Strange wings

[Tanker Mike]

Here is a first for me, a set of wings with blue backing. They appear to be WW2style wings, no glow under black light.

You can see the comparison with standard wings in the one picture.

Would this be worn on an Air Force tunic?

Mike

[Ian B]

Hey, Mike. It's entirely possible. However, in his research into Canadian archives for his books on 1 CanPara and Canadian jump wings, Ken Joyce notes that the CO of the Canadian jump school during WW II wrote to superiors in Ottawa complaining that manufacturers were producing jump wings that were not on the approved colour backings. I believe the only approved backings were either dark Rifle green or black.

So this may explain why we have seen Canadian Army jump wings appearing in these different colours.

Now, as for the RCAF, the rest of their crew wings were on a black back ground, so I can't see why some 'pigeon' would want to change the backing for their jump qual.

My thoughts on the matter. Happy to be proved otherwise.

Ian

[Tanker Mike]

I am surprised there is not more discussion on these wings, in all my years of collecting they are the first I have seen.

[Bill A]

I have seen that colour of backing before and was led to believe that it was either discoloured in cleaning or faded or a bad dye lot. (I spoke with Ken about these.)

[rhodesianmilitaria]

Possibly washed?

[Ian B]

Good day gents,

Bill and Peter, you raise valid points. I am no expert on cloth or dyeing of material, so what I'm about to say is just my opinion.

Washing and drying might cause the backing material to fade. I suppose it would depend on how many times washed, detergent and bleach used, drying methods. However, it seems to me that if the backing material for Canadian jump wings is supposed to be either dark Rifle green or black, then if it is faded, black would fade to a greyish tone and dark green would fade to a medium green/olive green tone.

As for bad dye lots, of course anything could slip through in the manufacturing process. It seems to me though that some form of quality control would have caught that. However, I am also aware of all sorts of colour variations found in Canadian badges produced during the war.

To finish up, from the pictures presented, I feel that a set of Canadian jump wings was embroidered on a piece of RCAF blue material. I still believe that Ken's research as presented in his books provides an explanation for why Canadian jump wing show up on different coloured backings. I want to state I don't think it's the ONLY explanation, Just a possible one.

Bill, what is Ken's opinion of this matter?

Ian