a wing find 40's/ 50's

[historylives]

hello all,

this is a recent find and by reading threads in the wings section i am trying to determine what period it is from. it is a bombardier clutch back. there are differences from what i see such as the two prongs that appear to be "nail heads" as they are called where as the WW2 prongs have a glob of solder, so would this wing be late 40's into 50's era? another difference is the hallmark on the back center that is Gemsco sterling in small lettering different then the larger WW2 variety which also makes me thing later 40's/50's. does my observation and homework  lead me to the correct conclusion??

one more question please. the clutches themselves would they be the flat surfaced or the dimpled?? i will guess at this being after WW2 dimpled would be correct.

thank you.

[LuftStalg1]

The "blobs" are not a prerequisites to indicate WW2 era but would be more a quality issue.     Can you post clear pictures, even if they are smaller?     

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I would agree that the small trademark and the nailhead pins that appear to be electro-welded vs. silver soldered would indicate post-WWII manufacture. So KW period likely.

[pfrost]

I think everyone is spot on.  Although IIRC the bombardier rating was made obsolete in about 1948 when the USAF was formed. 

 

Although I have read that more than a few service men who were rated with WWII era wings still wore them into the KW period periodically.  But that wasn't a common practice.  I do have an autobiographical wing and purple heart to one of the last aircrewman killed during the KW.  He was too young for WWII and though he was killed around 1954, he still had a WWII vintage gunner wing.

 

Still, after WWII ended there were (apparently) such a large amount of stock insignia left over that it was unlikely that any "obsolete" insignia like bombardier or gunner wings needed to be made in the KW time period.

 

I think we tend to draw to fine a line in "dating" these things and have made up a rather large bit of lore about pin backs and clutch backs, etc.  This looks to me like a classic GEMSCO pattern wing that was pretty common during WWII.  If I had to guess, from the photos I can see, it looks like the clutch back pins may be replacements.

 

A nice wing, but there really is no reason to believe that was made in the 1950's as opposed to WWII manufacture.  Still its just a minor quibble.

 

This is the PH and Air Medal to Glen Story:

 

Airman Third Class Story was the flight engineer of a B-26C Invader with the 13th Bomber Squadron, 3rd Bomber Wing at Kunsan Air Force Base (K-8), Korea. On July 14, 1953, while on a night intruder mission, contact with the aircraft was lost between Sinanju and Pyongyang, North Korea. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on July 15, 1954. Airman Third Class Story was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.  I think he was too young for WWII but I suspect he got his gunner wings while training during WWII.  Not sure if they were worn, but they are classic WWII pin back wings.

 

P