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RESTORING WINGS TO A UNIFORM


BEAST
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FightenIrish35 has a beautiful four pocket coat on which he wants to restore the proper wings. He has another post in the WINGS section asking about the type of wings, but I would like to ask one more question to help FightenIrish35 and other uniform collectors (like me) looking to restore uniforms. What style or quality of wings would you use? Clutchback or pinback? If you are pinning these to a uniform, would you put the money into an expensive pair of wings or standard (cheaper?)"graduation" wings?

 

As for me, when I have restored a pilot's coat, I usually use the no-frills graduation wings. I do this for a couple of reasons. One, for the uniforms that I have, it matches the style. The uniforms don't have bullion insignia and were totally stripped of any pins. Second, if I had a Juarez or Luxemburg or other nicer quality wings, I think I would rather display these seperately, so they are not "lost" on the coat.

 

This is the uniform that FightenIrish35 is restoring http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...c=26907&hl=

 

I would like to hear the opinion of others especially the uniform and wing collectors.

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I second that!

 

It's funny , but has ANYONE ever purchased a Pilot tunic with high end marker wings on it? think.gif I've been collecting this stuff a long time, and I can't remember EVER seeing a Pilot tunic for sale with Luxenberg wing actually ON it.

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Yes I have several jackets that came with the higher end wings on them. Of course this has only happened(save one time) when I bought the entire uniform collection for the man or woman involved. In other words they are complete groupings and have not been "asset harvested" which is very rare these days. The one time I bought a single jacket that had the nice wing it was a Firmin wing, and of course it had all Brit made insignia on it as well.

 

 

Cheers

Gary

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ON MY UNIFORMS FROM VETS THE WINGS ARE IN GENERAL THE PLAIN STERLING MARKED ONES.I DO HAVE A COUPLE WITH AMICO MARKED WINGS.THEY HAVE A NICE LOOK AND STYLE TO THEM.

 

I WOULD SAY USE WHICH EVER ONES YOU LIKE OR CAN PICK UP REASONABLY.

 

RON

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The type of attachment would depend on the evidence i.e does it look like a CB or a PB... As for some of the nicer wings I think some uniforms would lend themselves to a set of nicer wings but it alos depends on how or if you display them.

 

If you have a nice custom IKE with some bullion insignia and are displying it them I would go for a real nice set... it becomes a talking point that sets off the rest of the jacket...

 

JOHN

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'd put a pair or WW-II era issue basic wings on it (if he was a Lt Col, he could have had Senior Pilot's wings) and call it good. the only way to know for sure was if you could find an annotation on some of his archived records.

 

Yes; I've changed my avitar for the Halloween season. It's the costume I wore to a party two years ago.

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