SAAF Wing?

[Dr_Shemp]

I think I already know the answer to this, but I thought I'd ask anyway just to make sure.

I bought this wing with a bunch of other badges not knowing what it was, I know now that it's meant to be a SAAF Pilot's Wings badge from the 40s-50s. It's padded, about 11.5cm x 5cms and has threads attached from where it was once stitched to something, with a tiny bit of dark blue material left on the top right of the rear side. It has glue and paper marks on the back so I guess that it was part of someone's collection once.

Is it genuine? I'm not really sure but the old stitches/glue marks seem strange if it's a repro - nothing that can't be explained though! Thanks for you time with this.

[Alex Rice]

I haven't seen repros of these wings before but I don't like this. It does not look right to me.
Sorry, cheers,
Alex

[Dr_Shemp]

Thank you for that Alex - I didn't pay much for it and I've learnt something from it, so I don't mind at all

[Madziro]

A couple of originals for comparison. All the Commonwealth pilots wings have been reproduced in recent times, sadly. Your one is a repro I am afraid.

[Dr_Shemp]

Thanks for sharing those Madziro, you can really tell the difference between my repro wing and the originals when you see the photos side by side - hopefully I'll know better now what to avoid in future

[Flyingspringbok]

Sadly a well-known British-made copy.