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WWII Circa 1943, WASP, WOMEN’S AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOT WING, Class 43-W-1, BULLION WING. Here is a WWII WASP Bullion Pilot Wing that one does not see very often. This wing has come back into the collectors market and is very uncommon. Bullion wire thread embroidered on gabardine. Depicts a central shield-shaped escutcheon, with the class number “W1″ flanked by a wing on each side. The number just above the shield is the squadron number of the Training Command, and is difficult to identify. This does not react to Ultra Violet light. This is a Collectors and Museum Grade Item. Research shows that this WASP Pilot wing dates to 1943. A total of eighteen WASP classes completed training: eight in 1943 and ten in 1944. Classes graduating in 1944 and thereafter were issued the newly designed official Army Air Forces WASP wings with a diamond-shaped lozenge in the center. Unlike this earlier WASP wing design, with its central shield-shaped escutcheon, the new silver badge conformed to heraldic tradition by incorporating a lozenge centered between two wings. In heraldic usage, a lozenge is the traditional shape of a woman’s coat of arms. It is said to have been selected for its resemblance to the shape of the shield carried by Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, weaving, crafts, and war. This design was used until the deactivation of WASP in December 1944. With the above being said, eight classes graduated in 1943, W-1 thru W-8. This wing pattern was not used after 1943. The first two classes were marked with the 319th, and thereafter the 318th for the remaining five classes in 1943. So this either has to be the 319th or the 318th. This Pilot wing had to belong to a member of the 319th Training Command, which was the first graduating class of 1943, W1. Is it possible that this WASP Pilot wing was made in England during WWII? I wish I could answer that. Of the 25,000 women who applied for flight training, 1,830 were accepted, and of those, 1,074 received their wings. The second, third, and fourth classes, designated 43-W-2, 43-W-3, and 43-W-4, entered training in Houston, but in April of 1943 all training was shifted to the 318th AAFTD at Avenger Field near Sweetwater, Texas. 5773 The Women Airforce Service Pilots Badge was an award of the United States Army that was issued during the Second World War. The badge created for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP (not WASPs, because the acronym already includes the plural “Pilots”), was awarded to more than a thousand women who had qualified for employment as civilian, non-combat pilots of military aircraft used by the U. Army Air Forces during World War II. The first wings were privately and hastily designed and paid for out of the pockets of Floyd Odlum and his wife, Jacqueline Cochran, who in 1942 became the head of WASP. The item “WWII-Circa 1943, WASP, WOMENS AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOT, Class 43-W-1, BULLION WING” is in sale since Sunday, August 11, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Militaria\WW II (1939-45)\Original Period Items\United States\Patches”. The seller is “bayern-landhaus” and is located in Fort Knox, Kentucky. This item can be shipped to United States.