Post Your Flight Engineer Wings

[John Cooper]

Here is a recent arrival I wanted to share with you. I hope you will post photos of your FE wings so this thread can provide folks with a wide variety of examples for these specific wings.

 

Cheers

John

[Aussie-Wings]

Hi John,

My only set of FE wings - 2 inch, 2 piece construction, N.S.Meyer (9M) hallmark. This suprised me until I learned that this wing was issued until 1962 (hence the 9M alpha number) and USAF regulations allowed its wearing until the 1970's if earned prior to 1962.

 

Cheers,

AW.

 

[John Cooper]

Thanks for posting AW... A friend was telling me the other day there was an Warrent Officer in his unit that worn Glider Assault wings he earned as part of the last grad class (I hope I remeber this correctly) from the early 50's.

 

John

[bschwartz]

A couple more, same patterns already displayed but different markings and size.

 

Orber pattern but not marked by them:

 

 

 

Meyer full size with raised hallmark:

 

 

[John Cooper]

Thanks Bob for posting more exmaples! There is one maker I would to see some examples posted of...

 

John

[bschwartz]

I can't even imagine what maker you're thinking of you Balfour addict. I've never even seen a Balfour Flight Engineer so I'd like to see one too. There are several other makers displayed on my site but no Balfour.

[pfrost]

Norsid and "gemsco" like patterns.

[John Cooper]

Thanks for the folow-up photos guys keep posting...

 

@ patrick - I have a NORSID like pattern Navigator sitting in my ? box which has the exact same construction as the one you posted... at the cost of hijacking my own thread what are your thoughts on it since it certainly does not match the quality of a WW2 NORSID bombardier I have.

 

John

[DMD]

Did flight engineers fly on any planes other than the B-29?

 

And when did the flight engineer wings transition to the crew wings with the eagle?

[Lee Ragan]

Did flight engineers fly on any planes other than the B-29?

 

And when did the flight engineer wings transition to the crew wings with the eagle?

Flight Engineers flew on just about all 4 engine military planes of the era including B-50's, B-36's (6 props & later 4 additional jets), and several transport aircraft. They still fly on Air Force transports today but now wear aircrew wings.

It is my understanding that the old F.E. wings were replaced by enlisted aircrew wings in the late 40's early 50's time frame, but those that had originally earned the old wings were allowed to wear them if they had been awarded as a permanet award. I have a grouping of wings, ribbons, collar brass and name tag from a Senior Master Sgt. who wore these into the early 60's.

[KurtA]

Here are an AMICO and a one piece wing.

 

[John Cooper]

Frank thanks for the photo... and KurtA thanks for the additional examples

[none]

Here is another AMICO 2 inch version.

[John Cooper]

Thanks All keep posting what you have!

[mmerc20]

Do these wings tend to be scarce? I haven't seen a lot of them for sale, but I have probably 5 to 10 of them in the big collection I am selling. Plus, what is the difference between these wings and the similar "marksmanship type" badge that has the qualification bars. Of those, I probably have 75 or more still on their cards.

 

Mike

[WarRelics]

Sorry for being so late in joining the FE wings party! I found these 2” FE shirt wings that are marked “sterling silver” in a circle recently. My research leads me to suspect that they were made by Orber and are definitely post war due to their nail head prongs (which broke off prior to my owning them, one was included with them).

[rustywings]

WarRelics, I think you shirt-size FE Orber hallmarked wing is likely WWII era vintage... but someone at a later date did a poor job of repair.

[donaldnol]

my typical meyers F E wing

[WarRelics]

Thanks Rustywings. I have seen the same wing in pin back which I believed to be wartime manufacture. I thought that my wings themselves were wartime stock but having nail head prongs were made post war. I was applying something I learned about jump wings from Tomonachi. If I misspelled his monacher I apologize in advance! 

[5thwingmarty]

Here is one I just picked up, a 2" Flight Engineer made from a cut down Bombardier wing.  To me this looks like a Norsid pattern.

 

[Mark I.]

Here is my example. Another Orber - but this one shows the circular markings with obscured "Orber".

[Scott C.]

Here's mine: Gemsco pattern with flimsy pin and big 'sterling' stamped into the center-reverse. I like this pattern because of the detailed cylinder heads.

[Bull Moose]

Post WW2 Assmann example 

[Scott C.]

Very nice!

[rustywings]

I hope our good friend John Cooper stops by to see this one…