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Pre WW2 Pilot Wings


irish
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I believe these are from between the wars based on their appearance.? ...  J.A. Meyers & Co and Sterling marked.  Has a drop in pin that opens to 90 degrees.  Nice looking set of wings IMO... as I am not a wing collector but found these recently.  Am I correct on the between the wars time period?

 

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J A Meyers & CO was founded in 1912 and was located in the jewelry district in downtown LA (now the site of the Staples Center)and was primarily involved in making wedding rings and fraternal jewelry. Around 1950, Francis Meyers (the son) took over the company and ran it until the mid 1970's. Francis Meyers was killed in an automobile accident in the late 1990's (well into this 80's).  There are at least two variations of JA Meyer's pilot wings.  A very rare maker, I have only seen a relatively small handful of them show up over the years.  The pin and catch seem to suggest a 20's - 30's time period, but the company was active through both WWI and WWII, so they could have made the wings anytime.    My feeling has always been that they probably made some small batches of wings for a specific contract in the 30's, rather than trying to tap into a larger customer base during WWII.

 

They apparently used a number of different hallmarks over the years.


Francis Meyer was an interesting fellow and was involved in music https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-25-mn-52283-story.html

 

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Without rock solid evidence as to when the specific hallmark was used, or attribution to a pilot these are hard to date.  The style and fittings imply pre-WWII but that can be misleading.  I am not aware of any advanced pilot schools in California or Arizona from 1920 to WWII to create a significant demand for government-issued wings from an LA jeweler.  Even during WWII there were only advanced pilot schools at Stockton in CA and Luke in AZ.  I would guess these J.A. Meyers wings were all private purchase by LA area pilots, but from what decade I cannot say.

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There were a number of air fields in southern California and San Diego that existed between WWI and WWII, with even more being developed after 1942 when the US entered the war.  Bases like March Field in Riverside CA and Ross Field in Santa Anna CA would have been within driving distance to Los Angeles.  Rockwell Field in San Diego also was "relatively close" to Los Angeles. So there may have been a population (albeit probably relatively small) of military aviators residing close to Los Angeles between WWI and WWII.

 

The University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California also had pre-flight training programs (as well as ROTC programs) during the time period between WWI and WWII.  In fact, USC is located almost within walking distance of downtown LA and the jewelry district.

 

It is true, that at this point, there is no real way to narrow down the manufacturing date of these J A Meyer wings, but between 1919 and 1921 USAAC flying cadets received four months of preliminary flight training (combining ground and preliminary flight school) at March Field (or Carlstrom Field, FL).  So there were a population of locally-trained pilots that would have been getting their wings at least from 1919-1921.  Following preliminary flight training there was 3 months of advanced  flight training at Post, Kelly, or Ellington Fields in Texas but by 1922, the Air Service consolidated all its training at San Antonio, TX.

 

Thus, it is reasonable (and more than likely) that between 1919 and 1921 the pre-flight training of flying cadets enrolled in programs in Los Angeles (either at UCLA or USC) would have then gone on to finish up their preliminary flight training at March Field in Riverside, CA.  I've been to Riverside and I can't imagine it was more "appealing" in 1920 than it is now, so I suspect that if you wanted something nice (like a new pair of wings), you had to drive into Los Angeles. 

 

You can find J. A. Meyer & Co, and other local jewelry companies in Los Angeles (such as T V Alan) advertising their lines of wedding, fraternal, masonic and school related jewelry in the local USC and UCLA school papers and year books during this time period.  Thus, young men involved in the pre-flight programs at these Universities would have probably been well aware of J A Meyer & CO, and it would have been relatively easy for someone to make a special order from one of those companies for wings.  This would explain why J A Meyer wings are so rare and supports the idea that the wings were made in the 20's (actually between 1919 and 1921).  I can certainly see why post 1922 or so, the move of pilot training to Texas would have made it less profitable for these companies to manufacture pilot wings, and I suspect that they in fact, didn't.  The only other major Los Angeles based wing manufactures (Moody Brothers and Beverly Craft) appear to have started making pilot insignia in the 1940's in response to the growing demand. 

 

In fact, in a previous thread, I found a TV Alan advert in the USC year book from 1919 strongly suggesting that my TV Allan marked observer wing would  have been available via mail order or via an "in-person" visit to the Los Angeles Jewelry district. Ross Field in Santa Anna was an important training school for balloon pilot and observer training from 1918-1919.  But after that, the balloon observer ratings were changed. So at least with TV Allen Co (a jewelry company that was also located in the Los Angeles Jewelry District), the 1919-1921 time period fits the hypothesis.

I agree, not absolute proof, but rather compelling historical information that JA Meyer's made their wings very early in the 1920s..

 

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I am curious as to when those early aviators would have actually become eligible to wear wings?  Would they have been eligible after primary, or was it like WWII where they had to complete their advanced training to earn them?  

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That is a good question. I believe that in 1918 or so, passing primary flight training got the pilots the rating as a reserve/junior military aviator (and their wings).  Advanced training for combat in Europe was provided at various training schools in France, England, and Italy.  Pilots with enough hours flying were rated as Military Aviators

 

After 1919, the RM/MA rating was abolished and Aircraft Pilot rating was established (and the Adams Style wings were adopted).

It is my understanding that wings were awarded after the preliminary/primary/basic part of training.

 

1919–21

Preliminary Training was for four months

Advanced Training was for three months.

 

1922–26

Primary Training was extended to five months

Advanced Training was extended to six months

 

1926–38

Primary and Basic Training was extended to eight months each

Advanced Training was reduced to four months

 

1939–40 (three 12 week cycles of about 9 months total)

Primary Flight Training was performed by contracted civilian flight schools.

Basic Flight Training was performed at Randolph Field.

Advanced Flight Training (where I think the wings were awarded)

 

By 1941 the approach was further expanding for the streamlining of the training of pilots due to the increased demand of the war.


I could be wrong, but that has always been my understanding.

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I have a few JA Meyers of Los Angeles items, two different wings (Pilot and Hancock Field wings) and a couple of DI’s.
Russ has a copy of a pilot completion certificate from Hancock Field, which shows the same wing pattern as my instructors wing and the certificate is dated May 22, 1930.

Makes sense, as Hancock Field is in Santa Maria California, north of Los Angeles.

Also, their hallmark is listed in the 1931 Keystone Jewelers Index.

 I have always felt that their wings were pre war 1930’s period, probably a specialty item, since they are so scarce and rarely show up on the market today.

As a note, JA Meyers is known to have made the 4th Fighter Command DI in WWII. It is rare and unmarked, but made by Meyers, which again makes sense because much of the 4th was in California.
The few items I have seen by JA Meyers are very, very high quality.
IRISH, I don’t don’t think it matters too much if your wing in the original post is 20’s or 30’s, it is definitely pre WWII and it is a dynamite wing only is seen in the best collections.

 

John

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I have a book that lists the students at Brooks, March and Randolph Fields from 1922 to 1932.  In the summary section is says that 571 graduated from March during the period of 1927 to 1931 when March was being used for flight training.  One site I saw said March had also been used for pilot training from 1918 to 1922, but I don't have any books that provide information for those years.

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