Collections record Beta

Pants

2011-140-3

Tan khaki wool pants. Three button fly with zipper. Seven belt loops around waistband. Two front pockets and two button close back pockets. Not lined. Patch reading "Real Tailors/ Preston At Milam/ Houston, Texas/ Mr. Lt. Ralph P. Hinchman B12-8/ Date 5/22/45 No. R 759" on inside of waistband. "Lt. Hinchman" handwritten in ink on front right pocket on interior of pants. Worn by Ralph P. Hinchman, member of the United States Army Air Corps during WWII.

Worn by Ralph P. Hinchman during his service in the United State Army Air Corps during WWII.

This military uniform was worn by Ralph P. Hinchman III as a member of the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was the son of Ralph Hinchman Jr. and Gertrude Saunders Hinchman. In 1939 or 1940 Ralph P Hinchman III graduated from The Hill School and then attended Bard College for a couple of years before enlisting in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War. He trained as a navigator and served on a B-17 out of Fogia, Italy. He completed fifty missions. On one such mission he was shot down, but he and his whole crew were able to returned to their base safely due to underground forces. After the war Ralph P. Hinchman III attended Cooper Union where he studied art. In the 1950s Ralph P. Hinchman III moved to Litchfield and took up residence at his family's home on Fern Avenue known as "Lilac Hedges". Using the same name, Hinchman opened a greeting card company on the property that produced cards during the 1950s and 1960s. A large majority of the cards were designed and created by Hinchman himself, with additional cards created by various artists including Jac Venza, Hilary Knight, Donn Sheets, Henry Bowman, and Andy Warhol.

• Irvin Vee-der

1945

• wool