Deco pattern Tri-Tiered or Tri-level Wing 1939-1940 Wing - Amcraft? Orber?

[BROBS]

great info and pictures, guys!

that larger starburst pattern sure looks like AMCRAFT to me.

 

just super wings all around and super discussion.

 

-Brian

[mtnman]

Thanks so much Brian for the heads up,I failed to re-assert that Orber is thought to be the originator of the pattern but when Orber sold, Amcraft

is most certainly believed to be the wing maker who obtained the dies most likely prior to the war, especially with the snowflake or starburst back to the wing which is common to Amcraft if not exclusive in the wing manufacture arena.

[mtnman]

Gentlemen and lady collectors, I have a great privilege of bringing pictures to you one of the finest and most beautifully constructed instructor wings that I have ever seen. This is a wing owned by one of our forum members very active in the wing badge section, whose collection and collecting efforts call for great respect, MGHCAL. This wing is gilt upon the front and has a plate set upon the shield with a beautiful bend running through the tip of the letter "A" in PASA which is the acronym for the school of aviation which utilized this most excellent wing. The bend at the top gives an excellent and elegant effect to the visual experience of the lettering itself running diagonal from the top dexter side of the shield to the base sinister side of the shield. The gilt coloring, though occluded by age still has a very powerful effect on the eye and aesthetic of the viewer.

 

This is the silver plated brass version of this most excellent Amcraft manufactured wing whose die is thought to be originated by the Orber Corporation. There were 2 versions of this wing, one with the pronounced V-shaped base and one with a flat base. I will be discussing both in more detail later, for now please enjoy this most exquisite and precise World War II instructor wing....

[mtnman]

next

[mtnman]

next

[mtnman]

If any of you are familiar with the CNAC wings by the China National Aviation Corporation, you will come to respect and value excellent enameling work and the enameling work on this wing is 2nd to none......

[mtnman]

The individual tasked with wing design choices for this particular school chose the tongue C clasp as the pin catch. A favorite of 20s and 30s wing designers...

[mtnman]

As you will notice there is the smaller starburst pattern on the rear of the wing relative to the larger starburst pattern of the sterling version of this more precise and smooth angled V-shaped shield base version of this wing design as opposed to the more pronounced organic feel of the flat-based shield version of this wing design which more closely mirrored the less precise and more organic design of the Orber wings specifically made for World War II. I will be covering these design differentiations later....

[mtnman]

Please notice the thickness of the wing relative to the sterling examples revealed earlier and that will be spotlighted later as well

[mtnman]

This angle will give you a clear shot of the slight bend in the upper 3rd of the plate set over the shield bearing the acronym of the flight school. That bend in the plate gives an optical illusion of a more readily visible and larger view of the initials of the flight school when viewed from a distance. Excellent work, excellent creativity

[mtnman]

Notice at the pin hinge, you do not see the small protruding support for the pin hinge that you see on the earlier versions of the wing. The earlier versions of the wing as you will see in earlier posts on this thread, have a small oval outlined wall protruding from the rear of the wing where the pin hinge is set and the pin hinge is set upon this little oval wall. The later versions of this design such as what we are seeing now and the flat-based shield versions of this wing do not contain this small oval wall to sit upon but are directly set upon the rear surface of the wing and further, the flat-based shield wings do not have the starburst pattern but they do have identical pin assemblies to the earlier version of the wing as you will see later.

[mtnman]

Finally

[rustywings]

Very Nice! The jeweler's craftsmanship with the red inlaid lettering was certainly professionally done!

 

I'm struggling to identify which Flight School this "PASA" Instructor's wing represent? Any Ideas? I'm assuming the last two letters (SA) in the word PASA, stands for "School of Aviation"? (Maybe Paul, Patrick or Cookieman might know?)

[mtnman]

Options as to PASA acronym meaning:

 

1. Fort Morgan Colorado as of 1995 Fort Morgan municipal Airport; 40 18 103 48 coordinates; the school of aviation during World War II was run by Plains Airways Inc. and it was a glider pilot school.

 

2. Parks airport in Illinois as of 1995 St. Louis Downtown (civilian pilot school); 38 34 15 090 11 coordinates; school of aviation World War II was run by Parks Air College Inc.

