Just picked up a mint WW2 Navy Air Crew Wings with box. Wanted one of these since my Dad flew in PBY's and Avenger Torpedo Aircraft in WW2 The whole collection. A US Army Air Force Pilot Wings and Navigator wings, A Czech Pilots Wings, A Canadian RCAF Pilots Wing and a Electronic warfare not sure RAF or RCAF since I bought them from the same seller. Since I collect issued Pilot watches I collect the wings to go with them. A few photo's of my Dad when he was in the Navy. The last photo was in the beginning of WW2 in the Aleutian Islands were the Japanese invaded the closest the Japanese ever got to the USA in WW2 were he was a crew member on PBY's. From what I read about WW2 Air Crew Wings each star was for a combat mission to get all three you had to do three combat missions.
I don't really collect them but I have a number of them in the antiques store at the moment ... silver British from WWI and II; silver ZAR WWII; a few others .. including jump wings and parachute regiment. There are some regular collectors come by and the rare ones really don't hang about for more than a week or so. I also have this one at the moment ... WWI RAF, which means it's from 1918:
Here is my Dads Shadow box one of the few things I got when he passed away a few years ago. Being 3rd generation Navy is probably why I collect military watches and clocks and a few other things. He made Chief I never got close since high tenure a form of military lay off got me was lucky to get twenty years to retire.
Asiatic-Pacific with four campaign stars and then on to Korea? There's a lot of stories in that box. I for one would like to hear them over a few drinks one day.
He was on the Bunker Hill off Okinawa during the invasion when it got hit by a kamikazes he escaped the fire by jumping onto a catwalk and his squadron used the only torpedo in the Korean War to blow up a dam. Just wished I picked his brain more and my Grandpa brain who started in the Navy in WW1 with paper winged float planes and was on the USS West Virginia and the USS New Mexico in the 1930's imagine catapulting aircraft off a battle ship. When I use to live in the bay area he came down for a visit I took him to the USS Hornet Museum the second Hornet the first got sunk. They had a Avinger torpedo aircraft they were repairing to become a exhibit they had the ball turret out he looked at that turret he grew a little bit since WW2 he said dam I could not fit in that today. He did tell me a story about the heads that's a Navy bath room they use to have a large water trove were sea water flowed with toilet seats over the long trove the waist just went over the side. Well when they got new crew member on board when one would take a dump up stream on the trove some one would roll up a piece of news paper light it on fire and let it go and it would flow down the trove and the guy taking a dump had a big surprise. I got many more stories I am glad he told me. Over at Mare Island there was another WW2 museum ship the Head was in WW2 figuration with water trove so my Dad did tell me a true story. When I was in the Navy we had flushing toilets aboard ship at first I thought he was pulling my leg. . The funny thing when I took him to the USS Hornet museum he flew off it in WW2 he said squadrons moved around a lot so he was on a few different carriers during WW2 he did not brag or tell any of the tour guides just told us.
It's not actually a "wings" badge, it's an RAF Warrant Officer's cap badge with King's Crown and probably dates from mid 1930s to WW2 era. (The RAF didn't have WOs in 1918). Here's my later version, an RAAF one with Queen's Crown (and it came with the Queen's Warrant as well ) . You can tell the Australian version, they have a Wedgetail Eagle, not the fat chicken .
No, I know it's not "wings", which is why I put it separately ... the paperwork that came with it dated it to 1918, though ... do I have to re-mark it? Is that wrong?
It's definitely not 1918. It's an RAF Warrant Officer cap badge. The RAF did not have WOs until 1933 or thereabouts. The crown on the badge is the King's Crown (Tudor) which was used (by GV and GVI) from 1901 until 1953. Unless there are stamps or marks on the badge, or unless it has provenance, it could be from any time in that twenty year bracket.
You type with the absolute air of authority that I should totally believe .... There was a scrap of paper with this one that said "junior officer, RAF, 1918" . I didn't bother to check other than a quick Google which said these were first produced in 1918 for junior officers and later issued to warrant officers. I'm more than happy to alter the description if that scrap of paper was wrong.
Excellent thread! I only have a collection of one...my Naval Aviator wings...also pictured below is my beloved Seiko 6309-7049 which helped me get my wings... The wings pictured above are the wings that my late father pounded in my chest on 03JUN88...giving me "blood wings". My late mother was not too happy about the whole "blood wings" evolution...but she got over it. They are also the wings that I wore in the fleet...manufactured by Vanguard and made out of brass. Pictured below...receiving "blood wings" via my father at NAS Whiting Field near Pensacola, FL...my mother is in the foreground taking pics... Official USN photograph
When in Special Boat Unit Eleven when you got NEC 9533 combatant craft crewmember qualification with camo uniform and all they carried you kicking and screaming and giving you a pink belly that smacking your stomach down to the pier and throw you off the pier into the SF Bay cold if it was in winter time. With all the rules changed since I been out I bet less of that stuff happens today I bet going across the equator has been watered down were you become a shellback I got beat real good with cut sections of water hoses called a shillelagh they would hit you with and a bunch of other stuff to mess with you with glad I only had to do that once.
I've collected wings over the years, mostly to the RFC and RCAF. Watch related, I got this fantastic set of Original USAF wings with the Glycine Airman that did 120 Combat missions during the Vietnam War. Gene kept his full sized medals but sent a photo of his medal/ patch board from his study. Cheers, Buster
Oh, yeah...I got beat real good too...and that whole "Kissing the Royal Baby" evolution made me "talk on the big white phone" [hurl]. Since we deployed on cruisers, destroyers or frigates as one or two bird dets with 4-6 pilots and 15-20 mechanics...the black shoes [ship's company] far out numbered us and they really gave us a bunch of crap...especially during the equator crossing. Like you stated..."glad I only had to do that once"...
Here are some new ones. At another forum some one notice I collect these. Pm me and ask if I wanted her uncles wings from WW2. His name was Clifford Eugene Camp from Omaha Nebraska. When WW2 first started the US was not in the war. So he broke the neutrality act a US law that stops any one from joining a foreign military he crossed the boarder into Canada and joined the RCAF and was a bomber pilot and went to England. He later went into the US Army Air Force when the USA got smart on the elimination of the Nazi tyranny in Europe plus Hitler declaring war on the USA. After the war he flew for American airlines out of NYC until the 1960's. Now I need to do some home work to find more info on this Pilot. Not often you can put a name on a set of wings you collected.
Am I the only one that thinks it kind of sad that these do not remain with the families? I have my Dad's Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal from his time in the Pacific on PBMs. River Rat, what role did your father have on the Catalina? https://belfastchildis.com/2016/09/08/the-naked-gunner-1944-iconic-pictures/
The person who gave me the RCAF and US Army Air force wings of her uncle had no body to pass them down to who would appreciate them. She wanted some one who likes the history of what the greatest generation did so when ask and said in that way I excepted them and was proud to own them.
Here is a cool site at how Americans went across the boarder. One part of the story she told me I will keep privet but I read about it on this web site so a lot did the same. http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/americansrcaf.html
I recently talked to the PBY pilot (93 years old) who rescued my Dad after he was shot down. He does not have anyone to pass down his military items to. So he has been donating them to museums. Glad you're taking care of those wings! Do you know much about your father's time in PBYs? Many were painted black and were the first stealth bombers, called black cats.