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Fun interesting K G Luke Hostess wing


pfrost
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pfrost

This is a new addition to the collection. 
 

i think it’s a badge that would have been worn by the ladies who were serving American soldiers in the war, likely in Australia.  It was common for the locals (including young ladies) to have dances or social mixers for servicemen. I imagine that this was worn by one of those ladies with her name in the little window. 
 

it’s made of gilded pot metal and has the little “hostess air forces” button added on. I suspect it was made using the Luke observer wing

 

its hallmarked K G Luke and Melbourne. Has the typical commonwealth style pin.

 

this item could also go into the home front section but I thought the wing dingers would enjoy it more here. 
 

P

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pfrost


Although these ladies appear to be frolicking with Australian soldiers, you can imagine the same with American boys. 

 

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cwnorma

I suspect a small amount research would reveal something approaching a Serviceman's Club (or system of clubs) in the vicinity of Melbourne during the war.  

 

Near Melbourne, not far from both RAAF Point Cook and RAAF Williams-Laverton, K G Luke was headquartered only about 15 miles away.  RAAF Point Cook is the oldest RAAF base and no doubt many American aircrews would have been through both Point Cook and Williams-Laverton.  RAAF Williams-Laverton was one of the largest RAAF bases during the war.  RAAF Point Cook is the "Birthplace of the RAAF" and its establishment dates to the the First World War era.  No doubt both bases had permenent Enlisted and Officer Messes.  It is also likely, there was a general Servicemen's Club in Downtown Melbourne.

 

As for the USAAF, 5th AF under Maj Gen George Kenny (of Island Hopping fame) was originally at Essendon Airfield (former Melbourne municipal Airport).  Later, when 5 AF HQs moved to Brisbane, the 19th Bomb Group, and 49th Pursuit Group called the Airport home.  Many other AAF units were stationed nearby in Victoria. So there certainly would have been enough OZie, Kiwi, Brit, and Yank aircrews floating around Melbourne during the war to warrant some sort of club system help with the "idle hands" problem of thousands of aircrews

 

Survival of such badges is probably very low.  Most of the hostesses would have been either volunteers or employees of the clubs and I would guess that these tags were seldom saved--especially outside of Australia.

 

Super neat! And a rarely seen aspect of the War in the Pacific.

 

Chris

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pfrost

I agree. Could also have been a USO thing too.
 

There were some misbehaving by the Americans that caused some problems in Melbourne during the war. 

 

It’s a neat wing made even neater by it being a Luke wing!  
 

the Masters of the Air series does a good job of showing some of the support (Red Cross Donut girls is what I think they were).  With luck I’ll find a nice picture of some wearing a wing like it

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Kropotkin

Really interesting wing that speaks of another aspect of the wartime experience beyond the combat.

 

This thread reminded me of a wing badge I acquired a while ago made by Angus and Coote, which perhaps speaks a little of what cwnorma mentions above.

 

It’s a 1943-dated “Air Force House” badge, worn by volunteers working in hostels for Air Force personnel.

 

While not US related, I thought I’d share this if only to show an Angus & Coote hallmark distinct from those found on USAAF wings.

 

 

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LuftStalg1

Very cool Patrick!  I hope you can scrounge up some background on this neat fella.

 

MarkD

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