Just want to say, great thread.  All these years later I read it for reference. Thank you!

Hey Gear, thank you for asking..... The masking tape around the middle...? I dont know for sure? But my guess is its an identifier? The rest of the tape is to keep it together on the jump.

I asked an old Para vet I met years ago about the wings like this. He said the ground the texture feathers off on purpose so that when polished up, they were as bright as possible. The vet who owned this wing above likely ground the medical insignia also for the same reason.

. I don't have the answers BUT I have the questions.   My first Jeep was bought in 1969, and five more were bought in the next couple of years,  ALL Carburettors and the parts thereof that I have, all predate late 1970's . So I have carburettors with eight and also with twelve patent numbers and all came off wartime Jeeps.    These parts give me questions but give me no answers. I am not certain that this post will make any sense to anyone.    Basically any owner of a wartime Jeep wants to have a carburettor featuring eight patent numbers on the front of the bowl.  People pull faces if they see a wartime Jeep with twelve patent numbers.  I will jump straight to the carburettor with twelve numbers,   the twelfth number 2252958 was filed for patent in August 1936, it was granted patent in Aug 1941,  1941 is considered around the start of the Jeeps models for use in WWII, so should a patent date of August 1941 appear on Jeeps of the period.    In my most recent posts I am showing a Carburettor with eight patents, these patent dates do not feature in the early Jeep manuals, but a flange does appear in the manuals on the rear of the carburettor float body.  This flange actually shows no purpose at all on the carburettors used on WWII Jeeps and other eight patent  models are devoid of this flange. and I have several carburettors that are without flange.   However I also have a carburettor with twelve patent numbers and the last of these patent numbers were granted in August 1941, but featured on the rear of the flat bowl this one twelve patent carburettor has a flange.    Are Jeep owners, and that includes myself overthinking this topic of eight and twelve patent numbers, were both used in WWII, is the twelve patent carburettor I own an anomaly, was it a factory mistake or are there more out there.    I have a long term friend that has been restoring military vehicles of all sorts for fifty years, he doesn't look down on anyone that has a twelve patent carb, or even a Hotchkiss with a Solex carb, he states as long as they are out there having fun, then I don't mock them . . . . . .   I don't have all the answers but I have the questions.    In the grand scheme of things I will never know this answer before I die, will it change my life, will I live longer, I don't think so. but I have been a committed Jeeper for fifty years                Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 22 May  2O26.   ..      

The second oval looks to be for the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 11th Airborne Division, 1950s era..   Leigh 

I did some search and found that the 1st patch is early German training w/US Army at Augsburg 11th ABN   https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/bundeswehr-forum/west-german-paratrooper-qualification-badge-1956-1957-jump-wings-833366/   The other…I really have no idea yet.

. Hi old dude    Thank you for adding such kind comment that you enjoy the Jeeps posts here,  several of us make them.   Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 23 May  2O26.   ..

"I love the smell of carburetors in the morning.  Smells like Victory".  I have a 42 Ford and really enjoy your jeep posts.   OD

. Additional report on yesterday's Carburettor find in my spares.   A few posts above I showed a carburettor body I re-found yesterday in my boxes of salvaged take-off parts from the 70's and 80's.     Last night I immersed it in a container of paraffin to help degrease it and hopefully work its way into the threads of the screw and other parts with screw-threads.  This morning I immersed it in petrol to de-grease the paraffin and flakes of paint-overspray left over from depot re-sprays when basically if it didn't move then they sprayed it,  a lot of time the entire engine bay.    A light brush over this morning with a soft brass brush used for cleaning suede shoes, and it's starting to show promise, I am not looking for a concourse polished finish as the rest of the Jeep is unlike that a clean and functioning carburettor will suit the Jeep and myself, so after cleaning will be re-jetting and new gaskets, setting and testing. !!!!   I personally will be pleased to have this fitted onto the Jeep, being the model shown in the wartime manuals.  But opinions are like backsides everyone has one . . . . . . . . . .                   Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 23 May  2O26.   ...

I've seen these before but it never occurred to ask:  Does the clipping have a meaning (official or not)?  Or was it just a means to make them catch the light better on the uniform?  Thanks!   Chris