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AMCRAFT or American Metal Crafts Co: examples and patterns


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Adding to the triplet theme, this was one of the first "sets" that I acquired. As I have said before, sometime in the late 1990's/early 2000's a dealer in Hawaii (IIRC) found a stash of NOS AMCRAFT wings. He showed up at the LA ASMIC show a few days before one of the last Great Western shows and was selling them out of a box for $9.99 each! I bought as many as I could (about 10). Then a few ways later at the GW, I found someone selling a senior pilot AMCRAFT wing (I think for 35$). I managed to talk him down a bit because of all the other AMCRAFT pilot wings that were now circulating. Then I spent a world wind tour of the GW looking for the command pilot wing. Back in the day, the GW filled 7-8 large hanger-like buildings and I finally found the command pilot wing in the case of a guy selling pistols and other firearms. Success!

 

I have always loved this pattern of wing. Most people will say this is always a pre-war/30's vintage pattern, but the command pilot wing wouldn't have been authorized until 1940 or so. Still, probably an early pattern. The senior pilot (1940) could also be thought of as a military airplane pilot rating (1936) if you wanted. I am not sure how one would differentiate between the two, outside of an autobiographical wing.

 

Mostly they are silver plated brass or silver plated pot metal. They show up in a variety of catches, including a barrel catch, "C" catch, and the "undercatch" style. They also sometimes come in sterling silver.

 

This pattern seems to share some similarities with the W Link style wings (as the starburst/snowflake back), and I believe that perhaps AMCRAFT bought Link's dies sometime in the 30's.

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Balloon pilot, senior balloon pilot, balloon observer and observer wings are all in this pattern (and with starburst backs). Not sure if any were actually hallmarked with AMCRAFT, but I think at least a few were.

 

There is also an Airship pilot wing with the starburst pattern, but with a different feather pattern. I suspect that the airship was actually made by Link rather than by AMCRAFT.

 

During WWII (or at least by 1942) AMCRAFT seemed to have switched to the second pattern. That pattern has all the traditional WWII ratings.

 

I suspect that both pattern 1 and pattern 2 were worn throughout the war.

 

LGB has a similar pattern 1 and pattern 2 wing that I think are very similar to AMCRAFT.

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Opps... the title should be later Type 2.

 

To continue the idea of putting together the pilot, senior pilot and command pilot of a particular manufacturer, I am including the type-2 Amcraft wings. I don't have an AMCRAFT marked command pilot (yet) although a number of companies seemed to have made the command pilot wing in this pattern post WWII/KW (Dondero, for example). I won't be including them, although the pattern is (from the front) the same as these.

 

One thing to notice is that (in general) the stars in WWII vintage senior pilot wings tend to be smaller than the start in post WWII senior pilot wings.

 

First thing about the second-pattern AMCRAFT wings, they seem to have come out around 1942, based on the fact that you will find this pattern in all the WWII USAAF ratings. Sometimes hallmarked, sometimes not, but once you see one AMCRAFT type-2 (with the distinct feathers in the shoulders and the "pushed in" back, you pretty much have seen them all. In the past, some members of the forum felt that the unmarked AMCRAFT wings were likely made by GEMSCO (GEMSCRAFT or AMSCRO). But if you are interested you can look those old threads up yourself.

 

So, while the AMCRAFT type-1 was probably pre/early war, these are no doubt WWII vintage. I suspect that AMCRAFT either sold their dies or went out of business between WWII and the KW because I don't recall every seeing a USAF or USAAF/USAF transition AMCRAFT marked wing. They may exist but they are rare.

 

In any case, I have always loved the AMCRAFT pattern. You can find them in almost all the WWII ratings, but not in the pre-WWII rating like balloon or airship wings.

 

The pilot wings are very common.

The senior pilot wings are very rare.

The command pilot wings (hallmarked with AMCRAFT) are even more rare.

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The back of the AMCRAFT wings. The have this nice arc, are always raised and they seemed to use a "pusher" striker to make the back. This kind of gives the planchett a folded look.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

I was fortunate to pick these up.

Amcraft Pilot. I am guessing these are silver plated Brass

as there is no sterling mark. Patrick told me once to be patient, that there are deals to be found.

