mini-RAF wing

[pfrost]

I picked this up today. It is a "mini"-RAF wing. Nicely padded, slightly mothed, and about 2/3 the size of a typcial RAF wing. Came out of a flea market in California.

I had read in a couple of books that these were worn by USAAF pilots who had earned RAF wings. Is that true or could the also have been worn by RAF pilots?

What do you guys think?

Thanks Patrick

[pfrost]

The back. The wing is on a very thin wool, glued to a rough burlap-type fabric. The US pilot wing is for size comparison.

Thanks

Patrick

[Scott C.]

Nice wing Pat! Most photos I've seen of USAAF pilots wearing RAF wings seem to show the smaller variety like you have here. However, yours looks unused, so not sure if it was actually "worn" by anyone. Still a nice find though .

Scott

[Gary Cain]

Hi Patrick,

I have never seen an RAF pilot using the small wing. I have 3 USAAF Jackets that have te mini wing on them. Two are from Eagle Squadron pilots and one was a guy who joined the RAF but was not with the Eagle Squadrons.

Looks like a very nice score!

Gary

[Allan H.]

The mini brevets were made for foreign serving airmen to wear their own country's wing and then the mini RAF brevet on the opposite side of the tunic (paraphrasing Warren Carroll out of "Eagles Recalled"). Carroll goes on to show photos of Poles flying in the RAF wearing the miniature wings, which included all of the RAF brevets such as Aerial Gunner, Navigator, and Bomb Aimer.
I pulled out my minis and assuming that the US pilot's wing that you show for comparrison is a 3" example, it looks to me like your brevet is larger than the minis that I have in my collection.
There is no doubts as to the originality of your piece. It is a beauty!
Allan