Daniel Smilo & Son's Wings - A Simple Question

[5thwingmarty]

That shows it extremely well. The Aircrew wings were supposed to have the eagle from the great seal in front of a background of horizontal lines, like those on the observer wing and the letter wings. On Smilo's Aircrew wing, the background is kind of a stippled or pebbled texture with no horizontal lines. I think the Smilo Aircrew wings are the only ones I have seen without the lined background.

[Kropotkin]

I believe the Balfour air crew wing eschews the horizontal lines too.

[Tim B]

That shows it extremely well. The Aircrew wings were supposed to have the eagle from the great seal in front of a background of horizontal lines, like those on the observer wing and the letter wings. On Smilo's Aircrew wing, the background is kind of a stippled or pebbled texture with no horizontal lines. I think the Smilo Aircrew wings are the only ones I have seen without the lined background.

 

Ah, now I understand what you're referring to. I have not seen many aircrew wings in this pattern, so never really took notice of it. Are there also versions with the lines in the background?

 

Tim

[5thwingmarty]

I just picked up my first Smilo letter wing, a Service Pilot. In looking at it, I think the letter was applied to a base wing. Can the rest of you look at your Smilo letter wings and see if they also appear to have applied letters? My loop is AWOL so I used my tablet to take photos and zoom in and it looks like the grooves extend behind the letter. If I can get my tablet connected to my computer I will try to upload a photo or two later.

 

Marty

[5thwingmarty]

I got some photos with my camera to try and see if they could show whether the letters were applied. They are not as definitive as I had hoped but I still think I see overhangs between the letters and the grooved background that could not be achieved with a one-piece struck wing. Also, in looking at the two Liaison wing photos posted, one appears to have had the L applied much closer to the top of the shield than the other. In blowing up those two photos to where the shields were each 5" tall, one wing has a 1/4" gap between the top of the L and the edge of the shield, and the other has a 1/2" gap.

 

[5thwingmarty]

Two more shots of the wing.

 

[pfrost]

I love the quality of your pictures!

[5thwingmarty]

Thanks Patrick. Sometimes my camera does what I want it to.