RCAF Prototype wings 3
 

In this 3rd discussion, a few uncommon or prototype RCAF aircrew wings from WWII and immediately post-war will be presented. I believe that the first two have never been seen in print before and may be unique examples.

R wing
The first example is an unofficial and unauthorized “R” wing in the straight wing style of 1943. It is machine manufactured in a conventional manner with respect to the felt backing, off white wing stitching, crown and brownish red laurel. It is unpadded and diagonally measures 92mm. The “R” is of the same colour and thread as the feathers. While this patch was never considered an official issue, it appears to have been sewn on a uniform at some point as stitching threads still remain. With no history, records or known photographs to use as a reference, one can only speculate on its origin. One might suspect it was designed for a radio operator but it’s also possible that it was made for the some of the 6,000 RCAF Officers and enlisted men who served in radar operations during the war. Since that whole radar group was under authority the of the NRC and very secretive during the war, authorities may not have even wanted to recognize the existence of Radar specialists let alone make their training public through the use of insignia. This is pure speculation on my part.
After 1941, the RAF style wings used the letters “RO” standing for “Radio Observer”. During the war these badges were used for radar operators making the Canadian “R” wing theory more plausible. A prototype but unofficial double wing with a centered “R” was manufactured, possibly just post-war, and is reported by Carroll and Thompson.

O/Observer wing
This wing, made in the style of the 1944-45 large curve wings, has as its center an “O” where one would normally see the more common “AG, E, N, B, N.B, or WAG” letters. Once again, the “O” is of the same thread as the feathers of the half-wing. Measuring 111 mm diagonally, it has been made in an identical manner to the large curve stylized Air Gunner discussed in the first article in this series.

NW wing
Another rare wing produced late in the war or shortly thereafter is the “NW” or Navigator Wireless wings. Two earlier designs are illustrated; the straight wing pattern and the pattern in small curve. Warren Carroll says, “Again, there are no official notations on this pattern, as far as issuance dates. Obscure mentions have been found before 1943 but there is no doubt that like the NB it was also worn and tolerated… There are no drawings of these designs in the 1943 issues but real examples do exist.” (Carroll, 1997, p. 118). The NW wing is also exists in the large curve pattern.
Both are un-padded but the straight wing is backed in the same manner as the O and R wings. The small curve example has no backing. The O, R and straight NW examples are somewhat stiff, probably due to the glue used to fasten the backing material.

WAG wing
Another oddity, which I picked up on eBay a few years ago, is included. It might best fall into the “mystery” category. On first glance it is a standard British machine made padded straight “WAG” wing of high quality. It has the course black coated backing and the typical large thread stitching across the back. But, it’s missing the Crown! There is a small area about 5 X 2 mm where the felt is missing in the location of the crown but this appears unrelated to the missing crown. I suspect it was a fluke manufacturing error that was never detected and the wing accidently made its way through the manufacturing and quality control process.

Several of the above came from the old collection of the late R. Drummond and no further information is available.
However one feels about the validity of collecting “unofficial” wings, some examples do exist and are worthy of presentation and discussion. I hope the collecting community agrees.

The R wing and the smaller NW wing are clearly not manufactured as such, the central letters having been hand stitched and I would think therefore altered from an existing wing. Although the thread is of a similar pattern to the rest of the wing it is not machine manufactured as a prototype, proof pattern or issue wing would be.

The O is interesting although again the stitching is not uniform and I suspect this might be altered at a later date too.

I think the WAG wing has had the crown unstitched which would count for the missing patch in that area. 30 odd years ago there was a dealer that used to hock this sort of stuff around a market in London, wings that had been altered to make 'super rare' pattern. Whther these are period altered and worn or later altered is hard to tell, but I have no doubt about the R, NW and I suspect the O too.

Interesting...

I partially agree with these statements. The wings shown (minus the machine made NW variant) are more or less "one offs" or "oddities". To class them prototypes would be easier if they were completely machine made rather than conversions. In either case they are very intriguing badges, and I thank you for posting them! I'll add for posterity my NW wings.

Thank you both for your thoughts and insight and thanks for your NW photos Mike. It is certainly possible these items were initially purchased in London decades ago and a couple of decades before I started collecting. I hadn’t heard that such fakes were being flogged back then; that is very useful information and a very probable explanation for their existence. Can you narrow down the date a bit SAS1? Do other long time collectors recall this or have additional details? I agree that both the “R” & “O” look hand stitched. The attached blow-ups show more detail and also illustrate the threads are different, at least on the “R” – I missed that until I took these enlarged pictures, my mistake. One wonders if the person who created these obtained unfinished wings and added the final lettering or removed the stitching from a standard wing before adding their own lettering. I haven’t heard of anyone trying to remove stitches but if it can be done without disturbing the base felt material, it would add more credibility to the argument that these and similar variants are completely faked. I’ll try it and post results down the road. The backing (which I haven’t shown) would tend to hide a multitude of sins too but I’m hesitant to remove it to look. It is a bit different than regular wings and the same I think on all three suggesting they were all done by the same person. What complicates this a bit is that it is the same backing that was on the previous large curve stylized AG wing of the earlier thread. Those looked machine made to me and had matching thread (I think – maybe not?).

I also agree that these would never have been official examples or sanctioned sealed patterns but could they not have been examples for some other purpose? We have published sketches of “proposed” patterns that never made it past the pen & paper stage. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to image the DND put out a request for proposed designs and manufactures patched together some examples hoping to get the contract, would it?

My full working title for this little project is actually, RCAF Aircrew wings; Prototypes, Rarities, Fakes and Mysteries. It’s only by getting other opinions and perhaps consensus that I’ll be able to specifically describe each one in my collection and then hopefully, we’ll all know what to watch for in the future; what is legitimate, what isn’t and what lies in that grey area in between. For now, let’s put these two (and the NW straight wing?) in the “fake” category unless better evidence comes to light. Perhaps, this would be a good spot for a reader’s pole for each design (5 for legitimate, 1 for fake) but I’m not sure how to add that at this point.

Kids, Don't do this at home
 

I guess this has become a discussion on how to make fakes and perhaps should be moved to that thread.
To see how difficult it would be and how much damage would be done to a wing, I sacrificed a RCAF straight style B wing.

The results are attached. I'm not the most patient person and my eyes aren't the best but removing stitching on these machine made wings can be done with barely noticeable results to the front face. The back however does show signs of nips to the mesh. With practice and patience I suspect this could be done without disturbing the back either. Hence, the reason some unscrupulous individual might be inclined to add a backing to cover their work.
A couple of lessons here I think. First, the thread should match across the machine made wing. Second, check the reverse carefully and if it has backing, confirm it is correct and from the period.

For me, this does give more credence to SAS1’s argument that three or four of my earlier wings in this thread could have been modified and purposely “faked” somewhere along the way.

As always, it’s “Buyer Beware”. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

In the case of a padded wing its simple a case of removing the backing and 'stuffing', altering the badge and then replacing the backing and stuffing. A 'naked' back would of course be easier to see.

These may have been done during the war, airmen trying it on. I have a SAAF wing with 'Arm' in the centre. Id be 100% certain it was period but not sure if it was made up or a genuine item. I was told it was for weapons armourer, but if so not sure why he'd have an aircrew wing. Likewise a friend has an RAF 'GG' Ground Gunner sleeve badge which has been altered to 'GO' (presumably Gunner Operator), and I have an 'RCAF SP' armband that has been altered to 'RCAF SO' (presumably a change from Service Police to Security Officer), so it did happen. Whether this was locally sanctioned or what I have no idea.

The dates in London would be mid to late 1980s.