Early WW2 SAS Wing

[johanwiegman]

Friends,

Via a Forum friend I obtained a nice WW2 SAS wing by a swap.

This one is from the early days in Egypt, I believe, 1942 or 1943. The wing is
in pretty good shape for its age.

Please notice the press studs on the reverse. I had not seen that
before on early SAS wings. Also, the paper material on the reverse is interesting.

Apparently, the original owner did not care about stitching straight through the
wing in order to fix the press studs, messing up the canopy and the outer part of
the wings.

Cheers,

Johan

[3battalion]

Looks little a very nice early SAS wing Johan.

Thanks for showing it.

Paul

[Jack8]

That does seem unusual to have press studs on these early wings. The only way of fixing them securely given the paper backing. Still a nice looking wing despite this.

Jack

[johanwiegman]

Hi Jack,

Indeed pretty unusual to see press studs on these early wings.

I have seen a number of improvised fixings so far, but no press studs.

Press studs are more common on Malayan period wings.

Can we learn something from the type of press studs used? Press studs fasteners were definitely
around in WW2, e.g. in the Denison smock.

Where were these wings manufactured? In the Middle East or in the UK? I am open to all informed views.

Cheers,

Johan

[johanwiegman]

Originally Posted by 3battalion

Looks little a very nice early SAS wing Johan.

Thanks for showing it.

Paul

Hi Paul,

The size of the wing is the same as for other wings of the period.

Please compare to another wing in my collection, which is slightly the worse for wear. Apparently from the same stable, but it has a different shade of dark blue in the rigging line area.

Notice the typical twisted white thread used for embroidering the rigging lines and line over the wings. This is the same in both wings. You will find that same twisted white thread in many early wings.


Cheers,

Johan

[3battalion]

Hi Johan,

The other wing is certainly of the same manufacture and nearly identical except for the colour behind the rigging lines.

Two nice Pieces of history Johan that would be the centre piece of any collection.

Don't worry about better photos as these show the detail nicely.

Paul

[johanwiegman]

Friends,

Please find attached a picture comparing some early WW2 wings.

Notice the differences and similarities.

Cheers,

Johan

[Hussar100]

I'd venture that the press stud are because wings were in short supply and were changed with shirts/jackets. There's also the possibility they were removed on operations so that, if captured, the enemy couldn't identify the unit as a commando outfit, thus rendering them more liable to summary execution. Sounds odd but if you remember Hitler's "commando befehl" it makes sense. There's a fair bit of information on that order here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando_Order for those who've maybe not come across it before?

[billy]

Could they have been added so a collector could mount? if changing the display he only damaged wings the once? just a possibility! cheers billy

[johanwiegman]

Originally Posted by billy

Could they have been added so a collector could mount? if changing the display he only damaged wings the once? just a possibility! cheers billy

hi Billy,

That would seem very unlikely. No collector in his right mind would damage his precious old wings by adding a press stud fastener and certainly not 3. Also, where would you fix the corresponding other part of the press stud??

Also, these press studs are quite old, looking at the condition and the oxidation.

The most logical reason would be that uniforms had to be laundered every now and then and the wings would suffer too much, so they were fixed by a safety pin or in this case by press studs. Removing them before an operation, would seem to make sense also, although I know that was not common in the early SAS. In 1944 most wings were simply stitched onto the battledress.

Cheers,

Johan

[Hussar100]

Originally Posted by billy

Could they have been added so a collector could mount? if changing the display he only damaged wings the once? just a possibility! cheers billy

I don't see why not. It's a simple explanation and as good as any other speculation on our part.

Originally Posted by johanwiegman

hi Billy,

That would seem very unlikely. A collector would not damage his precious old wings by adding a press stud fastener and certainly not 3.

Also, these press studs are quite old looking at the condition and the oxydation.

The most logic reason would be that uniforms would have to be laundered every now and then and the wings would suffer too much, so they were fixed by a safety pin or in this case by press studs.

Cheers,

Johan

Laundry would be as good a reason as any. Especially if replacements were hard to come by.

[Mike B]

Johan
Great wings - the images are very useful - thanks for sharing
Mike

[Jack8]

Originally Posted by johanwiegman

Friends,

Please find attached a picture comparing some early WW2 wings.

Notice the differences and similarities.

Cheers,

Johan

Hi Johan,

These are great to see, thanks for showing them, they all have subtle differences and similarities.

Please can you show a picture of the back of the top wing out of the four in this photo. I would like to see the type of fixing that is just visible in this photo.

Jack

[johanwiegman]

Originally Posted by Jack8

Hi Johan,

These are great to see, thanks for showing them, they all have subtle differences and similarities.

Please can you show a picture of the back of the top wing out of the four in this photo. I would like to see the type of fixing that is just visible in this photo.

Jack

hi Jack,

That wing has a rather primitive way of fixing it to a uniform. It has a bit of metal bent in loops on both ends, loosely attached to the wing by thread. I think a safety pin was used to fix the metal loops to a uniform. Here again you can observe the twisted thread used in the other wings.

See pics, which will explain better what I have described.

That wing is early days also. What is interesting is the white outline to the bottom part of the wings.

There are also traces of brown paper, similar to the paper used on the other wings.

Cheers,

Johan

[3battalion]

Bloody hell Johan, now I know why I can't find any early SAS wings it's because they're all in your collection!

Envy is a terrible thing to suffer.

Paul