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WWI Aerial Photographer Wing Badge in Bullion


Jayhawker353
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Jayhawker353

Greetings. I can tell just from looking at the reference books that there is a lot of "gray area" regarding the Aerial Photographer's Wing. According to Campbell it was never authorized. It appears that both Morris and Campbell referenced the same wing in their books, attributed to a photographer of the 11th Photo Section, Air Service. I would imagine that if one member of this Section wore a wing, others would have as well. I did notice that the wire wrapped at the top of the wings is different than the example pictured in the books. It does bear the same "11" as the ones pictured. Have any other examples appeared in the last 20-some years? Is there consensus about examples of this wing's construction now?

 

Thanks for the opinions.

 

 

post-155250-0-93191700-1521216294_thumb.jpg

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The construction of this wing gives me pause.

 

It appears as though the bullion part was stitched onto the blue background cloth as a separate piece. This construction method would be very unusual in a period badge.

 

I would want to examine this one closely with a black light and magnifying glass to see if this unusual construction method is an attempt to disguise the badges "sins."

 

Chris

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Charles Snyder (bless is dark evil soul) used to have a wing very much like this on his website (Hey, it was the real deal!). I'm kind of with Chris on this one.

 

I do have a WWII vintage autobiographical wing in which a very tightly trimmed bullion wing was sewn on to a piece of blue melton piece of felt. But I don't believe you see that on many WWI wings.

 

Also, while there may be exceptions to the rule, most WWI bullion wing is sewn onto a piece of woven fabric, not felt. I can't tell, but is this a felt backing or woven fabric? Also, a lot of fakes were made using wool blankets that were cut down, so the backing material tends to be quite a bit thicker than the regular style backing.

 

To me, this one looks a lot like the fake that Snyder was peddling. Sorry

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