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William Link Co of Newark, NJ: examples and patterns


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This is one of the most beautiful examples of when wings were seen as a "personal" expression of the qualities of a warrior of the Air. As America has attempted to set as its character, a depersonalized, meaningless life of chance, with Evil called "good" and Good called "evil", we have lost the True Art of insignia making at its finest, which is Relational in nature. With no central and solid Moral Law Source,(as this has been attacked in a gargantuan effort to say in all our institutions that there is no Moral Law guiding man) from which the finest and most resilient and life affirming attributes of mankind rise, in order to place strong and life giving relationships as paramount in a descending hierarchy from our God to our Neighbor, we lost something precious and essential to life. The people and companies who make insignia do not experience a unified bond of relationship as they once did, bound in common moral strength, to those men who place their lives on the line to defend our Families in defense of our nation. This bond expressed itself in a CLEAR artistic skill and deliberate effort imparted to the insignia of a time in this nation where men experienced the gravity of being a tool of Righteousness in Just War where our nation and families were threatened. This is an example of a wing from the 20's, a time when the Depression hit and this country was galvanized not by success in wealth but by Families living together, two and three families to a house, and making life work by Faith Alone........

I do not know about other collectors, but I do not see the same detail and care put into insignia for our men who place life and family on the line to protect us, as was once commonplace and replete with excellence, even after the changes of 1919 as we see in this wing and others from the between war period, which were striking and beautifully conveyed the majestic nature of the qualities extant in a warrior campaigning for the defense of the freedom to live according to a moral code there are no eternal Laws against, which is TRUE freedom. Luxenberg, Blackinton, Walter Lampl, Orber, LG Balfour, Firmin (since the 1600's), KG Luke etc. Enjoy these WM Link Wings Gentlemen......

 

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It Blesses My Heart always to hear your empathy, especially from you (Sabre and TC et. al.) whom I have come to know in our mutual respect for relics which bear an historical and tangible "picture" regarding a nation's attitude toward the Men who had an innate purpose, leading them to place their Strength and their Lives in the path of that which would bring harm and destruction to our nation's families. The face and tools of the Righteous Warrior changes over the years; think of what the Army General, Judas Maccabee in 165 BC would have thought of "Wings"! Yes, the Warrior's face changes and even the tools he uses as the enemy morphs as well, even the enemy from without our borders morphing to an enemy within our nation itself, but the purpose remains. The Righteous Warrior protects and embodies that which binds a nation's Families through a Responsibility to Righteousness unto Longevity in Unity and Commitment, for Families are the True Leadership of a Good Nation and the foundation of a Good and Faithful Army which will see victory in blessing. Oliver Cromwell reorganized the Parliamentary Army and led the "New Model Army" in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland in the mid 1600's against the tyranny of Charles I and II and Rome during the Reformation. They were a disparate group in social ranking but they were led under a solid moral leadership and chaplaincy unto NEVER BEING BEATEN, because a bond was formed in a creed and code which has been presented since time began as Life's Very Expression of Fullness.

These men bore the children who would seek the formation of a Good and Faithful community of Families in America and their children and children's children would maintain that faithful lineage unto the formation of the Army for American Independence......and we all know that story...... unless the public schools have extricated or revised that history along with tossing out History as a subject.

 

The reason a nation would extricate History from the classroom, can be arrived at by only ONE CONCLUSION; That a Centralized Power Center has risen to authoritarian rule and that monolith of power sees in lucidity, something in the documented and clear course and outcome of History which reveals a pattern of metaphysical governance by an unwavering Moral Law antithetical to the current amoral course which the authoritarian power center in that nation wishes to force upon a people. Instead of trying to confront that undeniable Truth with the weakness of its own system, the tyranny would force ignorance by creating a counterfeit propaganda "class" glorifying man's social control theory and propagating a direct lie regarding a conflict based, amoral theory of existence like "survival of the fittest" to foster Fear and Mistrust. They could call the class "Social Studies", established to deceive the children and foster an amoral, self destructive nature which the tyranny can then "save" them from through MORE CONTROL over the out of control lives the power center has fostered. The child growing to an adult at the mercy of his amoral lusts and desires is easily dominated. The centralized power center also would make illegal and anathema in legislated/forced education centers, any proffered solid explanations, especially metaphysical Moral Law, which would counter and extirpate the Validity and Reliability of their explanations for censorship and their revisionism of History's clear conclusions regarding origins and governance of all things. History teaches us of the past powers of the tyrannical and authoritarian sort taking the aforementioned course to make absolute, the centralized power's authoritarian course to Absolute Control.

 

The Soviet Union were Masters at this type of historical revisionism and censorship....

 

"The Soviet interpretation of Marxism predetermined much of the research done by historians. Research by scholars in the USSR was limited to a large extent due to this predetermination. Some Soviet historians could not offer non-Marxist theoretical explanations for their interpretation of sources. This was true even when alternate theories had a greater explanatory power in relation to a historian's reading of source material."

 

Hmmmm.... Does that sound familiar American Men?

 

Anyway, I wanted to add that I found a really interesting wing here with a really interesting mystery behind it. This wing came from the estate of Robert A Krusen, WITH his Flight Jacket leather nametag; he flew with the 91st Bomb Group. A Dear Friend and Master Collector shared with me that there were a few B-17 pilots who received the American Metal Crafts clutchback and snowflake back version of this wing as their graduation wings. I have viewed one of these as sold on Ebay last year but I passed as I wanted the pinback, sheer faced back version from the Link Co and now I have it but like I said, with a mystery. I confirmed with the lady who I have worked with before that they were out of the same estate and were together. I have seen a pic of a legacy wing that was a Link Co Wing worn by an AAF man in the CBI and thus this is the direction I am leaning but I also need to CONFIRM without question that Robert A Krusen was in fact a PILOT with the 91st. His name is in the 91st BG Magazine they created after the war for a time but I do not have his position stated or RANK. Any help would be great History Detectives out there. I will get his Archive material if I have to.

