Raf Pilot Wings - Wwii?

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Hello - Acquired a lot of British made WWII U.S. cloth insignia and these RAF Pilot wings were included in the group. Is there anyway to tell with certainty if they are WWII period? They are very well made, measure 4-1/2" wide by 1-3/4" tall and appear to be hand embroidered wool thread on wool backing. They are also heavily padded to puff the wings out. The reverse backing appears to be white cheesecloth canvas.

Regards,
Gary

RAF PILOT - Obv.

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CLOSE UP - Obv.

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And the reverse...

[Adam H]

Gary,

I'm not an authority on wings but I have seen other private purchase WWII period pieces that are similar, including the type of backing. Hopefully some of the wing-gurus will weigh in on this one.

Cheers,

Adam

[Tod Rathbone]

Pilot wing

Appears to be a nice hand made one. Not an issue piece from the AM. Has a really strong curve to the swallows wings. The heavy silk thread looks good as well. That is the best I can do without a blacklight and really pulling the badge at the seams.

Cheers,

Tod

[Gary Cain]

Hey Tod,

I don't know? The wings look machine embroidered, while the crown obviously appears hand done. Quite a quandry. I agree we would have to put it through the works to confirm it was real but it certainly looks good in the pics.

Cheers
Gary

Appears to be a nice hand made one. Not an issue piece from the AM. Has a really strong curve to the swallows wings. The heavy silk thread looks good as well. That is the best I can do without a blacklight and really pulling the badge at the seams.

Cheers,

Tod

[Gary Cain]

Hey Gary,


How about posting the other insignia you got in the group. I collect the Brit made U.S. insignia as well and love looking

Gary

Hello - Acquired a lot of British made WWII U.S. cloth insignia and these RAF Pilot wings were included in the group. Is there anyway to tell with certainty if they are WWII period? They are very well made, measure 4-1/2" wide by 1-3/4" tall and appear to be hand embroidered wool thread on wool backing. They are also heavily padded to puff the wings out. The reverse backing appears to be white cheesecloth canvas.

Regards,
Gary

RAF PILOT - Obv.

[GLM]

Appears to be a nice hand made one. Not an issue piece from the AM. Has a really strong curve to the swallows wings. The heavy silk thread looks good as well. That is the best I can do without a blacklight and really pulling the badge at the seams.

Cheers,

Tod

Tod - Sorry, an oversight on my part not mentioning that the wings have no reaction to UV light. It's one of the first things I do when adding a new piece of cloth to my collection. You're also correct that the thread is silk. I thought maybe shiny wool yarn at first, but just did a burn test on a very small piece of thread and got the unmistakable smell of burnt feathers or bug common to silk. I'm glad you noticed the curve of the wings. The WWII Wings Website
http://www.ww2wings.com/main.shtml shows an almost identical pair and another pair with an even more radical curve, so I was hoping the curve might be an indicator of WWII wings? The backing pad is sewn down pretty well, but if I should decide to look under it, what would I be looking for?

Hey Tod,

I don't know? The wings look machine embroidered, while the crown obviously appears hand done. Quite a quandry. I agree we would have to put it through the works to confirm it was real but it certainly looks good in the pics.

Cheers
Gary

Gary - The work in this pair of wings is entirely hand embroidered. Absolutely no machine embroidery anywhere to be found. Even the backing pad is hand sewn on.

Here are some of the Brit-made U.S. patches that came in the group you asked to see. I've always collected U.S. made machine-embroidered WWII patches, but couldn't resist adding these beauties to my collection. Because the friend who traded and I know almost zilch about RAF insignia, he threw the wings in as a bonus. It would really be nice to know if they were actually WWII RAF Pilot wings or something done up after the war?

Regards,
Gary

Obv. (1)

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Obv. (2)

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Rev. (1)

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Rev. (2)