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Beverlycraft or Beverly Craft of Beverly Hills, CA: examples and patterns


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Really nice wing Marty! Congrats on the find. I've not seen a Navigator in that size before. There was an aircrew sweetheart that went today item #331183519580 it had the same upside down hallmark. Funny with a backwards pin and upside down hallmark maybe Tod ought to ask the family if the diemaker was a drunk haha. Cool stuff!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Patchcollector

Hi all,

I have never seen a wing like this.Is this for real?

 

 

Here are the sellers' pics:

 

 

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Awesome info.. thanks for posting!

 

anyone have a good pic of the back setup on a Beverlycraft piece?

I have seen a couple unmarked wings with reversed pins.. I wonder if they were Beverlycraft?

 

-Brian

 

 

Looks to be a Beverlycraft without the Palm tree.

post-150611-0-00951000-1399694763.jpgpost-150611-0-99675300-1399694878.jpg

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Looks to be a Beverlycraft without the Palm tree hallmark.

 

 

Here's some more views of it.....

post-150611-0-22657000-1399695395.jpg

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rathbonemuseum.com

Beverly Craft wings obverse.

 

The most telltale sign of the pattern is the low-definition inset "pebbles" in the corner of the shoulder. No other USAAF wing has that element.

BeverlyCraftWingsObv.jpg

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rathbonemuseum.com

Beverly Craft wings reverse.

 

Because of the unique nature of the embossing press that C.C. Veneman ended up using, each wing has a central depression where the embossing die would hit a center punch to give some rise and dimension to the obverse of the center device. Otherwise the reverse of the wings are totally flat and smooth. And yes, for some reason, BEVERLYCRAFT have their findings attached in the reverse manner from most other pinback wings. Maybe it was that "peg-leg character"? Who knows. You will usually find hallmarked BEVERLYCRAFT vs. unmarked graduation wings. I believe this had to do with Veneman's sales strategy which was to distribute to PXs and men's stores for individual purchase vs. direct to the military bulk purchase.

BeverlyCraftWingsRev.jpg

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LuftStalg1

Looks real to me. Fake Beverly Craft? I have seen one of these before, maybe here somewhere. Beverly craft die struck, but someone cut the hinge and clasp off. I think it could be restored though.

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Patchcollector

I realized that it was a Beverlycraft wing from reading about the palm tree and the low relief "berries" on another thread.What had me scratching my head was the "R" and the crazy repair job,which I'm guessing is a "field" repair.Neat piece though.If it were mine I would leave it as is and not try to repair the hinge.

 

LuftStalg1,I did a search here on the forum and found this:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/204462-recon-r-ww2-pilots-wings-just-got-after-2-years-of-trying-to-buy-them/?hl=%2Bradar+%2Bwing&do=findComment&comment=1600903

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LuftStalg1

It is the same but has the relief on the back of the shield. Same "R" and everything.

 

I just pulled the photos from the thread. Here ya go.

post-15093-0-33787000-1400018132.jpg

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Patchcollector

Ah yes.Wow,very nice.Thanks!The design on the shield on both of them is interesting.

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It's a real wing. Started life as a Beverly Craft pilot wing. Subsequently altered by a jeweler to add the "R" probably for radio as that was the usual request. The versions I have seen were completely custom jobs done in India. This seems to have at least started with a US manufactured wing.

;)

 

This badge was not modified in India. It was modified directly by Beverly Craft here in the USA rather than a jeweler acting independent from the firm. . . thus making it a nice addition for someone who just had to add it to his collection.

 

Cliff

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LuftStalg1

It looks as though it was struck with the pebbled shield rather then the standard pilot shield being altered later to have pebbling.

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This is a perfectly legitimate wing badge by Beverlycraft.

As Cliff said, the company most likely modified it on request.

Wings of this type have been seen modified to have an "E" or "R",

probably from a pilot wing.

Both are exceptionally rare and even though this example has a bad pin

replacement, it is none the less very rare.

 

John

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This is what I believe is a theater-made Beverly Craft glider wing. It could have been made in the US, but I suspect not.

 

The "G" is made of what looks to be a bit of aircraft aluminum or similar metal. This came off of an 8th AAF patched uniform. I had visited a thrift store and the owner told me he had just sold the uniform to some guy an hour earlier. But since the owner wanted more for the wing than the guy wanted to pay, he had simply unpinned it and that is how I got it. I was sorry to have had missed the uniform.

 

:wacko:

post-1519-0-42251300-1400088899.jpg

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Patchcollector

This is a perfectly legitimate wing badge by Beverlycraft.

As Cliff said, the company most likely modified it on request.

Wings of this type have been seen modified to have an "E" or "R",

probably from a pilot wing.

Both are exceptionally rare and even though this example has a bad pin

replacement, it is none the less very rare.

 

John

 

 

Thanks for the info John

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Patchcollector

This is what I believe is a theater-made Beverly Craft glider wing. It could have been made in the US, but I suspect not.

 

The "G" is made of what looks to be a bit of aircraft aluminum or similar metal. This came off of an 8th AAF patched uniform. I had visited a thrift store and the owner told me he had just sold the uniform to some guy an hour earlier. But since the owner wanted more for the wing than the guy wanted to pay, he had simply unpinned it and that is how I got it. I was sorry to have had missed the uniform.

 

:wacko:

 

Wow,sad story there.But at least you have the wing.That's an interesting piece.Please excuse my ignorance,but if I understand you correctly,this may be a theatre made wing cast from a Beverlycraft one,or it is a US made wing that has been theatre modified with the addition of the "G" ?

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Its a standard Beverly Craft pilot wing, but someone added the "G" to it after the fact. The "G" is hand cut and soldered to the face of the pilot wing, converting it from the standard pilot wing to a glider pilot wing.

 

This is a bit different than the "R" wing which apparently was made and sold that way by Beverly Craft.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So here are a few pics of the Beverlycraft "R" wing badge.

After having it in hand, there is little doubt to me, that the replacement pin is period.

The wear marks indicate to me that it was worn for some time with this pin and

the low quality of the repair makes me think the replacement was done in theater.

Personally, I think the repair gives this rare wing even more character.

 

Best, John

 

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Beautiful wing John. If you look at it it looks like this wing has seen a lot of period use. As we all know the original pin and catch on a Beverlycraft are reversed but if you look at the solder marks from the old pin and catch they appear to be in the normal orientation with the hinge on the right and the catch on the left. Perhaps this wing has had two pin replacements. The old solder mark on the right hand side is a rectangle which is usually indicative of a hinge and the left hand side is a circle which is usually indicative of the catch. I think you got yourself a wing that was worn A LOT!! Even more history in the piece.

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Patchcollector

It is a great piece,I agree,that "field repair" adds character to the wing and is a great example of "G.I" ingenuity and resourcefulness.

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  • 1 month later...
Patchcollector

Happy Sunday all,

I'm kind of excited about this wing so I wanted to post it right away.I've been wanting a Beverlycraft wing for awhile,and when I saw this one come up for sale,I bid on it,not thinking I would win it,as it was part of a named group that was being pieced out,but decided to give it a try anyway.

Well I won it,and got it for 69 bucks and change!I think this one slipped under the wire as minutes before a patch from the group went for almost 429.00(a very nice patch BTW).

The wing is named to Merle Lee,a fighter pilot with the US Army Air Force 344TH Fighter Squadron.He served in the Aleutian Islands during the war and flew a P-38.

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