Clutches & Wings

[Wiendolch]

Hello,

Question This got me thinking, I have a few medals and one wing that have the flat faced clutches and so far three wings that have the more modern clutch so my question is what were Navy & Jump wings issued with the flat faced clutches or the modern type clutch. I have a Maker Marked Sterling bombadier Wing that came with sterling clutches. :think:

[John Cooper]

Hello,

Question This got me thinking, I have a few medals and one wing that have the flat faced clutches and so far three wings that have the more modern clutch so my question is what were Navy & Jump wings issued with the flat faced clutches or the modern type clutch. I have a Maker Marked Sterling bombadier Wing that came with sterling clutches. :think:

 

Good question that I sure can have several answers all being possible. In general I look at the wing badge construction to help determine date range. At issues here is when the clutches were added to the specific badge i.e. when it was made or at a later date because one was lost ot broken.

 

IIRC the dimpled clutches started to appear in 1947\48. I hope this info is of some help.

 

BTW you can look up the PAT # on the flat clutch for specific info i.e. dates...

John

[Paul S]

It's a small, but interesting detail that one wanting to make a piece correct to the period would rightly consider. From observation and contemplation only, I think the rough chronology of the keepers goes like this:

 

1. Brass Top hats: Pre-WWII to very early WWII.

2. Flat face brass: Early WWII, 1941-42 prox.

3. Flat face sterling: 1943-45 prox.

4. Dimpled brass with patent nos.: Early USAF 1947-1950 prox.

5. Dimpled brass marked Ballou or unmarked: Early 1950's on.

 

If you think of what the Treasury did with the coinage during the war years, you probably have as good a guide as anything to place the period of the keepers. Nickels were silver 1942-45. Pennies were bronze, I think about the same years, except those made of steel in 1943. Those material choices were dictated by National defense needs during those years.

 

BTW, when I looked through my father's uniform devices I found a real variety of these keepers, none of them matched to any particular pin. He served from 1942-45 and again from 1950-51 in the new USAF. Knowing him as I did, he would have paid no attention whatsoever to which style keeper was on what pin. So when you get them in with a mixed variety of keepers, if the seller hasn't stripped them off, it could well be that the original owner did the mixing.

 

PS

[DMD]

If you think of what the Treasury did with the coinage during the war years, you probably have as good a guide as anything to place the period of the keepers.

 

Reminds me of something I read about the Manhattan Project. They built huge cyclotrons to separate U-235 from U-238. They borrowed tons of silver from the Treasury and melted it to make silver wire for the electromagnets.

[John Cooper]

Paul - nice synopsis of the clutches.

 

Cheers

John

[John Cooper]

1. Brass Top hats: Pre-WWII to very early WWII.

2. Flat face brass: Early WWII, 1941-42 prox.

3. Flat face sterling: 1943-45 prox.

4. Dimpled brass with patent nos.: Early USAF 1947-1950 prox.

5. Dimpled brass marked Ballou or unmarked: Early 1950's on.

 

 

I would like to add to this so as to include the following that were available in 1930 +\-

 

6. Screw Caps (brass discs that screw on)

7. Flat Caps (the catalog image is not clear enough to know exactly what they look like)

 

As a side note I believe that #1 was also known as the "clutch Cap" I hope this information proves useful and would love for folks to add more info and photos too... please :nerv0003:

 

Cheers

John

[Wiendolch]

Here's another clutch you mentioned John it's the brass with dimples and pat. number. These were on a Gemsco 1/12 inch wings i got the other day.

[Collector Greg]

These are the first styl of the dimpled clutches - late 1940's through 1950's.