WW2 letter Donald Duck letterhead Banana River FL Naval Air Station #1

Letter written on paper with yellow and blue colored letterhead with two images:

• Donald Duck wearing pilot headgear floating on water and eating a banana
• Image titled ‘The Banana River Bounce’ showing a float plane shaped like a banana, coming in to land on water. Fish jumping out of the way, duck bounced off of plane.

Titled 'UNITED STATES NAVAL AIR STATION Banana River, Florida' with eagle

Another letter from him also for sale, with different DD letterhead.

Letter with family content, dated May 2, 1944:

Another one of his letters mentions having to 'stay aboard'.

10 ⅛” x 7”

Authorized by the Naval Expansion Act of 1938, Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned on 1 October 1940 as a subordinate base of the Naval Air Operational Training Command at NAS Jacksonville, Florida. The Navy bought 1,900 acres (770 ha) of scrub land south of Cocoa Beach.

With the advent of war with Japan and Germany in December 1941, the Navy began anti-submarine patrols along the Florida coast using PBY Catalina and PBM Mariner seaplanes based at this facility. Landing strips were constructed in 1943, thereby allowing for concurrent operation of shore based aircraft. Various military related activities took place at NAS Banana River, including maritime patrol aviation operations against German U-Boats, air search and rescue operations, patrol bomber bombardier training, seaplane pilot training, and communications research. Other activities included a blimp squadron detachment, an Aviation Navigation Training School, and an experimental training unit termed Project Baker, a confidential program that developed and tested instrument landing equipment. NAS Banana River hosted a major aircraft repair and maintenance facility. At its peak, the base complement included 278 aircraft, 587 civilian employees, and over 2800 officers and enlisted personnel.

Now known as Patrick Air Force Base.

WIKIPEDIA