Jump to content

AMICO Senior Pilot Wings - Sterling Pinback


dc9
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello All,

 

I really liked the patina and the nice heavy feel (22.8g) of these 3" AMICO wings; so I couldn't resist getting them. They are my first senior pilot wings.

 

Any comments are appreciated.

 

Eric

post-19190-1306474227.jpg

post-19190-1306474241.jpg

post-19190-1306474249.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice Senior Pilot Wing!

That is an early Amico hallmark, by the way.

Probably about 1940-1942.

 

Best, John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John,

 

Thank you for the comments and help me put time period on this one!

 

Regards,

 

Eric

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Cooper

Outstanding photos very clear and detailed! Is it possible to have you add some that show the detail of how the star has been attached? It appears to have been added and not part of the die. (not that this is a problem)

 

Thanks

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Outstanding photos very clear and detailed! Is it possible to have you add some that show the detail of how the star has been attached? It appears to have been added and not part of the die. (not that this is a problem)

 

Thanks

John

 

John,

 

Thank you for the kind words - I don't consider photography as one of my skills! :blush:. I would agree that the star appears soldered; after the fact. I don't know if this was a common practice, but I would assume it would have saved Amico some capital expenditure in the short run, not having to create a separate, more intricate die for the entire senior pilot wing. A simple star die would certainly cost much less...or, maybe...they just used a version of a General's star already in production and soldered that to a Pilot wing...?

 

Here are the additional photos.

 

Regards,

 

Eric

post-19190-1306553893.jpg

post-19190-1306553901.jpg

post-19190-1306553908.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Cooper

Thanks for the additional photos! You may be right that there was a cost savings to it but also it just may have been typical pratice. If you think about the various rates that each had a different center device you would can see how the pratice of adding to an existing design was normal.

 

Cheers

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 years later...

I’ve just received a 2” Amico senior pilot wing with the early hallmark. Noticeable is the relatively large size of the star affixed to the wing. It’s the same size as that on the 3” version I have.

 

8CF79726-D71A-4864-A00A-1E3605A91F97.jpeg

AC0EC924-F738-4012-A159-F1B29232C17C.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5thwingmarty

Congratulations, that is a very nice wing.  Per the drawings the star for the 3" wings was supposed to be 1/2" in diameter and be mounted on a solid base 1/8" above the top of the shield for the Senior Pilot wings.  For the shirt sized wings, only the span of 2" was specified.  Some of the manufacturers fully complied with what was specified for the 3" wings but many did not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Marty. That’s interesting. Perhaps as an early war example thought wasn’t given to providing specified 2” sized stars at the time of manufacture so they affixed what they had to hand to satisfy the accelerated demand. Other later 2” examples I’ve seen seem to have stars more in proportion.

I’ve noticed that Amico tended to solder on separate stars rather than incorporating them into a specific, single die which seems strange to me given the relative high quality design and manufacture of Amico wings in general.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...