3" Aerial Gunner Wing - N.S. Meyer

[Marksman]

Hello all,

 

today i got this very nice N.S. Meyer wing.

 

The "N.S. Meyer" + Shield are raised and the wing weight 18,0g

 

 

I would love to hear some opinions on this wing.

 

 

 

Greetings Stefan

[Marksman]

back

[Marksman]

Hinge

[Marksman]

Catch

[Marksman]

90 degrees

 

 

[Marksman]

seperate added winged bullet top

[Marksman]

seperatly added winged bullet bottom

[Marksman]

Forgot to show the Hallmark. Its Raised

 

 

[pconrad02]

Looks to be a nice WWII and just after, gunner wing with a replaced hinge pin.

[CliffP]

Definitely a post-WW2 produced wing.

[Marksman]

Thanks Paul! This time i looked first here in the forum and after that i buyed the wing.

 

Looks exactly like the one Bob Schwartz Website - minus the "Sterling"

 

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/usaaf/gunner/vargasmeyeraafgunner.shtml

[tomcatter]

In my experience so far, Meyer markings (Meyer shield logo, "Sterling", etc) may vary from wing to wing:
"NS Meyer Inc New York" + Shield + "Sterling"
"NS Meyer Inc New York" + Shield
Shield + "Sterling"
only Shield

etc
...and note that the position of these markings may vary from wing to wing.

[BROBS]

I personally wouldn't buy this one as a WW2 era wing.

 

-Brian

[Marksman]

Last time i do one misstake after another

 

Ok i didnt pay that much for it. I realy belived that this wing was good because it looks exactly like the one Bob Schwartz shows on his website (minus the Sterling)

 

 

 

 

But thank you all for you replies!

[BROBS]

Don't get me wrong it could very well be ww2 vintage. There is just no good way to tell IMO.

 

The best you can do with Meyer stuff is look for all 3 hallmarks.

 

As Tom said there is so much variation in the Meyer wings that I don't think anyone can know for sure.

 

-Brian

[Marksman]

Thank you Brian, yes you are right - sometimes i believe Meyer was a area for itself

 

Greetings Stefan

[pfrost]

Frankly, I don't have a lot of issues with this wing. I am sure they were churning these out well into the post-KW time period, even after the USAAF became the USAF.

 

This is a biographical wing that came from a guy who never got overseas in WWII but flew some combat missions in Korea. As said before, the variations in hallmarks are the LAST thing you should be looking at to tell vintage (IMO).

 

I like the "pebbly" finish of the wing. This isn't typically seen in most of the Meyer restrikes. To me, it seems like you have a vintage and mint/unused wing that could have been used from (probably) late WWII until the mid-50's or so. I assume the pin only opens up about 80-90 degrees?

 

The thing about N S Meyer is if you ask 50 people, 25 will say "no good" the other 25 will say "looks vintage to me". You have to decide for yourself, as you'll never, ever get consensus. Also, as long as you didn't spend stupid money on them (I would say <$50 bucks or so), then you are fine.

 

Patrick

[Marksman]

Thank you very much Patrik,

 

i like the wing and sometimes this is best for a collector.

 

Yes the Pin opens 90 degrees.

 

No i just spend 10€ (~13,36$) for it.

 

I just saw a Meyer Restrike at the "Waffen Börse Kassel" - it seem the the reestrikes have a smooth surface on the back?

 

 

Im not a high end collector but with every wing i will learn some more.

 

 

Greetings Stefan

[pfrost]

You can't go wrong for ~13$!

 

While I am sure there will be some quibbling, it seems that from my memory the first round of NS Meyer restrikes were the really rare wings. The balloon series, airship and the TO wing. These can be really hard to tell from the vintage wing, and I tend not to even try anymore. Some of those wings have almost 20-30 years of age to them.

 

the next series of fakes I saw were the "alphabet wings"--glider, service and liaison wings, and the medical series of wings. Those came in waves, it seemed. One wave of them had this black paint/lacquer type finish that was a dead giveaway. Later, it seemed that other batches had the appropriate finish. Some of the wings had the good pin, some didn't.

 

I recall during the last peak of wing collecting, some of the other ratings started showing up, like the plain pilot, bombardier and maybe observer. For a bit, I was seeing NS Meyer pattern wings, sans the original hallmark, but then stamped with a fake hallmark (such as AE CO).

 

One wing that never seemed to have been faked was the aircrew wing. Also, wings with the 9M and 22M hallmark (while of a slightly later vintage) never seemed to be faked. So, many years ago, I started looking at those wings to get a better feel about what the vintage NS Meyer stuff should be like. Once you handle enough of those wings, you get a feel for what you are comfortable with in the other ratings.

 

 

PS By faked, I mean restruck. The problem is that the original dies were used. Where the restrikes fall apart seem to be the hardware and the finish on the planchets (the metal used to make the wings).

[Marksman]

Thank ou for the Informations Patrik,

 

this is very interessting. I Have a some M9 and M22 Meyer Sterling Wings so there it is easy to tell if real or not.

 

 

But i also have an Combat Medical badge - marked with a Meyer shied, GI and "Sterling" - all raised.

 

And thats again a little Meyer puzzle

 

Here the Link: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/211846-combat-medical-badge-2nd-award-early-meyer/

 

 

Greetings Stefan

[Sabrejet]

I have a number of those Meyer re-strikes, going back to the 80s in some cases. Several have flat backs with a "frosted" finish like yours.

[pconrad02]

All, The reason I said in my response WWII and just after, is that I have had estate purchased, WWII group wings with this hallmark , also here is the ASMIC chart from the Hallmarks thread as a reference.Plus with Meyer wings, its all about the pin. The "good" ones have the distincive "cammed" pin, like this one. I have seen cases were someone has taked a cammed pin off an Aircrew and put it on a letter wing, but you can usually tell.