Screw Back Para Wings

[Fred Borgmann]

Anyone know anything about screw back Para wings? This one is not silver and does not have any maker marks. The verdigris spots indicate that it is plated base metal. Thanks, Fred

[Ade Davies]

Hi

The only screwback wings I have seen have been marked Weyhing Sterling .If you want to see what they look like see the addres below.

 

http://www.ww2paratroopers.com/

 

Adrian

[Allan H.]

Fred,

It appears that the wing that you have was unfinished and that a screw post was added to secure the wing to something. I have seen this on plaques and such before. There were a few makers that manufactured wings that incorporated screw posts fasteners, with the Weyhring Bros. wing being the most common. The Weyhring wing has a rather thein screwpost. The one on the back of your wing appears to be more along the size of a standard, WWII vintage screwback EM collar disk.

Gemsco also made a limited number of wings with a single screwpost fastener. You will also occassionally encounter a wing from an unknown maker that has two small screws added to each wing, but they are not common.

 

 

Hi

The only screw back wings I have seen are marked Weyhing sterling but these do not to appear to be that similar in appearance .The below is a very god site for wings

http://www.ww2paratroopers.com/

 

Adrian

 

 

Adrian,

There are some interesting wings posted on the site, but the list of makers is by no means comprehensive. There is also a fair amount of inaccurate information on the site, so don't take it as gospel.

Allan

[Ade Davies]

Allan

 

Thanks my main point of reference for makers marks etc is normally" Identification of wings of the united states paratrooper and gliderman" by Brian Errigo which I understand you may have given some assistance .My trouble is being in the UK its difficult to get to see enough wings first hand.

 

Adrian

[doyler]

Anyone know anything about screw back Para wings? This one is not silver and does not have any maker marks. The verdigris spots indicate that it is plated base metal. Thanks, Fred

 

I have one just like it.It has a brass threaded nut/washer on the back like a standard collar disc with post.I got mine from a friend who had a hand full of them.Will try to contact him and see if he remembers where he got them.He was with the 11th airborne in the late 50s and then an advisor in 1964-65 in VN,also a Ranger school grad and tab holder.Left the service as a Major in 1969.

[Fred Borgmann]

I have one just like it.It has a brass threaded nut/washer on the back like a standard collar disc with post.I got mine from a friend who had a hand full of them.Will try to contact him and see if he remembers where he got them.He was with the 11th airborne in the late 50s and then an advisor in 1964-65 in VN,also a Ranger school grad and tab holder.Left the service as a Major in 1969.

 

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas to you all. The screw post on these wings is 3.4mm thick and about 6mm tall. The screw post has a small square base and because it was mouned on a curved surface is not centered and leans to the left when the badge is lying face down and right side up as in my scan.

[JerryK]

Hello,

 

I have a pin just like yours. It came with a lot of 82nd AB material from the Vietnam war period. I don't know if it is from that war or not.

 

Jerry

[brad k]

didn't they wear those on the ridgeway caps in the 50's and early 60's ?

[Sparkyasundevil]

Fred,

It appears that the wing that you have was unfinished and that a screw post was added to secure the wing to something. I have seen this on plaques and such before. There were a few makers that manufactured wings that incorporated screw posts fasteners, with the Weyhring Bros. wing being the most common. The Weyhring wing has a rather thein screwpost. The one on the back of your wing appears to be more along the size of a standard, WWII vintage screwback EM collar disk.

Gemsco also made a limited number of wings with a single screwpost fastener. You will also occassionally encounter a wing from an unknown maker that has two small screws added to each wing, but they are not common.

Adrian,

There are some interesting wings posted on the site, but the list of makers is by no means comprehensive. There is also a fair amount of inaccurate information on the site, so don't take it as gospel.

Allan

 

Hi Allan,

 

Please elaborate on the inaccuracy's so that I can fix them. Also is there a complete list of jump wing manufacturers?

[Allan H.]

Hi Allan,

 

Please elaborate on the inaccuracy's so that I can fix them. Also is there a complete list of jump wing manufacturers?

 

Sparky,

I'll start with the second part of your question as that is an easier question to answer. In an nutshell, no, there is not a complete list of WWII jump wing manufacturers that I am aware of- especially when considering all of the foreign made examples out there. Also, you must consider the cutoff point for such a list. I am sure that somebody in Baghdad is making US wings right now! You would also need to differentiate as to whether a wing was manufactured by a company or distributed by them. There are a number of jump wings that are marked with jewelers' marks that are obviously purchased from them but were made by some of the larger wing manufacturers out there.

 

You might start with Brian Errigo's book on jump wings, as there is a good list in there, but there have been even more hallmarks discovered since the book was written.

 

Without going in to a lot of detail about inaccuracies, I'll just start with a couple- first, the BB&B jump wing, considered to be the "holy grail" of jump wing collecting is far more common than the "200" that you quote on your site. I would estimate that the number is far more likely to run in the 3,000 range and possibly higher numbers than that.

 

My second critique of your site would be the ovals section with the photo of mostly post WWII ovals at the top of the section. This would be confusinf to newer collectors like Ade here who doesn't know what a real WWII oval looks like and if using your photo for a benchmark will be making lots of (potentially expensive) mistakes.

 

As I said, there are many more examples that I could go into, but I believe that I've given you a starting point.

 

Allan

[currahee506]

Fred,

It appears that the wing that you have was unfinished and that a screw post was added to secure the wing to something. I have seen this on plaques and such before. There were a few makers that manufactured wings that incorporated screw posts fasteners, with the Weyhring Bros. wing being the most common. The Weyhring wing has a rather thein screwpost. The one on the back of your wing appears to be more along the size of a standard, WWII vintage screwback EM collar disk.

Gemsco also made a limited number of wings with a single screwpost fastener. You will also occassionally encounter a wing from an unknown maker that has two small screws added to each wing, but they are not common.

Adrian,

There are some interesting wings posted on the site, but the list of makers is by no means comprehensive. There is also a fair amount of inaccurate information on the site, so don't take it as gospel.

Allan

 

 

And what I appreciate about Mark Patterson is that he is willing and ready to clear up any and all 'inaccuracies'. Allan, I hope you can share additional information with Mark in order to add more complete information to his site.

 

For those of you who don't know Mark "Sparky" Patterson, he's one of the finest people you will ever know. Please don't mistake any 'inaccuracies' on his site as an attempt to mislead by any means. They are simple, unknown mistakes made by an honest, well-respected person who has put together a website in order to pay tribute to Men that he admires tremendously.

 

Rich

[36-tex]

HERE ARE A COUPLE I JUST FOUND IN MY STUFF. SOMEONE ADDED THE CLUTCH-BACK DEVICE FROM A ENLISTED COLLAR DISC TO THESE. NO MAKER MARK, BUT SOLID PIECES.

[36-tex]

BACKS

[36-tex]

SIDE VIEW