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Dallas Wings in Wear


cwnorma
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I was goofing around on the Library of Congress website and found a few interesting images of WW1 era aviators wearing "Dallas" type wings.  Some of the images were fairly rough, regardless, each of them had enough detail to reveal clear images of Dallas wings in wear:

 

BBBDallas5.jpg.f9afdc4174f578afc9022e343e1cf6bf.jpg

 

The first image shows Major General Mason Patrick and an unknown Air Service Lieutenant.  The Lieutenant wears a pair of Bailey Banks and Biddle "Dallas wings."  There is quite a bit of detail in the full size digital image on the LOC website. The Lieutenant's U.S. collar insignia is clearly unhooked and hanging loose!

 

BBBDallas4.jpg.2f46dfe39ebef215d05e58d83126f36b.jpg

 

In the above image, an unknown Air Service Lieutenant holds the Squadron mascot.  I wasn't sure if there would be enough detail to make out the wing, but it is clear enough to see that it too is a BB&B type "Dallas wing."

 

BBBDallas3.jpg.6e3d3a5ce06fb894f47799373134faa1.jpg

 

There were two photos of the unknown Lieutenant.  The second photo's plate was starting to delaminate when it was transferred to a digital image.  However, the wing badge is quite clear -- confirming that he wears a BB&B type "Dallas-wing."

 

BBBDallas2.jpg.1bd5eb3b06c2859c524ed49a0f725305.jpg

 

The delamination of this image is worse than the last but the portion of the photo showing the wing badge is remarkably clear.  This young officer also wears a BB&B type "Dallas wing" but with clear damage to the right hand (as worn) wing.  In this image it appears as though the back plate might be visible but that is actually an artifact of the delamination (as seen in the next photo).

 

BBBDallas.jpg.3b880906775c673da35c158a0f347d49.jpg

 

Worse still overall, is the above image.  It is significantly delaminated.  However, the portion showing the young Aviators wing badge is remarkably clear and shows the damaged right wing tip.  Although collectors tend to not prefer damaged "Dallas wings" the images above show that aviators continued to wear them.

 

UNKDallas.jpg.b7d44ae2629891a341c1a627fb49087d.jpg

 

The final image is a bit of a departure.  In this image, an unknown Captain wears the second type "Dallas wing" with three distinct feathers in the shoulder and smaller shield (the type @pfrost helpfully coined "SHS Dallas").

 

If anyone wants to get the full size (they are very large) versions of these images, they are available for free download at the Library of Congress Website:

 

https://www.loc.gov

 

Chris

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