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WWII engraved gold C.C. Mosley wings civ. flight instructor M.E. Reed


Bob Hudson
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This walked into my flea market booth today: a pair of gold-plated AAF-style wings engraved on the back. The wings are dated 1942 and engraved to a civilian flight instructor at Cal Aero, an Army Air Forces contract flight school in Chino, east of Los Angeles. The wings are engraved from C.C. Moseley, Cal Aero's owner. Mosely also signed a certificate issued to the instructor.

 

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manayunkman

I love the engraving and to have the document as provenance is over the top.

 

You should give Anne a dividend :rolleyes:

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Here's a photo of the pilot:

 

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Here's a closeup of the text of the certificate. The same company also operated AAF flight schools at Lancaster in the Southern California high desert and at Oxnard on the coast.

 

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I love the engraving and to have the document as provenance is over the top.

 

You should give Anne a dividend :rolleyes:

 

This was a walkin-in from a lady who found these in an old house they bought: she was going to just toss it or take it to the Goodwill, but decided to stop in and see if anyone wanted to buy them. I also got his goggles, ANB-H1 headphones and T-30 throat mike.

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I just started doing research about the pilot and the flight school. Turns out this C.C. Moseley was no slouch:

"Corliss Champion Moseley (July 23, 1894 – 1974 was a United States Army aviator and later civilian trainer. He won the inaugural Pulitzer Air Race in 1920. Following his service in World War I, where he was credited with one aerial victory, he was in charge of all United States Army Air Service schools. It is estimated that, as a civilian, his flying schools taught over 25,000 pilots and 5000 mechanics, mostly for service in World War II. He was also a business executive, either helping found or organize Western Air Express (which later became Western Airlines)."

 

Checkout his wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._C._Moseley

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Wow love the personalized wings!

 

Yes - and go read the wikipedia entry about Moseley: it makes me even more impressed.

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Please post the goggles when you have the time.

 

They have his name scratched into the bottom so they are part of the provenance of the wings. The padding still has some give to it: luckily they were stored in the case in the unfolded position. I've seen these folded up with the rubber turned rock solid. This pair still makes for a nice display.

 

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A very simple group:

 

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By the way: it looks like he's wearing those goggles in the photo:

 

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Beautiful grouping! Later this evening I'll peruse through my 1942 Cal Aero class books and see if I can come up with a few more images of Mr. Michael Reed.

 

For those viewers who aren't aware, there are numerous other Cal Aero Flight Instructor wings, insignia, patches and uniform examples illustrated here in the wing section under the pinned title CAA/WTS/CPT/Flight Schools.

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For those viewers who aren't aware, there are numerous other Cal Aero Flight Instructor wings, insignia, patches and uniform examples illustrated here in the wing section under the pinned title CAA/WTS/CPT/Flight Schools.

 

Thanks for that tip: here's the direct link: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/71999-caawtscptflight-schools/

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Great find.

 

You really should add these items to the above pinned thread, otherwise they will get lost in endless pit of old threads.

 

John

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Wow, excellent wing!

 

Interesting to see a 1942 engraved wing with hardware that is commonly associated with 1920s wings.

 

Regards

Mike

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Wow, excellent wing!

 

Interesting to see a 1942 engraved wing with hardware that is commonly associated with 1920s wings.

 

Regards

Mike

 

Here's some closeups of that:

 

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John Cooper

What a great find! I think it was Russ that first introduced me to these wonderful wings... I have wanted to add one to my collection.

 

Cheers

Joh

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