Senior Service Pilot Wing patterns and makers

[mtnman]

This is my first Senior Service Pilot Wing. When I first started to collect, I did not like AE Company Wings because I thought they were too plain. After seeing as as many wings I have, I finally get it. AE Company Wings are a classic, simple and solid design of great strength. It was a great privilege to pick up this wing.

 

 

 

 

[pfrost]

This is an interesting wing. I think only a few service pilots reached the requirements for senior service pilot status, and of those,almost all seem to have reached the senior service pilot status in the immediate post war period. I suspect it is because that some service pilots were still flying supplies and equipment after the hostilities ceased and so were able to reach the requirements for this rating before 1948 or 1949 or so when many of the WWII ratings were abolished.

 

It seems that only a few companies actually produced a dedicated, factory-made and manufactured senior service pilot wing. The only one I can really think of is NS Meyer (they used a small star on little "feet" soldered to the service pilot wings, but it is possible that a few others also made the rating. Most of the senior service pilot wings I have seen are "hybrids" where someone added a star to a service pilot wing post hoc. Some of the additions are nice, jeweler quality work, others, not so much. The thing is, unless you have some solid provenance, you really can't know for sure if the wings were modified in 1946 or in 1996.

 

Your wing is a nice WWII vintage service pilot wing. When assessing service pilot wings, I try to look at a couple of things. For NS Meyer wings, I always look to see if the star is on little posts. For other wings with a post hoc added star, I try to figure out were the "star" came from. I have seen nicely done "home-made" stars and stars that seem to have been removed from other insignia (like a senior pilot wing). But, without provenance, there really is no way to tell when it was made.

 

But, nice wing in any case.

 

Patrick

[tomcatter]

Wow, I never seen before a pair of Senior Service wings! Very nice!

[LuftStalg1]

Yes, very cool and the first I have seen as well! And now I know why thanks to Patrick.

[mtnman]

Just want to thank you guys for your comments. Patrick I hope you understand that the diligent effort and acumen with which you approach this avocation has benefited more people in more areas of Wing and general military aviation collecting than can be said. Thanks so much for your dedication. TC and LS, you guys are always encouraging and class acts in my book! ....Thanks Again Guys.

[John Cooper]

I thought you may want to see a set os HH senior pilots wings I have from Herbert Burns.

 

 

[mtnman]

OUTSTANDING!

[mtnman]

Attached is a picture to look at the patina on the brazing bond used to braze the star on the shield. Patrick pointed out wisely that you should be able to tell a little about the timing of the star brazing where the brazing was done with a pool around the area. Check if the patina on the pool matches the patina on the shield and also to check the star and the wing proper. I checked both and pointed to the findings. The pool is very similar in patina to the shield and the patina on the star developed the same level of patina as the wing as well.

[rustywings]

Hello Mtnman,

 

Your newly acquired Senior Service Pilot wing sure looks like a nice addition to your collection. Here's another American Emblem Company hallmarked example. At first glance it appears my example is a one-piece strike, but upon loop inspection, you can see the star and base were applied to a regular Service Pilot badge. I don't know if the senior star addition was preformed at the AECo shop, or by a professional jeweler...but I believe it to be a period piece as well.

 

Russ

[rustywings]

Here's the back...

 

 

[rustywings]

Close up of the star. Difficult to see, but the base of the star has horizonal lines compared to the vertical lines found on the base of a one-piece AECo Senior Pilot badge. Factory made, or not?

 

 

[rustywings]

Senior Service Pilot on the left...Senior Pilot on the right.

 

 

[Costa]

nice-------------

[mtnman]

Beautiful as Always My Friend. Russ, You bring so much knowledge to us Wingers first hand with your Examples. Thanks Again for sharing these tiny monuments to history which we have been Blessed to respect and to take responsibility for, in high regard for the men who wore them and the content of times through which they passed and which, in symbol, carry the significance of that history.

[rustywings]

Any other AECO hallmarked Senior Service Pilot wings out there?

[pfrost]

I have noticed that (in general) WWII vintage senior pilot wings (and senior observer wings) tend to have a smaller sized star than what was used in post war wings. If, for example, you look at the senior pilot wing posted by Russ (or compare many of the senior pilot wings on Bob's site). While this isn't a 100% rule (and it does depend on maker), I have noted this tendency.