34.00 bucks.

 

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  • 8 months later...

Hi guys,

 

Does this Amcraft pattern Bombardier wing look ok? It has the usual raised sterling mark and has a worn frosted finish. The separate bomb looks like it's been attached slightly off centre.

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Dave

 

Posted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted Image

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

 

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This wing looks ok to me. I have a couple of bombardier wings where the bomb was attached off center.

Thanks for the reply mate, much appreciated.

 

I'm confident the wing is good too. I had someone say it was cast because of "pitting". I told the guy it's not pitting but degradation or wear to the frosted finish giving it a speckled look, I've seen this a few times on these Amcraft pattern wings.

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

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  • 1 month later...
5thwingmarty

Since we had photos of the other variants posted in this thread I though I should add this one. Not much different but is in Sterling instead of plated brass.

 

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  • 1 year later...
7 hours ago, Mr. Scratch said:

Not a pilot wing guy, but am looking for a set of good WWII era wings, early to mid-war preferably. Are these okay?

 

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real as they can be. i have two of them

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Amcraft made at least two unique patterns of pilot wings. The first "early wing" pattern likely started life in the prewar time period (people like to bandy about 1930's) and I wouldn't quibble too much about that.  The relatively unique and high shoulder wings seemed to have been popular and you see a variety of interesting wings in that pattern made by other companies (including Amcraft and LGB).  Also the starburst of snowflake backing on these wings seem to show up on some early wings and insigia, like Orber and Link.  In fact, it does seem that AMCRAFT may have bought the Link dies in the late 20's or 30's.  However, while likely the pilot wings (and observer wings) may have started life prior to WWII (I suspect that they were probably closer to the start of WWII rather than earlier than most collector's want to believe), the senior and command pilot wings would have been from the 1940's and into WWII.  I have dated photos of guys wearing this pattern of wing well into the war.  Also, you never see this first pattern showing up in other ratings, like the bombardier or gunner. Finally, I have never seen this first pattern of wing in the alphabet series.  All of which makes me think that, no matter what, the manufacturing of these wings was probably done only up to the first few years of WWII.

 

Not exactly rare, the snow flake pattern of AMCRAFT wings are nice and mostly (but now always) seem to be silver plated brass or pot metal. Rarely you will see these in sterling silver.  The pin and hinge are also unique, with a relatively thin and uncammed pin and easily broken hinge similar (but not exact) to the Juarez wings.  Sometimes seen in clutch back, sometimes in pin back, my feeling is that they were mostly intended for day to day wear and so are rather light and cheaply made.  I posted a thread about pattern 1 triplicates earlier.

 

The second pattern of AMCRAFT wings are (at least for the pilot) rather common and probably were developed and sold no earlier than 1942 or so (again, its hard to draw an exact line in the sand), but I do think that these wings are mostly WWII vintage.  The second pattern, with their unique shoulder and "pinched back" are also pretty distinctive.  I have always found these to be attractive and highly collectable.  Still, they are very common and are not an expensive or hard wing to find... Except for a few examples. 

 

This second pattern always seemed highly art deco to me, and can be found in almost ALL WWII aviation ratings (except for balloon and airship versions).  But all the other WWII wings (pilot series, alphabet wing series, observer, bombardier, gunner, a/c, navigator, silver FS, etc) can be found (I cannot recall if the 3 inch gilt FS wings and FE wings were made by Amcraft).  The pilot wing series tend to be hallmarked on the back with the unique AMCRAFT mark on the back of the shield.  The other ratings are more commonly found without hallmarks and may have slight variations that have led some be argue that these wings are not AMCRAFT wings.  However, the similarities (to my eyes) make it more than likely (in my opinion) to have been made by AMCRAFT.

 

These 2nd Amcraft wings are all relatively common (except for the alphabet wings and senior/command pilot wing) and an almost complete set of these wings can usually be found without too much effort or money (if you are lucky, patient, and good at negotiations, likely most wings can be purchased beten30-50$ per wing).  Because they are relativley common, not many are faked.  I dont' know for sure, but I believe by the end of WWII, a number of companies went out of business (like AE Co, AMICO and AMCRAFT) and the dies were then bought and used by other companies (GEMSCO for AMICO and likely Dondero for AMCRAFT).  I have a number of post WWII and KW/later Dondero marked wings in the second AMCRAFT pattern.

