considered part of the Air Corps, once the "Army Air Forces" was established, but fighter pilots and bomber crews were all still considered members of the Air Corps, and proud of the distinction, until 18 September 1947. The Air Corps was considered the "combat branch" of the USAAF in the same way infantry, artillery, and such are to the Army's ground forces. I've seen official wartime documents signed by officers, as late as 1945, where they still had "(rank), US Army Air Corps" typed beneath their name.

Also, regarding nameplates and such... They would use existing supply until it ran out before starting on new ones, so if they still had some left over in '43 which said Air Corps, they wouldn't throw them away just to use newer ones.



-Irish

 

[seesul]

Thank you for this explanation. And I agree with using the already produced parts also on the newer versions. There was no reason to throw it away when it matched with the newer version. I remember the case when a friend of mine found at the B-17G crash site a label from the tail section subassembly where F version was typed on it. It was a mystery for us for a certain time.

 

[seesul]

Thank you Wojtek for your detective work. And I agree. Now there are two question remaining:
- was it made by some crew member or was it made by some local villager after the war?
- where comes the label from?
But it's gonna by a harder nut to get the replies. I wish I knew if the screws are American (Italian) or Czech ones

 

[bobbychipping]

For info
E.S.B. Co was "Electric Storage Battery Co" of Philadelphia, PA & their supplier code was "20038"
They supplied at least for C-47
Cheers,
Bobby

Going through C-47 parts list
"part no 6FHM13-1 BATTERY :ASSY. EXIDE (TYPE 88AH) (20038)"
20038 being E.S.B. Co
"G-1 Battery" still eludes ne

 

[bobbychipping]

EUREKA found it
B-17E part 14-1945-2 Battery (Type G-1) (drawing S40H5415) (Government furnished)
ESB were still going in the 60's making car batteries with trade names "Exide" & "Hycap-Exide"
and advertising slogans of "Why Mr Can-do gets thing done;...."

 

[Wurger]

So it is quite likely the top of the box would be a part of the B-17 matal skin. And the plaque may be just a kind of a bangle taken from the plane to make the box more interesting.