New pilot wing, possibly 1930's?

[5thwingmarty]

Just had this wing arrive. It looks similar to the pattern of the between the wars wings on Bob's site for the Official Pattern wings, except the recessed stripes have a stippled texture that I could not see on any of the wings on Bob's site. It has an open-C catch which looks original, but no maker's mark or Sterling mark. It also measures exactly 3" tip to tip.

 

[Costa]

NON STERLING?? PLATED BRASS?

[pfrost]

I think it is a good bet that it is one of the earlier wings. But it is what it is, and it is always hard to know for sure. I suspect that they were making these into the war years as well. But it does have all the characteristics that I look for in an early 1919-1941 vintage wing.

 

Thank you for sharing.

P

[5thwingmarty]

It might be plated brass, but the few edge areas that are really worn look very silver. It is light at only 16 grams but is made of relatively think metal with the wings being about 3/32" thick.

[B-17Guy]

Sure looks like an unmarked first pattern Meyer to me, with a heavily worn die.

Here is one to compare it to.

I agree with Patrick. Could be 20's to early WWII.

 

John

[5thwingmarty]

Although very similar in the feather details on the shoulders, I don't see any of the wavy feather details on my wing, and mine is exactly 3" wide and I think the Meyer wings are 3-1/16". I found a wing exactly like mine on Ron's flyingtigerantiques site and his wing is also listed as being 3" wide while his 1st pattern Meyer wings are listed as being 3-1/16" wide.

 

At first I thought it looked more like the patterns of the "From Official Die" (FOD) wings on Bob's website, but there are clearly differences ion the should feather details and the tips of the shoulder feathers differ from the left side to the right side of the FOD wings, while my wing's shoulder tips look the same. This is best illustrated by this photo borrowed from Bob's site which illustrates the differences in the wing's profile from side to side. On the top edge on each side the shoulder feathers end at a point which shows near the center of each side. On one side the point is very pronounced while on the other there is barely a small hump. I found this to be the same on both the FOD wings on Bon's site.

 

I think my wing and the one on Ron's site are just examples of another similar but distinct pattern, not just from worn FOD or Meyer dies.

 

[mghcal]

Nice wing Marty. Here are some that may be the same die as yours. I circled a couple spots in the two wings that have the same die flaws and it looks like yours has the same.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/205035-noble-pilot/?hl=prewar&do=findComment&comment=1606013

[5thwingmarty]

Thanks for that link. My wing does look to have these same flaws as your wings. If you still have these wings, are they each exactly 3" wide, and do any of them have the stippled texture to the recessed stripes?

[mghcal]

I checked and they're pretty much exactly 3". If you look at the top right of your wings shield it looks like the stipling isn't there. Maybe it's just some crud from over the years? I don't see any type of texture on mine.

[5thwingmarty]

I looked more closely at mine and you are right, the far right rear stripe does not have the texture that al the others have. All of the recessed stripes also seem to have kind of a yellowish tint to them, and I cannot tell if it is something like an old shellac in the stripes or if the wing is plated brass maybe it is the brass color showing. Also if plated, I don't know if they might have coated the recessed stripes with something prior to plating that would have prevented the silver from bonding to the recessed areas to try and give them a distinctly different color. Hopefully in a few weeks I will get to visit a friend who has a camera setup that can fully capture the detail in the stripes.