 

In general, later senior pilot wings tended to have larger stars. Also, when a star was added in the post war years, they also tended to use the larger stars.

 

Finally, I think AECo was out of business by around 1948.

[rustywings]

Similar style and size 'senior' stars atop wings by AECO, LGB, Luxenberg and Blackinton:

[mtnman]

I wanted to throw in Thomas K Hampton's H&H Sr Pilot Wing. Marked by him TKH Oct '42. He was eventually a commanding officer at the Russian Crimea Based Poltava USAAF Base by '44-'45, starting the war in Panama in Long range Recon flights right after Dec 7th in blackout conditions. Incredible story, one of the CO's of the Berlin Airlift as well.

[Sabrejet]

First -class info as usual. Thanks fellers!

[pfrost]

Hi Russ, as always great wings.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but are these stars added or part of the die? To me, it isn't surprising that the Blackinton and Luxenbergs have the same star, as they came from the same manufacturer.

 

I did some research. IIRC, the service pilot rating was established in 1942. The requirements for being a service pilot was being physically and technically qualified pilot with previous civilian experience, passing a flight test/exam, and being recommended by a board of officers. The senior service pilot rating was established in 1944. The qualifications for the rating of senior service pilot was 1,500 hours flying with the military and 5 years experience (but I am not sure if that is military or civilian flight experience). That being said, it is possible that in 1944, a guy who got his civilian pilot wings as part of the first CPT program when it started in 1939, and then started flying with the military in 1942, would have been eligible for senior service pilot ratings in 1944. But, I suspect that would have been only a very very few guys.

 

The other possible group of civilian pilots with lots of experience would have been commercial pilots (guys flying for TWA, PAA, etc). But the commercial pilots would have been contracted out to fly for the military as part of the ATC (and so they would not have been awarded USAAF service pilot wings).

 

Another potential group would have been the contract civilian pilots who were part of the contract flight schools. A fair number of these guys went into the service later in the war as the contract schools started closing down. I knew a fellow who got his civilian pilot wings in 1940/1941 and was a flight instructor at Riddle Aeronautics from about 1941 till 1943, after which he entered the military as a service pilot. But he told me he quickly got a regular pilot rating and few supplies over the hump from 1943 until 1945. He told me that he felt that the service pilot rating was a lesser rating than a regular pilot rating, and so he never wore (or even bothered to buy) his service pilot wings. He likely had the hours of flying that he would have needed to get a senior service pilot wing by the end of the war, but not the 5 years experience (either as a civilian or military pilot). I suspect that his story was pretty typical for service pilots during the war. Some CPT pilot training, a few years as an instructor in one of the flight schools, then a few years of flying for the military.

[tomcatter]

Wow! Another first class pair of wings!

Thanks to everybody for sharing good wings and good info about them!

[rustywings]

Wow Mtnman! It's tuff enough finding an AAF Pilot wing with 'H&H' markings. To obtain Thomas Hampton's Senior Pilot badge with H&H hallmark is truely rare. Thank you for sharing your wing and your thread with us.

 

If you don't mind, I've got a couple of more senior star examples I'd like to post on your thread before Patrick starts photo-shopping stars to the tops of WASP wing images! (You should see what he did to a picture of my prize-winning tuna the last time we went deep sea fishing!)

 

Russ

[rustywings]

Hey Patrick,

 

You've posted well thought-out ideas and facts about Senior Service Pilot badges and you're absolutely right about the scarcity of legitimate Senior Service Pilot wings. I'm of the opinion (and it's only opinion) there's little rhyme or reason as to the style or size of the stars used for that rating just like there was little rhyme or reason for the stars applied to Senior Pilot badges during WWII. The big companies and the small independent jewelers used whatever was available at that time to fill the order as quickly as possible.

 

You'd think a company like Blackinton would have one standard type of star to apply to their badges, as well as the badges they produced for contract orders. But apparently that wasn't the case. Here's a Blackinton wing and a contracted Luxenberg wing with slightyl different styles and size stars:

[rustywings]

Here's two AMICO made Senior Pilot wings with different size stars. Both appear to be factory produced.

 

 

 

 

[rustywings]

And Meyer's used small stars, large stars, two-piece stilts, one-piece stilts and no stilts. (Probably more details than the average wing collector wants to hear about, but interesting stuff none the less.)