Two piece pilot wing manufacturer?

[David B]

Hi all,

 

Does anyone know the manufacturer of this two piece pilot wing?

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

I suspect Dodge in Chicago, but it has not been definitively proven.

 

Marty

[David B]

That's great, thanks Marty.

[rathbonemuseum.com]

It has not been nailed down. 

[David B]

With the shield being soldered on I presume the wing "blanks" were used for other trades...navigator, aircrew, gunner, etc?

[5thwingmarty]

Yes, there are Pilot, Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot, Service Pilot, Bombardier, Navigator, Observer, Aerial Gunner and Aircrew wings made this way, in both 3” and 2” sizes. There are also 1-1/2” wings that are stylistically the same but those are struck as single-piece wings. Some of those 1-1/2” wings are hallmarked by Dodge. 

[David B]

Such a beautiful wing design too, I'll have to see if I can locate the other types.

 

Thanks again Marty.

[5thwingmarty]

Here are most of mine.  I need to take a new family photo of the group.  Note the two Pilot wings at the top and the Glider Pilot wing are related, but are not made from shieldless base wings.  One of these three is an example of the base wing used for the other two, which is a uniquely-patterned Pilot wing.  The other Pilot wing and the Glider Pilot wing were made by attaching the same types of shield devices as used on the typical two-piece wings to this other unique Pilot base wing.

 

I had forgotten that there are two very similar patterns of these 1-1/2" wings, one of which is more similar to these two-piece wings and the other which have the Dodge Inc. hallmarks.  I will try to take some clear photos later to illustrate those two sets of little wings with their similarities and subtle differences.

 

[David B]

Wow, that's a great looking collection Marty! Looks like I've quite a few to get.

[5thwingmarty]

For the 3" wings, the Pilot and Aircrew versions tend to pop up the most frequently, followed by the Bombardier, Aerial Gunner and Navigator.  The Service Pilot and Liaison Pilot wings also pop up pretty routinely.  The Observer wings are tough to find, and I have yet to see a "normal" two-piece Glider Pilot come available.

 

In general the 2" and 1.5" wings pop up about as frequently as the corresponding 3" wings, with the exceptions of the three letter wings which I have yet to find any examples of yet.

 

Note there are also 3" Flight Engineer and Aerial Gunner wings made from different shieldless base wings, but I believe those are all from a different manufacturer (possibly LeVelle).

[David B]

Thanks for all the info Marty, it's much appreciated 👍🏻 

[cwnorma]

On 5/6/2025 at 11:13 AM, David B said:

...Looks like I've quite a few to get.

I love this hobby!

[5thwingmarty]

There is a 3" Aerial Gunner wing in this pattern currently on ebay.

[David B]

11 hours ago, 5thwingmarty said:

There is a 3" Aerial Gunner wing in this pattern currently on ebay.

I'm not seeing it Marty? Have you got a link?

[5thwingmarty]

Here you go.  It looks like he bought this one on ebay last month for about $60.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256905810612?_skw=aerial+gunner+wings&itmmeta=01JTR4D14AJ1MZYVV8K0CZFG4V&hash=item3bd0c792b4:g:7REAAeSw9RtoCu0P&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1faUeZKdaZ%2FzcHYlmoeObTbkf2z0z8nfZQI3SI2OF1gRm8vwZYocBp1REVZ%2FpPQ0U02kgphKTooPFQpOT1ccQ3LSesoSkY3tGedJddl3LfspfhRpZI0PAomST%2BxNXePyfIeOC7s4dyDGE5D7GeJPwcS2ejLWkWUOSFmxIavbOJCrJiopdbtbBg1iTJKs7sqlJpqdopznRXfQF6fmk45eE2sPyzMmwc%2BhEN9IVBx%2BMIK7M6Qq74Sd5%2BADDipakaAqtg%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6qStITWZQ

[David B]

Cheers Marty!

 

$174 though. I'll get caned with Customs charges too.

[5thwingmarty]

The same seller also has a Service Pilot wing in this pattern but it is even more expensive.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267074139153?itmmeta=01JTSD8EDXM49Y9XTEAD5TC67H&hash=item3e2edbf411

 

 

[David B]

Nice looking wing but would be too expensive with the customs charge unfortunately.