1930's Navy Observer Silver Wings

[VMI88]

I picked these up at the local antique show today:

 

 

According to several websites I looked at these are pre-WWII Navy observer wings, commonly misidentified as enlisted pilot wings. The wings are lightweight, but high quality with very detailed feathers. They look very similar to the ones pictured at the bottom of this page, but unfortunately the back isn't pictured.

 

Here's the back side of my wings:

 

 

There is no maker's mark, just "Sterling". They certainly look good to me, but I'll defer to some of the wing experts on the forum. Any additional information would be appreciated.

 

Bill

[pfrost]

Hi Bill,

 

Likely you have opened up a can of worms with this post! I have found, that for some reason, there is a great deal of missinformation about the USN wings, and I think this may be a case in point.

 

I think if you read this, you can see that supposedly the US Navy regs authorized the navy pilot wing in silver for observers in 1922 (http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/APP20.PDF). However, I think this is an error. I have actually tried to find the original regs describing these wings at the Navy Yard and National Archives, but I have been with out any luck.

 

As for these wings, I have 2 pairs in my collection, most of my wing collecting friends have multiple pairs of these wings as well. To be honest, they frequently show up here and there. For 1920's vintage USN observer wings, they are rather more common (I would argue) than the early WWII observer wing with the "O". You would expect that a 1920's vintage USN observer wing would be as rare as a 1920's vintage pilot wing, and how many of those do you see?

 

I have heard that these wings could have been sweetheart wings, patriotic jewelry, or civilian flight related items. Flying boats were very popular and these could be related to that. In any case, they are nice wings.

 

Patrick

 

BTW, I am a transplanted Virginian. A high school buddy of mine was at VMI for a year or so in the 80's.

[VMI88]

Patrick,

 

Thanks for the information on my wings. According to the link you posted these were only authorized from 1927 - 1929, so it would be strange to see these routinely. I've personally only seen one pair before: the guy was calling them enlisted aviator wings and wanted several hundred dollars for them. However, I'm not primarily a wing collector so they may well be more common than I'm aware. Is it possible that a number were made during the years they were authorized, and then later dumped on the collector or sweetheart jewelry market once the new design came out?

 

If this pattern of wings is an authentic military design then you would think there should be gold aviator wings in exactly the same pattern. After all, the observer and aviator wings were the same except for the color of the metal. Are there gold wings around made from the same dies?

 

It's always good to hear from a fellow Virginian!

 

Bill

[pconrad02]

Bill,

 

Here's the pic from my site that you are referring too:

 

 

Unfortunately I don't have this wing any more, but the back was a bit "smoother" than yours, marked "sterling"

I sent pictures of the wing when I purchased it years ago, to Russ Huff, and, he Id'd it for me, and these are also Identified in the "Wings of Gold" book

 

Here is another one:

 

As you can see this LOOKS like it's the same, but there are traces of gold in the feathering and other details.

I think that this explains the number of these "silver" wings, the plating as worn or has been polished off.

 

Paul

[pfrost]

Hi Paul,

 

I have one like yours and one like the other one you showed. I have very carefully looked over both mine, and I dont think they were ever gold plated. I will try to scan mine tonight. A couple of my other wing collecting buddies here in So Cal have the same wings (we have been able to put them side by side) and they also never seemed to be gold plated either.

 

It could be that these are 20's USN Observer wings, but it would be nice to see the original uniform regulations. Also, it is just so hard for me to imagine that the Navy would go against tradition and have silver pilot wings be used for observers. Observers were especially trained officers with duties totaly distinct from the pilot and earned the right to wear their own badges. It doesnt make sense to me.

 

Patrick

 

 

Bill,

 

Here's the pic from my site that you are referring too:

 

 

Unfortunately I don't have this wing any more, but the back was a bit "smoother" than yours, marked "sterling"

I sent pictures of the wing when I purchased it years ago, to Russ Huff, and, he Id'd it for me, and these are also Identified in the "Wings of Gold" book

 

Here is another one:

 

As you can see this LOOKS like it's the same, but there are traces of gold in the feathering and other details.

I think that this explains the number of these "silver" wings, the plating as worn or has been polished off.

 

Paul

[pfrost]

Opps, actually found an old scan of one of my silver USN wings.

 

This one is very close to a WWI USN wing that I have in style. But I doubt that this one was ever gold plated.

 

The detail is great and and it sure doesnt look like a sweetheart wing. Some one once told me that they had gotten a wing like this from the estate of a guy who flew flying boats, both as a private individual and with some small airline companies in the mid 30's in to the 50's. He thought that the wings were for the flying boat company.

 

Patrick

[pfrost]

Close up detail. Really dont see any evidence of gold plating.

[Mustang5l5]

Bumping an old thread.

 

Just picked these up. They are 40mm wide wings (1.6") and I cannot tell if they are plated. In these photos...they look plated. Backside says sterling. Was there any conclusive thought to if these would be Naval Observer wings circa '27-'29 like i've read? or are they Navy pilot wings?

 

What were the 40mm versions used on vs the standard 70mm version?

 

 

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