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Sterling Clutch Back Paratrooper Wing WWII?


lakenormanusa
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lakenormanusa

I bought this paratrooper wing because it's marked sterling and has finely detailed wings. Would this be considered a WWII era wing and is it indicative of any particular maker?

Thanks!

Rick

 

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A few WWII period clutch back jump wings exist, but this is not one of them. Typically, if the clutch prong looks like a nail, it is post war manufacture. WWII Manufactured wings typically have a "puddle" of silver solder around the prong to keep it in place on the wing. Look at some WWII Combat Infantry Badges for comparison.

 

Your wing is a nice one with fine feather detailing, but I am afraid that I cannot tell you who made them.

 

Allan

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lakenormanusa
14 hours ago, Allan H. said:

A few WWII period clutch back jump wings exist, but this is not one of them. Typically, if the clutch prong looks like a nail, it is post war manufacture. WWII Manufactured wings typically have a "puddle" of silver solder around the prong to keep it in place on the wing. Look at some WWII Combat Infantry Badges for comparison.

 

Your wing is a nice one with fine feather detailing, but I am afraid that I cannot tell you who made them.

 

Allan

 

Awesome!

 

Thank you for the info Allan!

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  • 1 year later...

These jump wings are currently listed as part of a grouping on eBay. I initially wanted to say that the clutch backs are of the WWII period but then I seemed to remember an older post from the forum that ones that appear to have a sleeve are post war instead. My question is: are they post war or am I mistaken and they are WWII period. Electro soldered and nail heads are no brainers as being post war. These have me second guessing. Waiting for the long time collectors to weigh in on these. The picture quality of the grouping isn’t good enough for me or possibly anyone else to assess it as a whole.

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On 8/26/2020 at 7:12 PM, lakenormanusa said:

I bought this paratrooper wing because it's marked sterling and has finely detailed wings. Would this be considered a WWII era wing and is it indicative of any particular maker?

Thanks!

Rick

 

1610388934_20200826_2156442.jpg.67ebf0d758f7fbb07a918a86da28607e.jpg

 

1393764660_20200826_2140562.jpg.14d2868a9439a7de7d3b0b0977dddb38.jpg

I see these every now and then and they are always marked STERLING without a manufacture hallmark.  I always thought they looked like the WW2 era pin back AMICO paratrooper wing pictured below.

 

 

AMICO 2nd HM (2).jpg

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I found these wings listed today on eBay as being WWII but the prongs give them away as being post war. They have a GEMSCO hallmark along with patina to show age. I have read on the forum that wings like these were made and are indeed rare. Does anyone care to weigh in on them?

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The following are assumptions made by me and other collectors based on many years of collecting paraglider insignia.  This has been discussed on other threads but it is my understanding that paraglider wings did not exist during WW2.   These came about afterwards in post war Japan.  The 11th  Airborne Division was part of the occupation forces stationed in Japan after the war.  They had a number of glider infantry only battalions and decided to make them all airborne infantry by getting everyone through their own inhouse airborne school.   So after getting everyone through jump school they ended up with a lot of dual qualified glider and airborne qualified troopers.  Someone then came up with the paraglider wing for these dual qualified troopers.   It was probably unauthorized and worn on baseball caps off duty or they have been tolerated and/or worn in defiance of  General MacArthur.   I spoke with an 11th Airborne Division paratrooper once who served as part of the occupation forces in Japan.  He told me that General MacArthur disliked elite military forces and forced the paratroopers to un-blouse their trouser pants and banned the wearing of their jumpsuits.  So one of the things they did in defiance was to starch their Khaki uniforms until they were almost white to distinguished themselves from non-airborne soldiers.   I don't know this for sure but the paraglider wing may have been tolerated by airborne officers for this very reason. 

 

Most of the paraglider wings you come across for sale are fake.  The original ones were all Japanese made after the war and three variants are pictured below.   The supposed WW2 British made paraglider wings of which two variants are pictured below are all fake.   Since paraglider wings were post war how could they have been made in the UK during WW2 and I doubt that an 11th Airborne Trooper on leave had a batch made in England.  

