Early Gemsco pilot with star: senior or military aviator

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Based on the discussion of mtnman's meyer wing, i wanted to post this one. Early pattern Gemsco with uniquely attached star. Is it early enough to qualify as a military aviator or is this a more common senior pilot?

 

[pfrost]

There are a couple or 3 GEMSCO pilot wing variants. There is an argument that can be made that this is the later version and your version is earlier but I am not sure how linear the time lines for wings was--for example if a company made a couple of variants at the same time.

 

I think you could have a pretty good argument to call them what ever you wanted to call them, without there being to much room to quibble.

 

Neat wing!

[5thwingmarty]

Without documented provenance, there is no way to prove these wings are Military Aviator rather than just Senior Pilot wings.

 

One point against these being Military Aviator wings is the start is mounted touching the top of the shield. I would think wings made or converted by a manufacturer would be more likely done in accordance with the specifications for the wings that called for the star to be mounted 1/8" above the top of the shield.

[pfrost]

What I really love about this wing is that it was clearly worn. This guy loved this wing! Also the star is attached by a jeweler, I think. To me, it seems that this was probably a guy who "grew" into the rating and had his favorite wing converted. Really really cool wing, thanks for sharing Tod.

[B-17Guy]

I agree, war time upgrade.

This wing badge, by the way, is generally considered to be a second pattern by Gemsco.

I would not consider it pre WWII.

 

John

[pfrost]

There are at least 4 Gemsco patterns (these 3 and a pelican beak style that I don't show but you can see one on Bob's site here: http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/usaaf/seniorpilot/gemscoaafsrpilot.shtml). If I were forced to "rank" these by age, I would tend to do so in this order with the pelican beak wing likely falling in WW2/KW time period. However, I have yet to actually see anything specific (like Gemsco patents, or records) or biographical evidence that this aging scheme is truly the case. Clearly, the last wing (and the pelican beak version) in this pattern is rather common and shows up in the various ratings that weren't approved until 1942 or so. The other two two wings (based on my own observations) seem to be much more scarce and don't seem to appear in any of the other ratings than pilot. Perhaps there are observer wings and the "higher" ratings, such as senior or command pilots in these patterns but I don't recall seeing them, much less in any of the balloon or airship ratings.

 

Again, I am not so sure that we can draw solid lines between pre and war-time manufacture--clearly even if a wing was made in one year, it many not have been sold until much later. By 1939 the war had already started in Europe and I suspect that only the most naive of American's didnt see us joining in sooner or later. Certainly the US began to ramp up its pilot program in that time, although the were still caught flat footed in December of 1941. But just by the numbers, in 1939 the USAAF had very few pilots and so the demand for military aviator insignia was probably very small. Then once the US did enter the war, the number of senior pilots would be very small (relative to all the new pilots) until the end of WWII and the KW. So it is easier to imagine (but not know for sure) that this wing was converted to a senior pilot wing sometime in WWII rather than in a conversion to a military aviator in 1937. Still, it is entirely possible that this pilot wings was worn by one of the earlier cohort of pilots who were trained prior to the war. Basically, what I am saying is that any senior pilot wing earned or worn by a pilot during WWII, would mean that he probably first earned his wings prior to 1940 or so.

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Thanks for all your inputs. Ok. Ww2 sr pilot jeweler conversion.

[mtnman]

Todd, I have seen these style wings before and they were Gemsco for sure. This is my favorite attachment methods for the star to be affixed to the shield head. I have only seen 1 or maybe 2 in all the years of my collecting and this is a very rare find. I'm glad it fell into your hands Todd and is under your good stewardship!