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WWII POW LEAD WINGS


KASTAUFFER
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Here are some examples of original POW camp made wings. Since they are made of lead , making a fake is probably easier than it might be with other insignia, but all the ones I have are part of attributed POW groupings. I would love to see any other POW wings other forum members may have!

 

The top pair are from 2nd Lt Donald B. Beers of the 303rd BG 8th AF who was held in Stalag Luft I.

The bottom pair are from S/Sgt Donald C. Armstrong of the 390th BG who was held in Stalag 17B .

 

POW_Wings_front.JPG

POW_Wings_back.JPG

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POW wings from Stalag Luft 6 belonging to S/Sgt Francis A. Svehla of the 379th BG, 8th AAF . He was repatriated back to the USA in 1944 due to the loss of his arm. He brought these home with him.

 

POW_wing_A.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quite a few years ago I had put an ad in the paper and had an answer from a guy named Hart, that was a USAAF B-17 pilot who was shot down and in in a German POW camp. He had about a dozen lead pilot's wings cast in lead. The story he told me was that the Germans took all of the insignia when they were captured but some guys had them hid out and got to camp with them. They made wings like the ones with the holes in them them.

I asked about how they were made and he said that there were candy bars and cigerette packages from the Red Cross that had wrappers made of lead foil. They would save them, make a mold and melt the foil and make casts for the ones that got their wings ripped off by the Germans.

I put a couple on Manion's Auction and they sold well. The next 2 that I sent in were returned because they thought they may of been fakes. You cant get much better than a POW pilot telling you this story in in 1983 when this kind of repoing didnt happen..... end of story....Dave

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Hey Dave

 

They also scraped lead from the seams of canned items ( especially Klim cans ) that came in the Red Cross boxes.

 

If you still have any of the wings left, Id love to see a post of them!

 

Kurt

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Quite a few years ago I had put an ad in the paper and had an answer from a guy named Hart, that was a USAAF B-17 pilot who was shot down and in in a German POW camp. He had about a dozen lead pilot's wings cast in lead. The story he told me was that the Germans took all of the insignia when they were captured but some guys had them hid out and got to camp with them. They made wings like the ones with the holes in them them.

I asked about how they were made and he said that there were candy bars and cigerette packages from the Red Cross that had wrappers made of lead foil. They would save them, make a mold and melt the foil and make casts for the ones that got their wings ripped off by the Germans.

I put a couple on Manion's Auction and they sold well. The next 2 that I sent in were returned because they thought they may of been fakes. You cant get much better than a POW pilot telling you this story in in 1983 when this kind of repoing didnt happen..... end of story....Dave

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  • 1 year later...
FightenIrish35

When I was in Hartford CT for the gunshow begining of the month me and my father stoped and were talking to Art Beltron,reall nice guy on POW Wings that he had there. Come to found out he published a book called "A War Time Log" By Art and Lee Beltrone...I recomend it , its one of the aspects of Collecting many have not brushed upon. Many examples of POW made wings and artwork from POW's. Just a neat book!!!!! thumbsup.gif

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Great wings!!

 

I had the honor of meeting a 8th AF officer who was a POW in WW2.I was able to purchase his uniform but not his camp made wings.He had both the Bombidier and gunners wings.He stated that he only had these made but others were available.Many of the men had "insignia" boards made up and the boards consisted of both US and English wings as well as other countries if a design was made.He stated that the mold would be carved from a block of scrap wood and then the tubes from tooth paste from the red cross parcels were melted and poured into the molds.

 

I lost contact with him a few years ago but saw an article in the paper where he had drowned ice fishing on a pond.

 

RON

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Hi All,

 

Somewhere (not sure where, I've a big pile of stuff, and they are only small), crying.gif I have a pair of Para wings cast in this way.

 

from what I remember of them, they are cast from either lead or zinc,. I think that the initial tool impression was made using a GI pair, pressed into clay or plaster. There would only have been one side to the tool, since the rear fixing is a somewhat heavy duty safety pin, one side of which has been sunk into the liquid metal, so that it would be firmly attached when the metal solidified.

 

I've no doubt that it's real, since it cost me nothing 25 years ago.