 

It would appear that two US insignia companies did produce paraglider wings after the war.  You come across die stamped sterling examples in all three grades.  They are all unauthorized insignia so they are more novelty than anything else.   GEMSCO was the most proliferate insignia company that produced paraglider wings followed by N.S. Meyer.   The paraglider wing pictured below with STERLING GEMSCO raised inside of a recessed rectangle with the cammed pin back assembly could pass as WW2 but we know they didn't exist during this time period so it was probably made right after the war for troopers serving in Japan during the occupation.  The two NS Meyer versions pictured below I'm not that confident are real like the GEMSCO piece.

 

The next set of pictures are of various GEMSCO paraglider novelty wings.  The next group of photos are of senior and master paraglider wings that may or may not be novelty or outright fake.  The last photos are of of a particular style of paraglider wing that you come across all of the time that I feel is fake especially the version with the British style pin back assembly.  Usually you come across this style paraglider wing in sterling and clutch back.  Again these are my opinions based on what I have encountered on the collector's market for over 40 plus years now so these are best guesses and not 100% correct.

 

 

Japanese Occupation US ParaGlider Wing (2).JPG

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Fake Sterling Australina made ParaGlider (2).jpg

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NS Meyer NY STERLING Paraglider (2).jpg

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GEMSCO N.Y. PARAGLIDER WING PB (2).jpg

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Master GL Cooper Showing Nose (2).jpg

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ParaGlider Unk CB STERLING (1).jpg

ParaGlider Unk CB STERLING (2).jpg

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Regarding clutch back WWII jump wings; It seems perfectly logical that they exist given the number of other WWII clutch back wings that were made during WWII. That said, I've been an avid collector of WWII airborne uniforms for a number of years. I've bought, sold, collected and handled hundreds of them. Many were acquired from families or other sources such that I was the first collector in the chain of custody. In all that time I've only encountered one set of CB wings on a WWII airborne uniform....and these were PB wings that had been crudely modified to CB along with his DUIs. As Allan says, they no doubt exist but are very scarce....

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  • 1 month later...

I received these clutch back jump wings  today with a group I purchased. They have the pooling of solder around the base of the prongs that is common with WWII period clutch backs but the prongs are 1/4 inch long. I understand that WWII period wings were shorter. It has crossed my mind that they might have been altered to clutch back but its more likely that they are post war, made before the early 1950s. Any input about these would be helpful. I’m hoping my photos show enough details to assess them. 

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You have a post war paratrooper wing made by the Crest Craft Company as I've seen examples hallmarked with 14-C.  This is a pretty common sterling hallmarked wing and because of  this some unscrupulous people have taken these to jewelers to have the clutch back pins removed and replaced with a pin back assembly.  They then claim it is a WW2 era piece in hopes of selling it at a higher price.   Below are photos of one of these jeweler modifications.  There are senior and master versions of this wing which is one of the ways to determine if you have a post war piece.  Your particular piece looks like the blank was misaligned during the stamping process.  

 

 

CB Removed PB Added (1).jpg

CB Removed PB Added (2).jpg

14C Senior CB.jpg

14C Unmarked (2).jpg

14C Unmarked (1).jpg

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Thanks for your assessment. The length of the prongs alone gave me reason to believe that they were probably post war and not war time production. Being produced by Crest Craft seals the deal as they were a post war manufacturer. Many thanks again for your input. You confirmed my suspicion about my wings. The other wings in the group that they were with were easier to identify for me, having hallmarks. 

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  • 1 month later...
USMarineCorps

What are your thoughts on this one? These came in a grouping from a 17th ABN officer who got the combat star for participating in Operation Varsity. Seems to have the short style posts soldered on, but I am not sure whether this is a WW2 era CB set.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking at the back of your wings it’s clear that they are post war. Although they are marked sterling with no hallmark which is consistent with WWII jump wings the prongs are post war. They are of the nail head type and appear longer than those used on wartime clutch backs. Wartime clutch backs are extremely hard to find.

Unless you received them directly from the veteran who told you that he wore them during the war it would be hard to date them. They appear to be from the post war period from 1946 to the early 1950’s. If you haven’t researched clutch back jump wings there are plenty of good threads on the forum that can help you. 

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