Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart, star of such films as 'It’s a Wonderful Life', 'Vertigo' and 'The Glenn Miller Story', served in England during World War Two and was the commanding officer of a USAAF bombing squadron.
Also in England at the time, on service as a navigator with the RAAF in Bomber Command, was Noel Anderson, a former president of the Mount Evelyn RSL. In an interview in 1991 he told the following story:

'One day, one of the pilots, who ranked above me, said 'let's go for a fly'. I had a map and he had an aeroplane, so we took off. After a while he looked down and said 'that looks like an interesting aerodrome down there, they’re got B-17s – American – let’s go down and have a look'. So we landed and taxied up to where the aeroplanes were, got out and were promptly taken over to their CO to meet him. He was Lieutenant Colonel James Stewart, Jimmy Stewart the movie star. They made us very welcome, we had a ball with them, stayed for a couple of hours and ended up making trips up there and they made trips to us.

One day Jimmy Stewart suggested that we might like to take a ride in a fortress (B-17 Bomber), just a ride not a mission. I remember him saying to the second pilot, 'well we won't get lost any time today Orvy, we've got an Australian navigator with us'. After a while Jimmy said 'I'd wish they let us wear helmets like you blokes, you’ve got your microphone and your oxygen mask all in one'. They wore headphones with throat mikes and after a while their ears got tired with the springiness of the headphones. So I had a beautiful flying helmet made of Australian kangaroo hide and I swapped it for his leather flying jacket. He got my leather flying helmet and I got his leather flying jacket. I’ve still got Jimmy Stewart’s flying jacket hanging up in my shed in Mt Evelyn''.

Many locals remember Noel wearing the jacket around Mount Evelyn when the weather was colder. Noel died in 1991 and no one knows what happened to the jacket. His wife had already passed away and they had no children. He had a sister and two nephews but none of them saw the flying jacket. His wife had a niece he was close to but it is unknown whether she inherited the jacket or whether it was just thrown out.

Anthony McAleer OAM Mount Evelyn RSL

Noel Anderson, courtesy Anthony McAleer.