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Interesting Pilot wings from a CBI vets estate


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wartimecollectables.com

These three sets are from the estate of an AAF B-24 pilot killed in action in WWII flying in the CBI theater. I thought the center pair was worth sharing. All are 3" full sized, the top wings are basic AE CO's and the bottom a nice heavy sterling pair. The center pair is made of bone or ivory? They have a heavy wire pin that fits in from the top of the little 'nub'.

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I've seen another hand carved ivory wing similar to that before, I can't for the life of me remember where tho.

very nice!!

 

CB

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John Cooper

Nice wings! I see these come up here are there and always seem to be connected with CBI service. Not sure on the details but likely something for the girl(s) back home :) On a side note I have seen some very nice CBI bracelets with very nice inlay work... not to mention some of the very nice bullion patches from the CBI.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

John

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Jack's Son

Andrew,

I like the carved wing, it fits nicely with the small CIB group I posted a few days ago.

 

Very nice!! :thumbsup:

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.

:unsure: Sometimes things are not always what we perceive them to be:

 

Very nice wing. Here's a link to one like it on my site. . This is an attributed piece from Cliff's collection. It was purchased in Cairo. See the main USAAF Pilot page for the detail information on it.

 

Bob

 

On June 4th I was scanning eBay and saw an advertisement for an Original Bone, WW2 CBI made, US Observer Wing badge with a Buy-It-Now price of... ouch, $125. It had a missing pin and the price was way too high for my Scotch-Irish pocket book but its construction looked similar to that of the attributed bone-made pilot badge Bob mentioned was purchased in Cairo, Egypt back in 1945. Well, I decided to book-mark it just to watch and see if it would sell or not. Comparison photos are posted below.

 

After a few days with no takers, the seller lowered the price to $75... which was still too expensive for this old skinflint but then on June 10th he suddenly dropped the price to $45 with free shipping. Yep, even though I'm getting to old to keep on doing this stuff, being an incurable collector I decided what-the-heck and took the bait.

 

It will be a few days before the badge arrives; however, without doing a DNA test to see if the material came from the same hambone, I suspect the same Egyptian craftsman who made the pilot badge also made the Observer badge... rather than a craftsman in the CBI.

 

Cliff

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wartimecollectables.com
.

It will be a few days before the badge arrives; however, without doing a DNA test to see if the material came from the same hambone, I suspect the same Egyptian craftsman who made the pilot badge also made the Observer badge... rather than a craftsman in the CBI.

Cliff

Interesting. I have about a 6" stack of files on the guy who had the pilot wing and he was never in Egypt/So. Africa/MTO but anything is possible!

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Interesting. I have about a 6" stack of files on the guy who had the pilot wing and he was never in Egypt/So. Africa/MTO but anything is possible!

 

Andrew,

 

You are completely out of bounds with your comments... and I'm ashamed of you for saying such a thing without contacting me first in order to be sure you didn't end up with egg on your face.

 

I've known the pilot in question since he would come to our home early in World War II while dating my aunt who lived with us. Later as an adult I was his stockbroker for almost 30 years. Mack is now 90 years old yet remarkably sharp as a tack both mentally and physically. We are still close friends and have lunch together often.

 

To set the record straight, Mack was a B-17 co-pilot with the 385th BG in England during WWII. On one mission over Germany in March 1945 his plane was badly damaged. The crew managed to continue on the bomb run but Mack and the other pilot did not think the airplane would be able to make it back to England. Well, luck was with them on that mission because they did manage to land the plane at an airbase controlled by the Russians. Several days later the crew was able to leave on board another American B-17 which had received permission to land at the same Russian controlled airbase while in route to North Africa. One of its stops was Cairo, Egypt and that is were Mack purchased the badge. The crew was later able to get back to their base in England via North Africa, Gibraltar etc. I've even met one of the crew who was with him.

 

Are we clear on that?

 

Cliff Presley

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wartimecollectables.com
Andrew,

 

You are completely out of bounds with your comments... and I'm ashamed of you for saying such a thing without contacting me first in order to be sure you didn't end up with egg on your face.

 

Are we clear on that?

 

Cliff Presley

 

I don't know about egg, but definitely confused? Your wing is an Observer, correct? The one I'm talking about and posted to start the thread is a pilot and didn't come from someone named Mack. It came from the estate effects of Grady Walton.

Grady G. Walton

ID: 0-686609

Entered the Service From: Texas

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 375th Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy

Died: Friday, May 19, 1944

Memorialized at: Manila American Cemetery

Location: Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines

Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

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