 

3. King city airport California as of 1995 Mesa Del Ray civil airport; 36 14 121 06 30 coordinates; school of aviation in World War II was run by Palo Alto Airport Inc.

 

4. This is probably the likeliest of 4; Fort Stockton Municipal Airport Texas; as of 1995 Fort Stockton Pecos County Civil Airport; 30 55 102 55; School of Aviation in World War II Was Run by Pacific Air Schools LTD.;

 

And there you go....

[COOKIEMAN]

Guess I will weigh in with my 2-cents. After checking all my research sources, as well as on-line, I can find no aviation company that fits the letters PASA. My experience tells me all four letters stand for a specific school/company. The following thoughts may help to finally ID the wing,

 

P.....? A.....? School of Aeronautics

 

P.....? Aeronautics School of America

 

P.....? Aviation School of America

 

I'm reasonably certain the wing is from one of the hundreds of WW2 flying schools that provided pilot training for the CAA / CPT / WTS.

[pfrost]

I think you can rule out Pacific Air Schools. I have a few year books and other stuff from this school and they don't seem to have used the PASA designation or wings.

 

The thing to come to mind first is that PASA means "come in" or "come over" in Spanish. Could be a south american airlines

 

BTW here is a good list of flight schools

http://www.airforcebase.net/aaf/cfs_list.html

 

I don't see anything that really fits PASA initials.

 

My suggestion it to look at airlines or trucking agencies, as they also used wings.

 

It is a great wing though.

 

[mtnman]

I just got confirmation from the owner that this came with the grouping from the Palo Alto Airport Inc. with patches etc. Sorry about that guys, I had failed to confirm that when MGHCAL, our intrepid collector and owner of this wing, allowed me the privilege of photographing these for him.

 

The grouping came from an instructor at - King city airport California - Mesa Del Ray civil airport; 36 14 121 06 30 coordinates; School of Aviation in World War II Was Run by Palo Alto Airport Inc.

[mghcal]

The photos look great Mel! Great guesses as well. Here are a few patches that were in this wing lot. Also included were the standard AAC instructor wings if that helps.

[mghcal]

One more

[rustywings]

That's a very nice grouping Mike. Here's another WWII Contract Flight Instructor shoulder patch which may be associated with your wings...

[rustywings]

And your illustrated Eagle Field patch might be associated with this Contract Flight Instructor patch...

[mghcal]

The full lot minus a ww2 .50 caliber bullet and the PASA wing that Mel has taken photos of. He's been doing some great research on these tri-tiered wings.

[mtnman]

Thanks MGHCAL!! Just one of the finest instructor wing's I have seen. What a privilege it has been to hold the wing and peruse the details of this most finely crafted work of heraldry art. And I want to give great thanks to MGHCAL for contributing to and thus making possible the presentation that I am putting together, regarding the development of this style of badge. I am going to look at the development of this badge series originated in the Orber company and acquired by Amcraft. The badge series seems to have originated with the smooth surface and precise angular construct of this 1st version of this wing design we are looking at here in the instructor version. This instructor wing is of the same design, without the nameplate superimposed upon the shield, which has been noted earlier in the thread, displayed in the pilot, senior pilot and command pilot version.

 

I will be looking at the progress of the creative design of this badge series as it moved into a similar flat base shield version of the wing. It is similar AT THE MACRO LEVEL, yet at a micro level, very different in its design presentation. I look forward to sharing what I have discovered with all of you, my most excellent community of brothers and sisters in World War I and World War II military wing badge collecting.

 

Thank you MGHCAL for making my efforts to track this wing pattern possible by allowing me to assess the various wing patterns that you have been so diligent as to retain for your exemplary collection. My compliments and respect my friend.

[mghcal]

Thank you for taking photos as clear as you do Mel and also looking forward to what you've found out.

 

Great patches Russ. Here's an interesting website about Eagle Field in Dos Palos.

http://www.militarymuseum.org/EagleField.html

 

So are there any more guesses what the PASA actually means? Palo Alto ??

[rustywings]

Palo Alto School of Aeronautics?

 

Palo Alto School of Aviation?