[Photograph Album Documenting a Army Pilot's Service Time in Natal, Brazil, as Well as in Africa, During World War II]

[Various places including Brazil and Africa], 1944. About very good.. 64 original photos, mostly 3.25 x 4.5 or 4 x 4 inches. Limp calf covers, embossed and printed in red tan and blue. Covers chipped, rubbed, and well-worn, but solid. Photos in corner mounts, with extensive manuscript captioning. A bit of fading and dust soiling to a few images, but quite clean internally, overall. An interesting album of over sixty original photographs of Brazil, Senegal, Morocco, and Ghana during World War I taken by a U.S. serviceman stationed in the Brazilian city of Natal. The Parnamirim airbase just outside the city was known at the "Trampoline to Victory," and was strategically located at the closest mainland point in either America to the coast of Africa. The photographer was an officer and pilot in the Air Transport Command, which was responsible for the transportation of personnel, supplies, and new equipment for the army across the world. The first section of the album, comprising twenty-three images, shows something of life in Natal for ATC officers, who lived in the quite attractive Staff House and Gardens of the air base. The middle section documents their missions, which required a refueling stop at Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and a landing at Dakar, Senegal, before flying onward either to Casablanca or Accra. The last section, consisting of the final twenty-one images, shows more of life around Natal itself and contains portraits of the photographer's fellow officers. A neat photographic document of a poorly remembered but important base for U.S. Army supply operations during the war.