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AMERICANS WEARING ITALIAN WINGS-WWI?


BEAST
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  • 2 years later...

My father, Ist Lt A.G. Johnson, trained at Foggia, Italy in 1918. He completed Military Aeronautics training at Ohio State University in October 1917. While at flight training in Italy, he qualified as a Brevetted pilot and was granted the right to wear the Italian wings on both sleeves. He was assigned to Romorantin, France as a ferry pilot. He continued in the Reserve into the early 1920s. I have a photo of him in uniform, US pilot wings on chest. The Italian wing tips show on the sleeves, but I don't have a close-up. His uniforms disappeared during the Depression years. I have his "Libretto Personale Di Volo" from Battaglione Scuole Aviatori.

Hi, I'm a journalist and I'm doing a search on the American pilots who , between 1918 and 1918 , were trained in Foggia . I wanted to know if you had photos , documents and more . Of course I will indicate the source of the documents . Thank You

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone,
I often see people asking for infos about Italian WWII wings.

In order to help wings collectors, I post some Italian WWII and pre-WWII wings.
I hope it's not too off-topic, in this case I hope the Administrator will forgive me...


>> WWI Pilot Wings
Corpo Aereo Militare, Regio Esercito (Military Air Corps, Italian Royal Army)

The following wings could be dated from 1909 to 1923.
Full size wings (2,75"), WWI pattern

 

NOTE: I don't know if these two cloth wings are original from WWI or not, as I know very little about cloth wings.

NOTE: the wings I post are without Royal Crown.
Italian wing WITHOUT Royal Crown = Basic Pilot or Civilian Pilot
Italian wing WITH Royal Crown = Military Pilot

post-104661-0-83746500-1421449329.jpg

post-104661-0-80940600-1421449339.jpg

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>> Between the wars wings:
Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force)

Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) was born in 1923, and in 1946 was replaced by Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Air Force).

Pilot Wings had different patterns, depending on the period:
1923-1935 wings had "rounded" wings and no fasces,
1935-1943 wings had "straight" wings and fasces,
1943-1946 wings had "straight" wings but no fasces.

 

Dress uniform wings (2"), 1923-1935 pattern:

post-104661-0-82140200-1421449510.jpg

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>> WWII Wings:

 

Regia Aeronautica
1935-1943 pattern: classic WWII Pilot wings, with fasces and straight wings.

Full size wings (3"), 1935-1943 pattern (two different styles):

post-104661-0-16367000-1421449593.jpg

post-104661-0-69153000-1421449605.jpg

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Regia Aeronautica Cobelligerante (1943-1945)
(Cobelligerant Royal Italian Air Force - Allied side)

 

Fasces were removed from wings in late 1943.

 

NOTE: Pilot wings with Royal Crown and WITHOUT fasces were used until 1946.

 

Full size wings (3"), modified 1935-1943 pattern & Lapel wings (1"), modified 1935-1943 pattern:

post-104661-0-90951400-1421449739.jpg

post-104661-0-82268300-1421449752.jpg

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Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana or A.N.R. (1943-1945)
(Nationalist Air Force - Axis side)

Early A.N.R. wings (from late 1943 to 1944) had Royal Crown removed.
In late 1944, A.N.R. adopted a new Pilot Wing, with totally different design.


Full size wings (3"), modified 1935-1943 pattern & Full size wings (3"), 1944-1945 pattern:

 

post-104661-0-03924300-1421449845.jpg

post-104661-0-37332700-1421449852.jpg

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Final notes:
1) this is only a very little and imperfect summary, not a complete listing of all Italian WWI and WWII wings;
2) Italian wings pin has generally a "c" catch, or a "push-pull" safety catch (see picture below)
3) Italian wings could be hallmarked or not; known WWII Italian wing makers were: Johnson, Lorioli, Picchiani-Barlacchi, Breccia, Lancia, D'Angelo-Giordano and many others.

4) all wings photos I posted here are intended for historical purposes only!!!

post-104661-0-18406300-1421449889.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

post-42186-0-29316700-1463785998.jpg

WW1 italian wings badge dont 'exist.
Italian Air Force born in 1923- 3/28/1923 -
WW1 italian pilots were infantry, artillery, engineer...an so on officers/s.off. and they had just a little metal badge (propeller) over the original infantry/artillery...hat badge.
During the war was made a special sleeve bullion braid badge - eagle with crown -
Ciao/regards
Max

 

 

Gents

 

I am working the final section. WWI Italian Aviation. Seeking authentic insignia and orders.

 

Please contact me direct as I don't watch these boards

 

Panda

 

[email protected]

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Here is one in my collection. The seller I got this from had nothing but USAAC flight wings for sale that he had accumulated over the years. This WW2 era Italian pilot wing was the only foreign flight wing amongst this grouping of wings which he told me was worn supposedly by a USAAC pilot. Unfortunately he didn't keep the name of the USAAC pilot who wore this Italian pilot wing.

 

 

post-1389-0-16850000-1463865282.jpg

post-1389-0-20649800-1463865295.jpg

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Here is one in my collection. The seller I got this from had nothing but USAAC flight wings for sale that he had accumulated over the years. This WW2 era Italian pilot wing was the only foreign flight wing amongst this grouping of wings which he told me was worn supposedly by a USAAC pilot. Unfortunately he didn't keep the name of the USAAC pilot who wore this Italian pilot wing.

 

 

 

This is a typical 1943-1946 Royal Italian Air Force Pilot wing, made during the Cobelligerant (Allied side) period (note that there is no fasces). A nice pair of wings!

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WW1 italian wings badge dont 'exist.

Italian Air Force born in 1923- 3/28/1923 -

WW1 italian pilots were infantry, artillery, engineer...an so on officers/s.off. and they had just a little metal badge (propeller) over the original infantry/artillery...hat badge.

During the war was made a special sleeve bullion braid badge - eagle with crown -

 

I'm sorry but this is wrong. The first Italian Pilot badge was from 1912: a golden cloth eagle on uniform sleeves.

In 1914 a Royal Crown was added above the eagle.

In 1914 they also introduced two different badges: the classic golden eagle for Officer Pilots,

and a golden winged prop (very similar to USAAF collar insignias) for Sub-Officer Pilots.

In 1920 appeared the first metallic golden eagle (same insignia for both Officer and Sub-Officer Pilots), which moved from the sleeves to the chest of the uniform.

 

The first Italian aeronautical corps was created in 1884 and was called "Sezione Aeronautica del Genio" (something like the old US Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division); in 1906 they had their first badge (a clothed hot air balloon on the uniform sleeves).

The "Sezione Aeronautica del Genio" changed the name several times and was closed in 1915, when was created the first real Italian Air Force, called "Corpo Aereo Militare del Regio Esercito" (Military Air Corps of Italian Royal Army, something like USAAF).

In 1923 the "Corpo Aereo Militare" became autonomous (like USAF in 1947) and changed name to "Regia Aeronautica" (Royal Air Force).

In 1946 Italy became a Republic and the name of the Air Force changed again to "Aeronautica Militare Italiana" (Italian Air Force). Of course, the badge changed again and again (1946: golden eagle without Royal Crown; 1952: golden eagle with a Republican Tower instead of the old Royal Crown; 1956: golden eagle with Republican Tower but with a different wings design).

 

I hope this will help foreign wings collectors...

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