Wings from the Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection

[Tolzer]

Provenance: Rock Island Auction Company; Lot 1466; The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection; (August 2022). 

 

This is the last wing from the collection. Thanks to all for your responses and looking!

 

Weight: 12g

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

That is some remarkable wing engraving. Really beautiful.

[Tolzer]

Here is an update to the tray of the Wings from the Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection.

 

After much discussion with other collectors of WWI Wings, evidence and research shows that these wings (most if not all) actually have a Provenance from the J. Duncan Campbell Collection.

 

Here is an update to one of those wings:

 

WWI, U.S. AIR SERVICE, PILOT, WING, EISENSTADT CO., STERLING, NAMED

 

Provenance: J. Duncan Campbell Collection

 

This is a stunning example of a WWI U.S. Air Service Pilot Wing. Constructed of three separate pieces of silver. The wings are attached to the shield by three silver loops, applied U.S. letters in gold on the shield, 13 incised stars, functional clasp. The reverse of the shield is engraved: “FROM E.W. McCollum AND CREW TO MAJOR PEABODY U.S.A.

 

Weight = 8 grams

 

We would draw your attention to the following reference book: Aviation Badges and Insignia of the United Stats Army 1913-1946, by J. Duncan Campbell, page 87-88, plate 33C. “When General Hume Peabody sent me the wing, he explained that he was ordered to Lonoke, Arkansas, to establish Ebert Field. When a crated Burgess training airplane arrived by rail, McCollum and his crew assembled it, local farmers cut down the high grass where Eberts Field would later grow, and after most all townspeople had gathered at the edge of the field Major Peabody gave the crowd (many never had seen an airplane before) a demonstration of low level flying and simple aerobatics. Everyone was so impressed that McCollum and his crew secretly ordered the wing badge and later presented it to their commanding officer. A West Point Graduate, General Peabody lived a long life after his retirement from the USAF, but his West Point son and namesake, also a pilot, was killed in action in the European theater".

 

This wing is also discussed on page 26, United States Army Air Service Wing Badges – Uniforms and Insignia, 1913-1918, by Terry R. Morris. See plate number WB-48

 

BIO: GENERAL HUME PEABODY

 

Hume Peabody was born in Shinglehouse, Pa., in 1893. Following graduation from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., he was appointed a second lieutenant of Cavalry on June 12, 1915.

 

He first was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Brownsville, Texas, on border patrol duty. He had a skirmish with bandits at Tahuachal, and at Villa Verd Ranges, Mexico, in June 1916. He was stationed at Brownsville until March 1917, then moved to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he remained until 1917. 

 

He was detailed in the Flying School, San Diego, Calif., thereafter until December 1917, and following graduation remained on duty at that station until February 1918. He then moved to Ellington Field, Texas, until March 1918, and to Eberts Field, Ark., until the following May. He was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass., until September 1918, when he was assigned to Washington, D.C., with the Training Section of the Air Service for one month. 

 

He sailed for France for duty with the American Expeditionary Forces in October 1918. Returning to the United States in December 1918, he was assigned to March Field, Calif., until June 1922. For the next five months he served at Luke Field, Hawaii, then returned to the United States for duty at Crissy Field, Calif., until May 1923. 

 

For the next five years he was assigned as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif. He then enrolled in the Air Corps Tactical School, Langley Field, Va., from which he graduated in June 1929. He enrolled in the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and graduated from the two-year course In June 1931. 

 

He then was assigned as assistant commandant of the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field, Ala., and remained in this capacity until July 1934, when he enrolled at the Army War College, Washington D.C. Following graduation in June 1935 he was assigned to the 13th Composite Wing Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He returned to the United States in September 1937, then became a member of the Air Corps Board at Maxwell Field, Ala., serving until November 1938. 

 

His next assignment was as assistant to the chief of the Plans Division in the Office of the Air Corps Washington, D.C. In September 1939 he became G-4, General Headquarters Air Force at Langley Field, Va., and transferred to Bolling Field, D.C., in June l94l. In September 1941 he was assigned to the 2nd Air Support Command. 

 

He became intelligence officer, A-2, of the Air Staff in Washington, D.C., in 1942, and in June of that same year was designated director, War Organization and Movement, Headquarters Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C. He served in this capacity until the following November when he became commandant, Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, Orlando, F1a. On Nov. 1, 1943, the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics was redesignated Army Air Forces Tactical Center. In March 1945 he was announced as commanding general of the Army Air Forces Eastern Flying Training Command with station at Maxwell Field, Ala. He retired in 1946.

 

Date of Passing: January 01, 1984      

Location of Interment: Arlington National Cemetery - Arlington, Virginia    

Wall/Plot Coordinates: Plot: Section 6, Site 8745-B-1

[cwnorma]

Gil @Tolzer,

 

The Campbell collection auction is still available on line:

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/17104/lot/3607/?category=list

 

Beside the Peabody wing, you can go through the lots from the Bonham's sale and verify whether any of the other pieces in your tray may have originated from Campbell's collection.

 

v/r

Chris

[Tolzer]

Some Research on General Hume.

 

 

[blind pew]

Isn't the Dunham wing posted here actually one of the Charles Snyder fake Dunham wings? The font of the "US" is identical to the "Snyder's Treasures" wings and different from originals.