WWII RCAF pilot wings

[Allan H.]

Yellow,
That is a gorgeous example of an RCAF wing! I know a home in the USA that would appreciate it more than they seem to be appreciated in Mother England.

Mike,
I am sorry about not commenting on your Bomb Aimer and Aerial Gunner brevets. Both are classic examples of the 1943 pattern "issue" wings. There is a whole variety of wing patterns out there that are unquestionably original, though they range from the gorgeous to the clunker! I personally prefer to find these wings hand embroidered and padded, but there is nothing wrong with the two you have posted here.
Allan

[Garth Thompson]

Here are a couple more examples. I'd put these in the locally made or altered catagory. Notice on the top one the "C" is blacked out?? possibly for a RAF pilot. The other is, I'm guessing a CBI made one. It has snaps for a tropical tunic.
Garth

[Garth Thompson]

Reverse view.

[Adam Lewis]

Manu,

I highly recommend a visit to Bob Schwartz's website http://www.ww2wings.com He gets contributions from around the world and has a personal network of experts who evaluate the wings before they are posted on his web site. If you see it on his site you can have a high degree of confidence they're OK.

Several of the Commonwealth wings are hand embroidered because the need for wings had to be met locally. Wings made in North Africa and the CBI theater don't always follow the rules for construction and color but are authentic WW2 pieces.

Adam

[Mike Swan]

Thank you Allan H. for your opinion.
I was pretty sure they were okay as they generally conformed to the photos in "Eagles Recalled."

Regards,

Mike

[Gary Cain]

These are both very cool wings and the bottom one I would hazard as being a "Cairo" pattern.


Gary

Here are a couple more examples. I'd put these in the locally made or altered catagory. Notice on the top one the "C" is blacked out?? possibly for a RAF pilot. The other is, I'm guessing a CBI made one. It has snaps for a tropical tunic.
Garth

[Garth Thompson]

These are both very cool wings and the bottom one I would hazard as being a "Cairo" pattern.


Gary

Gary,
You are probably right. I'm certainly far from an expert on these commonwealth wings. I was hazarding my guess based on the wing shape being similar to a pair of Indian made para wings in my collection. Attached is a scan of a couple other pair I have. Would you place the bottom ones in the "cairo" catagory. The top ones are what I have considered a middle eastern made style. But again I'm not a specialist in these.
Garth

[Garth Thompson]

Reverse view

[Gary Cain]

The bottom one, yes I would, the top though looks like those that were made in Madras India. I can't remember the address of the haberdashery there but when my wife and I were there in 2001 I saw a couple of them that were in collections and not for sale

Gary

Gary,
You are probably right. I'm certainly far from an expert on these commonwealth wings. I was hazarding my guess based on the wing shape being similar to a pair of Indian made para wings in my collection. Attached is a scan of a couple other pair I have. Would you place the bottom ones in the "cairo" catagory. The top ones are what I have considered a middle eastern made style. But again I'm not a specialist in these.
Garth

[pfrost]

Here are some of my RCAF wings.

This is a bullion wing that is only slightly padded.

[pfrost]

The backing is of some heavy canvas-like material.

[pfrost]

These two are nicely padded. ONe has a rust red wreath, the other a brownish wreath. The top one still has some of the original thread that was used to sew it on the uniform.

As for the thread, I was told to always check if it is silk thread. When you rub with your finger, it should be slick and smooth. I guess some could be made of cotton thread as well, but I figure may as well look for silk.

[pfrost]

The backs.

The top one is backed with a white linen material. The bottom one has a silk backing. I suspect that these were "higher end" wings, since the backing is of better quality. The top wing was clearly worn on a uniform.

[pfrost]

Another pair of RCAF wings. A bit more common?

[pfrost]

The backs on these are a type of oilcloth or canvas. They were both glued to a paper backing. A RAF wing collector told me that sometimes the manufacturer glued the wings to cardboard cards for shipping and selling. When you bought the wing, the seemstress simply tore the wing off and sewed the wing on the uniform. Not sure if this is true or not, but it sounded like a good story.

P. Frost