 

Blessings to All of You Historians at Heart and Godspeed in your efforts to track down and become Stewards over these Tiny Monuments to the lives of America's Flying Fighting Men.

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  • 10 months later...

I had been looking for a set of both Wm Link Co. Wings and American Metal Craft Co. Wings of a similar yet very different wing design. The Amcraft has the undulation on each wing and the Link Wing has the fully framed shield while Amcraft has the outer boundary lines of the shield from Chief to the base of the Pale run at a slight angle inward where eventually the edges would intersect. This accentuates the "sideburns" on the Amcraft badge and with the undulation in the center section of the wing, it is the most artistic of the 2 wings, while the Link wing has the Brass underlying the silver coating showing richly in a beautiful coppery radiance from underneath the HEAVY patina as the silver coating is gone with wear, which is just amazing as wing's use seems to have been over an extended career. The woman who passed in Santa Barbara CA was Margaret A Lawrence and she had pictures in the house which from the glance at her home pics from the sale AD on Craigs List, it looks like the pilot might be her late husband as there were pics of a man in military uniform but I could not see the full pic from a distance. A local shop owner bought it at the sale and I procured it from her post sale and later found the estate sale advertised for the weekend before. So the Pilot's surname was probably "Lawrence" but I have some more work to do.

 

These two wings are fascinating when view in tandem as one sees the different approaches the artisans took to the designs. Both have the typical c-clasp and flat backs but the Link Wing is certainly the more squared off with greater size of the shield and precision lines on a flat medium and the Amcraft uses more variation of angle and depth to get the same masculine, strong and artistically excellent wing from a different approach. I will set the Amcraft Wing first with Link to follow. Cliff, thanks for walking me through learning about the origins of these badges and their design over the years. Please, if anyone is more well versed in the timing of these, give the timing of their make if you would. I know they are pre-WWII but not specifics......

 

Enjoy Gentlemen and Blessings as Always in Your Collecting Endeavors......

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Why do you think that these wings were made by Amcraft and Link? I have heard more than one significant collector attribute these wings to the Link Company, but I have never seen one hallmarked. I find that interesting, because you do find the Link company hallmark on a fair number of WWI vintage wings and insignia.

 

I always wondered why they (WM Link) didn't hallmark these later 1920-30's vintage wings?

As for the Amcraft designation, that is a first that I have heard this wing being attributed to that company. I always suspected that Amcraft started out in the mid to late 30's, and really peaked during WWII. I really don't recall seeing much Amcraft stuff that could be attributed to earlier in the 20's and first part of the 30's. In fact, I seem to recall reading somewhere that based on the manufacturing of DUI's, you don't see their products until the mid-30's--but I may be remembering this incorrectly.

 

All the Amcraft hallmark wings that I have seen fall into two patterns, a snow-flake early pattern and the more common WWII pattern.

 

Patrick

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I am going off the 1925 American Metal Crafts Catalog picture I was able to look at, of this wing which they sold, amongst several others. They had a Balloon wing very similar to the Link Balloon Wing it seems as well. I have yet to see the Link catalog and am going off what I have been taught. I am sure it will be better explained later by another forum goer. Great thoughts Patrick.

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Well there your go, I was wrong (again) :blush: . In fact, Cliff posted that page of the catalog in this thread here--I forgot that we had actually had this discussion before--my bad.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/45745-1919-1941-vintage-pilot-wings/page-4

 

Maybe it was the Link "link" that I was dubious of? In any case, these "hairy wings" as I like to call them are really neat. I am lucky to have a set as well.

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I've always loved this pattern wing and have been searching for one for some time. I'm very jealous you have two!! Thanks for posting the variations. Very interesting to see.

 

Bob

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Hey! Beautiful pair of wings from amcraft. the undulations of the wings of the am craft design is what really impresses me along with the larger sideburns around the shield which gives an interesting effect. This type of wing is one of my very favorites as it is so set apart from the other classes of wing design. The "hairy" fletching design that you spoke of is at the same time pleasing to the eye and impressive regarding the minute detail undertaken by the artisan. The 2 different approaches this wing taken by these companies will have me returning to these specimens repeatedly to enjoy under 30 times magnification! I too Patrick am joyful in being blessed with stewardship over these two tiny monuments to history. Thanks as always for your input.

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Reading the previous thread, John F (AKA B-17 guy) says that the WM Link dies were bought by AMCRAFT in the 20's. I suspect that what you may be seeing are more of a situation of the same dies being used by two diffferent companies, one early (Link) and one later (AMCRAFT). Rather than two companies making a similar product concurrent with each other. I also believe that John said that the AMCRAFT version had a snowflake back, whilst the ones made by Link were smooth backed.

 

Frankly, I think the wing with the "undulations" as you call them, is actually an earlier wing than the smoother, more refiened version.

 

The funny thing is, while an INTERESTING and relatively rare wing, I actaully find this pattern to be one of the uglier patterns that I have seen. It just something about a "hairy wing" that I find disquieting. Not that I'd kick this wing out of the ricker mount for eating crackers, as the saying goes.

 

The ones I really like are the early AMICO wings.

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I'm not a pre-WWII wings expert so I can't add much to the discussion,
but I can not help but say that they are very interesting wings!

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