Missing badges on an FJ tunic

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

This very interesting uniform arrived at my home yesterday. While it has all of the cloth badges sewn on correctly it has thread loops that indicate metal badges have been removed.
1-There are two thread loops below the BW jump wings, 18mm apart. I would assume that these loops were put on to hold a specific countries jump wings there. Does anyone have any suggestion about a set of jump wings that has a pin that long?
2-While the left shoulder has a standard BW verbandabzeichen sewn to it, the right should is bare excepr for four thread loops indicating some metallic badge was attached here at one time. I have never seen anuthing like this before and woonder if one of the fourm members has and could suggest what would have been worn on the right arm. Picutres would be great if you have a suggestion.
I have not been successful in identifying the brusthanger unit so would like some help here as well.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

The left and right arms.

[Marc Sherriff]

The sleeve badge and pocket badge go together as 'Heeresamt'.

French para wings have a nice pin that would possibly fit there.

A badge from a NATO, UN, or EU operation or organisation may fit on the loops. You would have to see which badges fit.

[Asbjoern]

Gordon, if I remember right the hint to france is allright ... mayb the original source of the tunic shows up and clears this ...

Jens

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the responses. I'll look into the French para wings. I'll also check on the other suggestions.

Marc,

Do you have pictures of any of the badges you suggested may fit on the right sleeve?

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Marc,

Thanks for your suggestion that I look under HA for the brusthanger. I found it listed as "The internal coat of arms of Heeresamt (HA)".

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Another member of the WAF was kind enough to give me with a surplus set of French para wings. Although the original pin is missing, if it were present the pin would be much too wide. The loops are 13/14mm apart and wear indicated that the loops were just wide enough for the pin on the back of the badge which is what I would have expected. My next choice would be Italian metal jump wings. Anyone have a set and if so can you send me the measurement of the pin from hinge to latch?

Regards,

Gordon

[Combat Trucker]

Gentlemen,

Another member of the WAF was kind enough to give me with a surplus set of French para wings. Although the original pin is missing, if it were present the pin would be much too wide. The loops are 13/14mm apart and wear indicated that the loops were just wide enough for the pin on the back of the badge which is what I would have expected. My next choice would be Italian metal jump wings. Anyone have a set and if so can you send me the measurement of the pin from hinge to latch?

Regards,

Gordon

IIRC these wings *look* to have a cotter pin attachment, as such the pins are easily replaced. But then again I could be wrong..

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

With several more days of research on which foreign para wings would fit on these small loops I came to the conclusion that U.S. para wings were the best fit. When I first started my research I though that U.S. para wings always had a cluthc oin back arrangement. Eventually I discovered that this was not the case and that for one period they had a horizontal pin back configuration. I sent out some requests to a few members of the forum and TJ replied that he had a set of these wings that were pin back. We agreed upon a price and he mailed them to me and they arrived today. They fit the thread loops on my tunic exactly! Here is how the back of the wings look and how they look when in place.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Wow! I also did not know US airborne qualification badges came with horizontal pin configuration. Learn something new every day

And of course this makes perfect sense. The US Army was the primary training influence on the early BW FJ and that strong bond still exists as far as I know.

The result looks beautiful. Congratulations!

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

Thanks for your comments. We learn something new each day. The purpose of the forum I think?

Regards,

Gordon

[Marc Sherriff]

Just that right sleeve to sort out now!

Marc

[Guardian 5]

Gordon - Those wings look a lot better hanging on your tunic than they did sitting in a box in my basement! "Standing tall and looking good, ought to be in Hollywood...."

As for the right shoulder, I'm thinking that the thread pattern would be a good match for a French shoulder patch. As seen here, they aren't sewn directly to the sleeve. Instead, they are fastened on by the means of four hooks attached the points of the patch.

Could it be that your man was a liaison NCO attached to a French unit? I wonder what patch the Franco-German Brigade would wear?

Do any of our Bundeswehr veterans or fellow collectors know of an instance wherein a Bundeswehr soldier would wear a foreign shoulder sleeve insignia?

We're getting so close to finishing this tunic off....

All the best - TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

Thanks for the suggestion. BW soldiers in some of the international brigades wore that brigades badge on their right arm. In this case, possibly the French-Greman brigade? I am sure I have pictures of this being done somewhere but I don't recognize ant of the badges you illustrated here. Marc Sherriff suggested something along this line earlier but I discounted it as I didn't know of any badges that were attaahed by hooks. Be they cloth or metal. Thanks for your research in this area.
One other thing I need to finish off this tunc is a ribbon bar, the correct length, that attaches by some sort of downward facing hooks as shown by the loops over the left breast pocket.

Marc,

My appologese.

Regards,

Gordon

[Asbjoern]

Good thought on the badge, TJ ! According to the guy selling the uniform something french should be missing ... but I missunderstood him thinking he ment the one on the pocket flap !

Jens