 

The WWII vintage AMCRAFT pilot series (not usually found on the other ratings) include a unique hallmar with an arched AMCRAFT label and "pinched" shoulders that seemed to have been made using a unique "forcer" or "pusher" die on the back.  Dondero wings (to the best of my recollection) have neither of these features.  The pinch shoulders also seem to be hard to cast, making these wings difficult to fake.

 

While the pilot wing is common as can be, the other two ratings are significantly rarer.  The senior pilot wing usually shows up with an integral star, while the command pilot wing has a seperately applied wreath and star.  Sometimes this may have been jeweler made, but my experience is that the command pilot seems to have been done in factory.

 

IT has been my experience that for every 1000 AMCRAFT pilot wings, you may find only 1 AMCRAFT senior pilot wing and for every 100 senior pilot wings, you may only find one AMCRAFT command pilot wing (with the AMCRAFT logo and pinched shoulders).  I would argue that the second pattern AMCRAFT wing was only made during WWII and that the company went out of business soon after the end of the war.  Since very few WWII pilots would have reached the requirements for senior pilot ratings by the end of the war and even fewer the commmand pilot rating, then the scarcity of these wings makes sense.  After the war and into the KW, the more common Dondero marked wings makes sense.  I have more than a few autobiograhical Dondero wings that were worn by pilot who only reached the Command pilot status after the KW.

 

Recently I managed to pick up the final triplicate of the AMCRAFT second pattern command pilot wing, and I have been looking for a very long time for this.

 

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Here are some close ups of the senior pilot wings.  You can see that the pin is uncammed (unlike NS Meyer pins) and is made up of either a steel or sometimes brass pin with a loop at the end.  The look is then cinched between the two ears of the hinge.

 

The catch is usually a think barrel under hooking catch with a small eared piviting piece that holds the pin.  It is not as weak an assembly as the Juarez wings, but can frequently be found broken.

 

The hallmark reads AMCRAFT and Attleborough MASS and sterling.  Usually right in the center of the shield.  YOu an also thee the pinched back.  Sometimes the edges totally touch, sometimes they don't.  But the planchet is usually pretty finely made, with a sort of frosted finish.

 

In some cases the wings appear to have been painted with a lacquer finish that over time turns yellow or goldish due to age.  I have often seen AMCRAFT wings with this "yellowish" finish being sold as some sort of instructor insignia.  They aren't!  There may be a few gilt AMCRAFT wings out there that could be civilian instructor wings, but they are rather rare.

 

In this senior pilot wing, you can see that the senior pilot star is integral to the wing and thus is a one piece version.  I do recall seeing some added stars in a number of collections, but in those cases I think it was a secondary addition by a jeweler.

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It was difficult to get everything in focus. But for the command pilot wing, it seems that the wreath and star are added separately.  I guess to be fair, one can argue that this could also be a jeweler made addition.  But in hand, the command pilot wing seems to have been made by the AMCRAFT company.  I have found very few command pilot AMCRAFT wings and I suspect that during WWII the demand for these would have been rather low. 

 

Another thing that I use for dating command and senior pilot wings is the size of the star.  IN GENERAL the star seems to be smaller on WWII vintage wings than post WWII vintage wings.  As you can see in the side by side image, the stars of both wings are about the size.  It makes little sense that someone would cut down an extant command pilot wing to MAKE a new command pilot wing (unless someone was trying to cheat).  For example, sometimes you will see a post WAR NS Meyer command pilot wing star and wreath taken off an mated to a WWII vintage pilot wing in an attempt to make a more valuable item.  It is my feeling that this wing in my collection doesn't represent that type of fudging and is actually a good version.

 

If you look around, you will actually only find a few examples of AMCRAFT command pilot wings.  It isn't common at all.  SO I was happy to finally find a command pilot wing that fit my criteria. Sadly, it was damaged sometime in its life (I suspect it was part of a shadow box).

 

Its ironic that one of the most COMMON WWII patterns can also be one of the rarest. For many years, this one has been on my bucket list.

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