Dondereo, A. H. Dondero of Washington D.C.: Examples and patterns

[jeff41st]

So Patrick, how did you come into possession of this set of "bucket list" wings?

[pfrost]

lurking on ebay.  There was an auction for a lot of 12 wings, and a "make an offer" option.  Not to give away my evil strategy of wing domination, but sometimes just typing in "pilot wings" yields some good results.

[pfrost]

This is another bucket list wing that I recently added to the collection.  No idea who make this pattern, but is shares some similarities with the early Gemsco pilot wing. 

Typically, this wing is viewed as being from the 20's-30's era (leaning more towards the 20's).  I would like to believe that is the case (a fact which I used to subscribe to fully) but then someone found this same pattern of wing in the aircrew rating.  That would mean that who ever was making this pattern was probably making them into WWII.

 

Other than the pilot and the aircrew, I don't recall seeing this pattern show up in any other rating.  Maybe this wing exists as the observer rating?  That would be nice to see.  Still, I love the balance of this wing and its overall shape.  Especially with the nice detail in the feathers of the shoulders.

 

I would also rate this particular wing pattern as very uncommon/rare.  I first saw this wing in Russ' collection, but he is very savvy and watches me like a hawk when ever I get near to his wonderful (first class, and one of the best) collection of wings-- so I was stymied in getting it that time!  Just kidding, but I really did like this pattern a lot (like the one that started this thread). 

 

I would love to see a photo of a pilot wearing it and maybe get a nice idea of who made it and when it was made.  My best guess is late 30's-WWII period.  I am not so convinced anymore that it is earlier than that.  Note that the WWII A/C wing has one of those massive pins/drop in catches.  That just makes the point that even looking at the hardware of a wing can sometimes be misleading.

 

Link to the aircrew: http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/usaaf/aircrew/presleyaafaircrew2.shtml

link to the "1919 pattern pilot wing":  http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/btw/us/presley19192.shtml

[5thwingmarty]

Pilot and aircrew are the only two ratings I have seen in this pattern.  Bob has examples of the aircrew and two different pilot wings on his website.  The pilot wings tend to be really desired and bid up into the hundreds of dollars when they pop up on ebay, but the aircrew wings tend to slip by kind of un-noticed for less than $100.  The aircrew wings tend to show up less often though.

[pfrost]

Marty,  that has been my experience with this pattern as well.  There is a reference in one of my books about this badge being worn by LtCol Harold Evans Hartney after WWI.

 

Hartney was a WWI ace who may (or may not) have been shot down by the Red Baron.  This is the best photo of Hartney I could find on line, and I guess he could be wearing this pattern of wing (or not--its hard to know for sure)?  But if that is the case, then it would provide solid evidence of a 1919-1920ish date of manufacture.

[5thwingmarty]

I thought I would add family photos of what I believe are all examples of Donduro wings I have.  The one-piece gunners can be found with a wide variety rear patterns, and both pierced and non-pierced by the shoulders but I just included one example. 

 

 

I wish Donduro had used the same shoulder feather pattern as on the Pilot wings for all of their wings, and not morphed or switched to the Amcraft pattern.

 

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

The maker of these odd Balloon wings has been a mystery, but I believe they are likely also Donduro products, based on their close similarities to the Amcraft wings and also their odd, almost Beverlycraft-like reverse patterns.  In comparing this one side by side with an Amcraft snowflake-back patterned wing, there are some subtle but distinct differences in the feather details for the feathers along the side of the balloon, and with the base of the balloon itself.  On the Amcraft wing, the line that marks the top of the basket touches the bottom edges of the feathers.  On the Donduro, the balloon extends below the bottom edge of the feathers and the basket ring is narrower.  Hopefully this will be clear in these photos (Donduro on op).

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Great addition to your collection Marty! I will take a closer look at my air gunner wings in this style because i did not catch they might be by that maker.

One correction, it is "Dondero", made by the A. H. Dondero Co. of Washington DC and founded by Colonel A. H. Dondero in 1922.

 

https://www.dondero.com/history.html

[warguy]

Impressive grouping of wings. I dont have a single Dondero wing in my collection! I need to get to work. 

[pfrost]

Things have been slow. So rather than start another thread about whether a specific clutch back wing was made "early war" or some other time, I thought I would be productive and proactive and put up a nice wing.

 

I would rate these on the "rarer" side.  Frequently identified as a Dondero wing because you rarely will see them hallmarked.  I have always suspected that these were made through WWII and into the KW time period.  A second pattern Dondero wing shows up in the AMCRAFT pattern that is usually marked with D2 (the alphanumeric code for Dondero) that dates from the 1960's.

 

This pattern Dondero wings shows up an a number of ratings, including the gilt and silver flight surgeon wings.

 

It has been my mission to find the three pilot ratings, and last year or so I was lucky and got the first in the set (pilot wing).  Then a few weeks ago I got the senior pilot wing.  Not marked, it is still very nice.

 

I was lucky, someone had a pretty blurry picture of this on line, and i was able to grab it up.

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

Congratulations on picking up another nice wing.  I like how they made the edges of the feathers really shine on these wings.  Hopefully the Command Pilot wing will wonder your way in the future. 

[BHillen]

Very nice! I hope a Command Pilot Wing comes your way very soon.
About 35 years ago I had framed the set of wings seen here, way before deciding to collect. This grouping was supposed to be made of very common wings, and are the only wings I have out on display. I got acquainted with this forum about ten years ago, and am able to identify most of these wings now. This include the Dondero Pilot Wing, a nice surprise from my early days.

[BHillen]

Recently I was able to add this Dondero ‘hat trick’.

[BHillen]

Thanks to all of the contributors to the Forum’s Wing section. I have enjoyed and learned so much from everyone’s posts here. Patrick Frost’s especially. 

[pfrost]

Thanks guys.

 

I will keep looking, one day I will get the last triplet

P

[Noelle]

On 5/1/2023 at 11:25 AM, pfrost said:

Thanks guys.

 

I will keep looking, one day I will get the last triplet

P

 

What is this last triplet? I’d be glad to keep my eye peeled up here. I’m going to be hitting up some estate sales soon looking for wings.

[pfrost]

I call them triplets--the pilot, senior pilot and command pilot wings in a specific pattern/manufacturer.  Its like the Alphabet trifecta (service, glider and liaison) in the same pattern/manufacturer.  

[Threewood]

My 1st Dondero pattern wing. Great looking wing. Incised sterling mark. The back is interesting under magnification. There are microlines throughout, but the stress marks seen on the backs have no lines. Are these lines from the dies as they were originally formed?

[5thwingmarty]

I think all of the pilot series wings have these lines so I presume they were just part of the original dies.