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WWII CBI made Wing - Navajo/Diné pattern


usaf70
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Looking for some opinions on the shown wing.

The wing was obtained in a grouping of 373rd Bomb Squadron

items including some very nice silk 373rd patches.

It is finely detailed on front of wing and pin back with U S type pin, I believe.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

2DCC147E-BFAF-4C4A-87DB-0ECC4FB90A50.jpeg

FB1D0273-0977-425E-BD0B-01DC2707BFC7.jpeg

FC60F58E-B523-496F-BBE3-5999FEA92107.jpeg

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This looks like a Navajo made wing to me.  Probably from the Albuquerque area.  If you have the name of the bombardier I can check a reference book to see if we can find which school he went to and what class he was in.  I think many of these wings can be traced to graduates of the school at Roswell.

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Thanks guys. Your help is always appreciated.

This wing was with couple other WWii wings and some nice leather

CBI patches, leather and silk 373rd Bomb Squadron patches (shown on another thread),

and a small diary/ log detailing him bailing out and regrouping with the crew.  Still trying to find out

which B24 they were flying when forced down.

 

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You can search on the Fold3 website in the MACRs for his name.  If he is listed it will id what plane he was on.  I have a couple of books on the 308th BG but none for this squadron.

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Learned something today reading this thread and the Link that Todd posted.  In all of the years that I've been around AAF material I have never run across a Navaho made wing.  They are gorgeous,  how many patterns have been identified?  

 

Thanks for the education, Gregg 

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The only two ratings I have seen are bombardier and observer, with the observer being more rare.  Each wing was hand made so no two are exactly alike. 

 

In looking at my wings, it appears they start with flat silver stock that was cut to shape, and then the shoulders and inner row of feathers on the full-size wings were hammered out to add some depth.  The feather details were then added with fletching on the outer feathers.  For the bombardier wings, the base wing has a flat circle in the center, to which raised rings were added to create the target background.  The bombs are made in two pieces, the base bomb with two incised rings on the body and a third fin added.  For the observer wings, they also have the flat circle in the center, with the horizontally-lined observer device added as a separate piece.

 

The "full-size" wings can vary in size.  Mine is only 2-5/8" in span but I have seen them up to a full 3" in span.  My "shirt-size" wing is also undersized at 1-11/16" in span.  My "full-size" wing has the target background while my "shirt-size" wing has the observer background.  The bomb on my smaller wing also has the three fins.

 

I also have a bombardier wing made from a "2nd pattern" Bell Trading Post pilot wing where the shield was cut and/or ground to a circle and then raised ring segments were added to form the target, and a very similar looking three-finned bomb was added.  I have seen one other bombardier wing like this one, and the way the targets were formed and the style of the three-finned bombs leads me to believe they were probably from the same source as the "Navaho" wings.

 

Marty

 

 

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Navajo is the "white man's" term for them.  It should be Diné wings, if we are being totally correct!  LOL.

 

In the Navajo language, Diné means "the people" as they call themselves.  Wikipedia, it knows everything!!

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I stand corrected on my spelling.  Its not my first typo and will certainly not be my last.  I at least partially blame the forum system for not indicating my spelling of the word was incorrect.

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rathbonemuseum.com

It's remarkable that since we started discussing this back in 2014 that a few more have shown up. You just wonder how many total there are. There can't be that many. And I wonder how many guys wore such a 3D wing on their tunic. 

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The last one I recall seeing sell on ebay was a full-size observer wing, and it was in great condition, and I think that one sold for more than $500.  The ones I have I was able to get for much less than that.

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