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"Hap" Arnold wore wings made by Johnson Mfg. Company


CliffP
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Depends but $2000-3000 range is likely. Perhaps more-- but it's a hard wing to upgrade. Although some dealers would likely ask much more. ( maybe $5000+). And in an auction it would depend on the bidders.

Thanks, there was a wing in auction today on emedals that sold for under 2k, looks like somebody got a heck of a deal.

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  • 1 year later...

I was looking for photos of Hap Arnold wearing various types of wings today and this old thread popped up. In the original post Cliff indicates that Hap Arnold is wearing Johnson wings in the photo. I am curious if Cliff had outside information that those particular wings were from Johnson/Tiffany or if that was an assumption just from the photo. When I look at the photo, it appears to me as if the shield on the wing has sides that curve in more than the Johnson/Tiffany wings, and the feathers along the bottom edge are less well defined in the photo.

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I believe that Hap Arnold's wings are in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum -- although I could be totally wrong, so don't take that as a fact. At first glance the Tiffany and Johnson wings look very similar but they are actually different in many subtle ways.

 

Here is another photo of Hap Arnold's WWI Tiffany/Johnson style wings.

post-1519-0-71546700-1582830766.jpg

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Definitely look like Johnson Wings to me. The extension of the shoulder line all the way out to the tip is to me, clearly indicative of Johnson.

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In the original post, it looks to me like the wings have a bit of top edge droop from the shield to the wing tips, more like the Tiffany wing Russ posted pictures of. In Mel's picture the top edge of the wing appears to me more horozontal from tip to tip, and the letters appear to be faceted like those in the Johnson wings shown. I don't see any hint of the shield in Mel's photo not having vertical sides with no curviture. If the wings are the same in both photos, then I would agree it looks more like the Johnson wing.

 

I believe I have seen photos of Hap Arnold wearing at least four different Junior Military Aviator wings, including bullion, Dallas style, Johnson style and Adams style. I don't recall seing him wearing Military Aviator / Senior Pilot wings in any photos, but many with him wearing Command Pilot wings.

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