Meyer Wings

[geronimocmc]

I have some Meyer 9M wings. While Googling, I came across this site, and read up a little

 

They belonged to my late grandfather. He started as a B-17 Radio operator/gunner and ended on C-47s in the south Pacific. He is a Silver Star recipient. He tried to make a go of the civilian world after the war, but had a hard time making ends meet. He reenlisted in the early 50s, spending his later years as aircraft maintenance and retiring from the Air Force in the 60s. I myself started in the Army, went to being maintenance in the Air Force, and finally aircrew. KC-10s to be specific.

 

The Air Force allows for "heritage wings" to be passed down, and be worn by current crew. I can wear them on my uniform. I have these things and my question is regarding how they should be cared for, and how they're supposed to look. Keep in mind I'm unconcerned about value, as they'll never be sold. I'm also not a collector, even if I have an appreciation for history. They're not sterling as far as I can tell. They do have a black either patina or coating on then. Are they supposed to be darker colored? Is the coating part of how its supposed to look or is this simply from probably sitting in his basement over 50 years. I've had sterling jump wings before, and I obviously kept those highly polished. 

I guess my concern is if I hit these with anything even mildly abrasive, am I going to ruin them. Forgive my relative lack of knowledge on this. Thanks!

[Tonomachi]

You are correct about your concerns if you try and use an abrasive on this wing as it might only have a thin silver oxidized finish over a brass base metal.   If you polish it too much the brass color may come through.  Now I'm not sure of the metal composition of this wing and maybe someone with more knowledge concerning a 1950s era 9M NS Meyer wing will speak up.  From a collector's point of view you don't want to remove the patina as it takes away from it's collector's value however since you want to wear it on your current USAF uniform I can see your dilemma.   The USAF went to all mirror like finish (Sta-Brite) insignia in 1991 so my guess is that you won't be able to wear this wing unless you can get it too a very high gloss sheen.  If they will allow your to wear it in this condition I wouldn't touch it.  However if not you could try using a tooth brush and liquid soap to first clean the surfaces followed by a bath in a chemical you can buy most anywhere called Tarn-X.  You may have to use a different tooth brush to get the chemical into all of the nooks and crannies.  After you let it sit in the chemical bath you rinse it off with water.  Once dried you will need to carefully polish it with what I recommend is Flitz in tube form.  You need to find the Flitz paste in tube form and not the liquid stuff that comes in a bottle.  Flitz supposedly doesn't have any abrasives or acids in it.  You may have to use another tooth brush to get it into all of the nooks and crannies followed by a polish.   If the sheen isn't bright enough your only other option would be to take the wing to a jeweler to have it Nickle or chrome plated.   

[geronimocmc]

1 minute ago, Tonomachi said:

The USAF went to all mirror like finish (Sta-Brite) insignia in 1991 so my guess is that you won't be able to wear this wing unless you can get it too a very high gloss sheen

Fortunately they don't require it to go all the way to Sta-Brite. There is actually a mention in 36-2903 of heritage wings being the exception to sta-brite. For my own preference though I'd prefer something in between sta-brite and years of siting. It'll look a little odd since I have a jump wings and a senior maintenance badge that are sta-brite. But if the answer is no, then I'd rather not ruin them. 

I'll take your chemical suggestions under advisement, much appreciated. I'd thought about a toothbrush as well, that makes sense. 

[geronimocmc]

I wanted to add a follow up and thanks. I went ahead and hit it with some TarnX, and ordered the Flitz Paste. Not sure the photos fully do it justice. 

At first I was a little nervous because with all that tarnish they basically turned straight white, and I couldn't get that off.  I ended up taking some fine steel wool (risky I know) and lightly hitting it. The results were pretty good. The Flitz showed up about an hour ago, and I hit it a few times with that. I'm not positive the pictures do it justice, and its certainly not perfect. I could probabaly go back with the TarnX, and the Flitz again. I could hit it with a polishing wheel probably. But then we're starting to run into risk of ruining them, and its not what I set out to do. If I wanted sta-brite, I'd wear my sta-brite. I just did not want to wear wings that are basically black.