This distinctive Buckley Field T-shirt brings an authentic Second World War design back to life. The artwork has been carefully reproduced from an original surviving shirt dating from the 1940–1945 period.

The front features the characteristic wording “U.S. Army Air Force” and “Buckley Field”, together with the classic winged aircraft propeller emblem. The collegiate lettering and aviation design give the shirt the unmistakable appearance of a wartime American airfield training or leisure garment.

The T-shirt is available in white and natural. It is suitable for re-enactment and living history, as well as historical events, museum visits or casual everyday wear.

A wearable piece of American aviation history, based on a shirt that was genuinely worn during the wartime years at Buckley Field.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT 

Buckley Field was situated southeast of Denver, between Aurora and Watkins in the state of Colorado. From 1938, the site served as an auxiliary landing field, bomb-loading area and training range for Lowry Field. On 14 June 1941, it was officially named Buckley Field in honour of 1st Lt. John Harold Buckley, an American pilot who was killed during the First World War in 1918.

Following the entry of the United States into the Second World War, Buckley Field was greatly expanded. From 1942 it developed into an important U.S. Army Air Forces technical training centre. Its principal mission was the training of personnel responsible for maintaining and loading the armament fitted to fighter aircraft. More than 50,000 aircraft armament students completed their training at Buckley during the war.

The base also provided basic military training and courses in chemical warfare, aircraft recognition, aerial reconnaissance and Arctic survival. Part of the Arctic programme took place at Echo Lake in the Colorado mountains. Military activity declined after the end of the war and the installation subsequently received several new roles. The site is now known as Buckley Space Force Base.