Curated

Air Corps Gunnery School Tee

This graphic tee was created for Nellis Air Force Base, the first gunnery school to train personnel in aerial gunnery skills for aircrafts such as B-17 Flying Fortress during WWII.

This is a pretty iconic graphic tee due to the fact that this was the first time a graphic tee was captured in media. July 13th 1942, Life Magazine did a segment on returning soldiers from World War 2, and the magazine had the cover of a man(Corporal Alexander Le Gerda) who wore this graphic tee. Prior to this the world didn’t know graphic tee existed as it was created in the army to distinguish man from other infantry.

The design features a winged horned toad shooting a 0.30 caliber machine gun perched upon a blue cloud. The tee was screen printed on to a American Athletic Co. cotton tee.

While there are many replicas the original 1942 tee was sold for $1,009 on August 23rd, 2015.

Rating

7.0/10

Design (6.4) — The yellow horned toad shooting a .30 caliber machine gun while perched on a cloud is a little creative, but not overly so. Simple concept, decently executed for the era.

Story (6.0) — The tee just represents the school — nothing too special. It shows the wearer trained at what's now Nellis Air Force Base, but that's about the extent of it.

Signature (9.3) — Being the first t-shirt ever captured in mass media is a massive legacy that's hard to top. The sheer number of replicas made over the decades is proof of how much influence this one design has had.

Quality (3.8) — The original is pretty dirty and worn out, likely from actual training use. It earns some points back since it was made by American Athletic Co., a real manufacturer, rather than something slapped together.

Value (9.1) — Given it sold for over $1,000 at auction and spawned a whole genre of reproductions, the value here is exceptional relative to what it originally was — a basic military tee. This original 1942 Las Vegas Gunnery School T-Shirt sold for $1,009 on August 23rd, 2015