 

If/when I do find it, I'll post it here. I thought I'd mention it whilst the topic is being discussed, and to see if anyone else had a set of these?

 

Best Regards,

 

Prof

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I've attached a scan of a small (2" by 7/8") POW wing made of lead that I bought over 20 years ago from an insignia dealer in Morro Bay, California. This was amongst a grouping of crudely cast POW Army Air Corps pieces that were up for sale. I wish I had kept some photographs of the other pieces but I wasn't interested in Army Air Corps related stuff. I was collecting airborne related insignia and this piece was similar to the one illustrated in a book (B&T # 107, Plate 8) titled, "Parachute Badges and Insignia of the World by R.J. Bragg & Roy Turner." The one illustrated in this book was supposedly made out of tin foil at Stalag I, Barth, Germany. I decided to take a chance but afterwords had my doubts as to its authenticity. I remember different versions of the pilots wing with different rear fixings to include what looked like somewhat triangular pieces of metal jutting outward from the back with holes drilled through them. Can anyone tell me if this is an original piece. My doubts has to do with the rear pin which I've seen on post war German made US insignia but would these pins have been available to POWs during the war.

post-1389-1225733949.jpg

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Interesting wing. I have seen this design before. I like it.

 

It looks like a POW got a hold of a German tinnie and took the pin off and stuck it on the POW wing.

 

There are many different pin constructions on these wing. The most common is the " lug with holes" , kinda like on British formation badges. .

 

Kurt

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  • 2 years later...

I recently acquired a group to a POW who flew on the Ploesti mission and was later captured and held at Stalag Luft 1. Here are Lead POW wings that came in his group.

 

The small souvenir wing is engraved on the back " 1944 Stalag Luft 1 Germany "

 

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MVC_033L.JPG

MVC_036L.JPG

 

If you look closely at all the examples I have posted in this thread, notice the great detail on them. Great care and craftmanship was used in making them. I am sure fakes of these wont look as good.

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Nice addition Kurt = please fee free to post more of the related items.

 

Cheers

John

 

Thanks John!

 

I am going to devote an entire thread to the rest of his group.

 

Kurt

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  • 3 months later...

This just joined my collection. A pair of ID'd POW wings. They came right out of his estate sale. They were from Lt. David W. Thompons, a B24 pilot of the 93rd BG/330th BS. He was shot down in Feb, 1944 and interred in Stalag 1.

 

Their are two wings, a lead cast "pow" wing and a lead cast wing in the LGB style. What is interesting is that both wings have personal information scratched on the back. It has his initials, his Army serial number, his POW serial number, the date he was shot down, the Stalag he was in (Stalag 1 in Barth) and the city he was shot down over (Nuremburg). Sadly you cant really see the information on these scans but trust me they are there.

 

We have already done some research, including the MACR for when he was shot down. He was flying a B24 named Duchess and got shot down by fighters on 2/25/1944 just over Landau Germany after getting engine problems and dropping out of formation.

 

The first are a small set of POW wings. They have his initials carved in the back, the date of his being shot down, "Ger" and I think the tail number of his plane "147-A".

post-1519-1300428824.jpg

post-1519-1300428904.jpg

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The other wing is a 3 incher in the LGB style. It is also of a lead type alloy.

 

The front is nothing really stricking.

post-1519-1300428979.jpg

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The back. Sadly, I couldn't really get a good scan of the engraving on the back. But again, it has engraved on the back:

 

D. W. T

--His Army SS#-- STALAG LUFT NO.1 --His POW SS#

Barh, Germany

2/25/44

 

Nurnberg [sic]

 

Pretty cool!

post-1519-1300429227.jpg

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Those are great examples Patrick, thanks for posting them!

 

Thanks Kastauffer!

 

I have always wanted a set of POW wings. But as you well know, unless you have good provenance, the fakes kind of make it tricky.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought this plaque at a flea market many years ago not knowing what it was. Too bad I have no idea from which POW camp it hung. Wish it could talk!

post-5618-1301792192.jpg

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They're all full size pieces and I particularly love the detail of the added chain to the Polish pilot's badge and the Lucite prop in the center. Unsure as to what the smaller para wing with cargo? suspended might represent mounted in the upper right quadrant.

post-5618-1301792620.jpg

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