Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 3:
Description
USAF Command & Senior Pilot Wings Group: N.S. Meyer, Vanguard, Crew Insignia. A three-tier set of U.S. Air Force pilot wings – Command, Senior, and Pilot – together with Army parachutist wings, officer rank insignia, and collar brass, maker-marked by N.S. Meyer, Vanguard, and Krew and spanning the postwar Air Force’s formative decades. No named recipient accompanies this lot, and no separate biography has been located; the interest here is institutional and typological rather than personal, resting on the badge tiers themselves and the manufacturers who supplied them to postwar aviators. The United States Air Force became an independent service in September 1947, and in the years that followed the qualification-badge system for rated pilots was formalized into three recognizable grades: the plain Pilot wing, the Senior Pilot wing bearing a single star above the shield, and the Command Pilot wing adding a star within a laurel wreath – the senior badge reserved for officers with extensive command and flying experience. This lot presents all three grades, each in both full dress (approximately 3-inch) and shirt-size (approximately 2-inch) format, illustrating the regulatory shift from the pin-back safety-catch construction typical of the immediate postwar years – seen here on the 3-inch Senior Pilot wing – toward the dual clutch-post fittings that became standard through the Korean and Vietnam eras. The accompanying jump wings, captain’s bars, and a major’s oak leaf suggest an officer’s career progression touching parachutist qualification alongside company- and field-grade rank, though the pieces cannot be tied to a single confirmed owner on the evidence at hand. The 3-inch Command Pilot wing is die-struck and clutch-backed, marked Vanguard on the reverse; a matching 2-inch clutch-back Command Pilot wing is N.S. Meyer-marked. The 3-inch Senior Pilot wing is N.S. Meyer-marked and retains its original pin-back with a working safety catch, while the 2-inch Senior Pilot wing is a Meyer clutch-back example. A plain 2-inch Pilot wing completes the flight-badge sequence, and a full-size Army Parachutist (jump) badge, marked Krew, rounds out the aviation insignia. Officer rank is represented by an N.S. Meyer captain’s bar insignia and a Major’s gold-toned oak leaf, both dual-post clutch-back; a small enameled Army Air Forces/Air Corps roundel lapel pin, U.S. collar letters, and a plain uniform collar bar complete the grouping. Counted as photographed, the lot comprises eleven distinct pieces rather than the ten noted in cataloguing research; buyers should rely on the photographs for an exact accounting. Condition is very good and consistent with age throughout: natural silver tarnish and light surface patina on the wings and brass, straight and functional clutch posts, and an intact pin-back and safety catch on the noted Senior Pilot wing. No clutch backings (frogs) are included with any of the badges. A well-rounded, maker-marked assemblage of genuine postwar USAF pilot wings and officer insignia, ideal for the collector building a study group of American aviation qualification badges across the Korean and Vietnam eras.
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