In the most recent Trading Post there is an excellent article by David Hill about WASP wings. In the article he has two photos of pin back, AMICO marked WASP wings attributed to Mary Ball, one her flight wings and another a bracelet made from a wing. I'd include the photos but the Trading Post frowns upon using their articles on forums. Seeing this wing triggered my memory of a WASP wing that is housed at the EAA museum in Oshkosh, WI. I've seen the wing for years and it is in an Amico box and it looked like it was a pin back but it is in a display case so it's hard to get a good photo of it or a detailed look. Here's a photo I took several years ago. I showed it to a lot of people and everyone assured me it was a Josten wing just in an AMICO case that the WASP probably had around the house. After seeing David's article I reached out to Chris Henry who is the curator at the museum. I explained the situation to him and he was equally intrigued as to how the wing was marked. Today I got confirmation from him that it is indeed a pin back, AMICO hallmarked wing. The story in collecting lore is that the only manufactured WASP wing was the Josten wing. As David's photos and these photos show this is not, in fact, true. David's article notes that Jackie Cochran was notified that the Josten badges would not be available for the December 1943 graduating class and she contacted Amico and had them make a number of wings. These were then replaced when the Josten wing became available.

 

Chris is a great guy, exceptional speaker and story teller but not much of a photographer, at least with this wing back photo, ha ha. But I'm hoping I can get better photos later in February when I'm up at the museum for an event for the Warbirds winter line crew meeting.  

 

Either way this is further proof that Amico did make some authorized WASP wings. How many, I have no idea but I can't imagine they made a die to turn out three wings. There has to be more out there. But what an exciting development for wing collectors.

 

 

Bob, thank you for reaching out to Chris and getting him to examine the wing.  Perhaps when you get there later this year you will be able to get them to share any information they have as to the history of this wing.  I am curious what the numbers scratched onto the back were for.

 

Also, when David was writing the article I told him about your other post where this wing was discussed, and have sent him a link to this post as he doesn't monitor this forum any more.

 

Marty

As I recall, the WASP who donated the wing is identified on a sign near the wing. I will get a photo of that when I’m there. I don’t know that Chris will have info on what the inscription on the back is for but I will ask. Thank you for forwarding this on to David. His article is the reason we have this additional example identified. 

I would guess the engraving is the museum's inventory system. 

So today was the winter meeting for the Warbirds group at Oshkosh. After the meeting we got to visit the EAA Museum and sit in a couple of Warbirds. A P-64 and a P-51 if you're interested. We also got a private tour of the archives and let me tell you, as a collector that was absolutely incredible. Some simply stunning artifacts that would be the highlight of any of our collections. I did find time to go and take photos of the Amico WASP wing and their other WASP items as promised. Here's some photos to round out this thread. The Amico wing was donated by Betty Jane Williams who graduated in class 44-W-6.

 

 

To me it looks like a slot in the Amico card the wing is attached to and not a pin.  Until an actual photo of the back of the wing can be taken there is no way to tell if this is an actual Amico wing or just a Josten wing put in an Amico box.  44-W-6 isn't the class that was reportedly awarded the Amico wings either.

Marty, the back photo is attached above. The museum curator took the photo for me. It’s an Amico marked pin back. 

Sorry, I forgot about that earlier photo. 

No problem, Marty. That was the same exact reaction we've all had for years with this wing until we found the surprise on the back. I was just updating the thread with photos I was able to get yesterday from the rest of the display.