Jump to content

Rare and early 1930's Women's International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA) Wing (pre WASPs)


vintageproductions
 Share

Recommended Posts

vintageproductions

Found this great wing at Rose Bowl Antique Market last week. Wasn't sure what it was at first but knew it had a great deco look to it.

 

With a little looking found lots of mentions of this organizations and who was involved.

 

Found a couple of more on the net, and both are on Ron Burkey's website, his numbers were way lower on the backs.

 

What I am wondering is, does anyone know of a roster that shows which numbers were issued to which pilot?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

wing1.JPG

 

wing2.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not know anything about it but it is a striking wing. Looks like it came right out of a 50s era cereal box Great wing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

vintageproductions

Guess I will be making an appointment and driving down to USC to see what I can find.

 

Thanks for the info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could try calling the librarian, they may look it up for you and save you a trip. If they need an academic title, let me know, I have a PhD and UCLA appointment that may be helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

vintageproductions

Patrick-Thanks.

 

What I am actually planning on doing is asking one of the guys that works in my shop to do the research on it. He has his PhD from USC and wrote their recent history book about the college. Hopefully he will have a little pull.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure Bob. I owe you LOTS of favors so anything I can ever do to help I am more than happy to oblige. You have always been so generous with sharing all your knowledge that I feel like I owe you a great debt of gratitude.

 

Plus as a UCLA Bruin, I am pretty sure I will burst into hives if I have to step foot on U$C's campus...

 

P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

This is a recent find. It is a WIAA (women's international aviation association wing) from the 1930's. Classic art deco design. Blue enamel in the WIAA. All of the WIAA stuff I have seen were made by Allen and are sterling.

 

Why this wing? The WIAA was founded by Elizabeth Lippincott McfQueen in the late 1920's and this organization of women pilots was very instrumental in early aviation history, including the eventual foundation of the WASPs.

(From Wikipedia)

Elizabeth Lippincott was born in Pennington, New Jersey, on September 26, 1878, the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Crispin Lippincott, DD, and his second wife, Deborah Diverty. She graduated from Pennington Seminary in 1898, and in March 1900 married Ulysses Grant McQueen (1864-1937), a wealthy inventor and manufacturer in New York City. The couple lived in New York City until 1928, when they moved to Beverly Hills, California. During World War I, Mrs. McQueen served in war relief work in Palestine under Field Marshal Allenby.
Mrs. McQueen became interested in aviation when in 1920 she witnessed seven airplanes "take the place of two British regiments of soldiers" in routing a large number of rebel Arab cavalry in the desert near Aden. "A vision, mental and spiritual, came to me of millions of women with the hands upraised acclaiming: 'Save my son from war, save my son from war, save my son from war!' I mentally saw these women's faces and hands upraised far into space and heard their voices entreating me. This vision has never left me. Then and there I dedicated my life to aeronautics as an instrument for World Peace."
In September 1928, Mrs. McQueen organized the Women's Aeronautic Association of California, which was soon followed by similar organizations in New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. On May 23, 1929, she organized the Women's International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA), which became the principal focus of her activities for the rest of her life. Mrs. McQueen served as "founder and honorary president" of the WIAA; presidents of the association were, in turn, prominent British aviator Lady Mary Heath (1929-1932), British reporter Lady Grace Hay Drummond-Hay (1932-1940), educator Dr. Mary Sinclair Crawford (1940-1947), actress Mary Pickford (1947-1949), airplane manufacturing executive Olive Ann Beech (1949-1954), and pioneer aviator Matilde Moisant (1954-). A junior division of the WIAA was organized in 1931; members under 7 years old were called "tailwinds", those from 7 through 20 years old "zoomers".
In 1929, Mrs. McQueen and Lady Heath appealed to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in Paris to have women's air records recognized, an appeal that was ultimately successful. At the same time, in order to arouse greater interest in women's flying, Mrs. McQueen conceived the idea and was one of the principal organizers of the first Women's Air Derby from Santa Monica, California, to the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland. 20 female aviators took part in this forerunner to the Powder Puff Derby, the winners being Louise Thaden and, in the lighter aircraft category, Phoebe Omlie.
In 1932 and 1933, Mrs. McQueen published a column, "Happy Contacts", concerning women and aviation, in the monthly magazine Speed; she also published several articles in the The Air Pilot in 1933. In July 1933, Mrs. McQueen, who in 1929 had been deputized as the first aerial policewoman in the world by Police Chief Charles Blair of Beverly Hills, organized the Women's Aerial Police Association, whose members were deputized to assist the civil authorities in times of emergency. From March 1940 to February 1941, she also undertook a Goodwill Tour to Mexico and Central and South America, on which she publicly read a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt and met with many pioneer female flyers.
From approximately 1942 to approximately 1947, Mrs. McQueen resided in the Mission Inn, in Riverside, California, the location of the International Shrine of Aviators and the Famous Fliers' Wall. By the late 1940s, she had returned to her house on Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. Ulysses Grant McQueen died in April 1937, and about 1955 Mrs. McQueen married Dr. Irving Reed Bancroft, a prominent retired physician. She died at her home in Hermosa Beach, California, on December 24, 1958, aged 80, after a long period of declining health. Her ashes are interred in the Portal of the Folded Wing in Pierce Brothers Valhalla Cemetery, in North Hollywood. Although she had devoted her life to furthering the role of women in aviation, she had never obtained a pilot's license.

 

Many of the early women aviators were involved with the WIAA, and some would eventually join the 99's (The 99 organization was founded on November 2, 1929 by 26 licensed women pilots for the mutual support and advancement of women aviators. Amelia Earhart had called for a meeting of female pilots in 1929 following the 1929 Powder Puff Derby. All 117 women pilots licensed at the time were invited, and the group is named for the 99 of them who attended the meeting or expressed an interest in forming a group). The core of these women pilots who would form the WAFS and WASPs in WWII.

 

The WIAA bracelet is probably rather rare, (and I have only seen one or two others) have been "named and numbered" with the initials of the lady and a number. I hope to find out who this early aviatrix was, but so far, no luck.

They apparently had a broach pin back version as well as the bracelet. There are also examples of lapel pins. While not strictly US militaria/insignia, considering the future links to WASPs and WAFS, it seems that this is a nice wing to post on the forum.

post-1519-0-35005200-1565998648_thumb.jpg

post-1519-0-97369800-1565998655_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

rathbonemuseum.com

Tried to see if there was a roster of 99s or other early groups to see if there was a GK. Couldn't find anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hey Patrick, while checking a couple of ebay listings today, I happened upon a 1933 Memorial Day dated all women's air race program sanctioned by the "National Aeronautics Association" and sponsored by the "Women's International Association of Aeronautics," the "Ninety-Nines" and a group named "The Early Birds." What made the air-race program notable to me was the use of the identical WIAA wing and globe logo depicted on your rare bracelet, printed on the cover. (Check out Ebay item #293130857880 for additional.) Beautiful bracelet!

 

WIAA related C.jpg

WIAA-relatedB.jpg

WIAA related B.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

rathbonemuseum.com

And here is another one illustrated on this site about Elizabeth McQueen, founder: http://www.earlyaviators.com/emcqueen.htm

 

This wing belonged to the fascinating Princess Der Ling whom was part of the final Qing dynasty court before it was ended by the 1911 revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Der_Ling

 

 

 

mcqueenwiaa1.jpg

mcqueenwiaa2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...