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Was told 1944-1945


Garandy
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I'm not an expert on flight wings but I have these pictures below that I kept for reference of a similarly made glider pilot wing.   The wings are slightly different but what is similar is the overall crudeness with a silver wash over a copper or brass alloy pressed base metal and the same pin back assembly.  I was once told a long time ago that this glider pilot wing was a post war German occupation era piece.  Again I don't know for sure but maybe those that specialize in flight wings can chime in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

German made Glider Pilot (1).jpg

German made Glider Pilot (2).jpg

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I think there is no real way to know for sure, short of some sort of documentation or other evidence.  These strike me as being post war/KW period (perhaps made in occupied Japan or Germany as stated above). 

 

On the other hand, the hinge is something that is seen on theater made wings (with the default always seeming to be CBI), but they could also be from Mexico/South America.  People tend to forget that there were many theaters of operation, not just the ETO and CBI. 

 

The pelican beak pattern is generally seen as a mid/late war type pattern, but I again suspect that the "temporal resolution" of defining wing manufactures to some particular date between about 1942-1943/44 and then again from 1943/45-1945 is not that realistic.  NS Meyer and LGB (and a few others) had a modified pelican beak pattern variant that seemed to have been used post WWII and into the KW time period.  Assman (post war German manufacturer) also looks a lot like this pattern.

 

All in all, I think this has been a long winded way of saying "who the heck knows?".  That being said, it is a very handsome wing and I am not sure it really matters that much, and the time between WWII and the KW time period covered a lot of ground with personnel that overlapped each other quite a bit. 

It is a super nice wing and thanks for sharing. Since Its in your collection, you should feel free to date it as YOU see fit... LOL.

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rathbonemuseum.com

What strikes me the most is the strong cliché style of die stamping for both wings where you get a fairly detailed negative impression on the back of the wing. While the designs are fairly simple and streamlined, the striking is super crisp. Most US made wings and even theater made copies were not made like this. Usually they are fairly blank on the back.

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