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Opinions Please On These B.B.&B. Jump Wings


AirMechanic
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This set of jump wings were sold recently on eBay, but I had a few concerns about them, so I decided to pass. While the patina appears to be old and original, I wasn't so sure about the B.B.&B. hallmark. The middle "B" appears to have been struck twice, and this is something that I wouldn't expect from this maker. I think that these may have actually been an unmarked, original set of WWII sterling jump wings that someone had added a B.B.&B. hallmark to. The fact that the catch was missing was also a concern. It appears that someone really wanted to remove it, as there are numerous scratches where it used to be. Can anyone tell me if this set of wings are original WWII B.B.&B. jump wings or not?

post-7244-0-38203300-1514338416.png

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I actually liked it. The scratches look as if someone was preparing to replace the catch by cleaning the old solder off. My concern was the BB&B hallmark looks to have less depth than the sterling hallmark. Looking on the forum the photos of known good BB&B wings are fairly poor so it's hard to really compare the hallmark fonts.

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This is undoubtedly an original parachute badge made by Bailey, Banks and Biddle. You will actually find them with the markings in any number of locations.

 

While BB&B did indeed make the original WWII Parachutist Badge for Col. Yarborough, they continued to make badges after the initial order. A number of these BB&B marked badges ended up being issued to Marine Paras in WWII.

 

Allan

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Not that I have nearly the same level of expertise as Alan, I would agree that these BB&B wings look very much like my pair. I like them. Thanks for sharing

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