Can anyone tell me if this is WWII era or early post war...  real or reproduction?  
 

Any idea of value if it is WWII era?

 

Thanks!

Hi digi-shots,

 

Without the brevet in hand can't say with 100% assurance that it's not repro but based on the photos I believe it to be real and not a reproduction.  As to whether its post war or not, RAF brevets with the King's Crown (Tudor) were used up until 1951.  In 1952 when QEII became Queen it changed to the Queen's Crown (St. Edwards).  

Thanks!  I knew it was a King’s crown and could possibly be early 50’s.  It does’t glow, not sure if that helps or not... plus it has a few loose threads and sewing marks.

I got these this past weekend at a local auction.  They came in a small riker mount box... I always lift the inside white padding to make sure there’s nothing else included.  I never turned the box over until just now.

There’s a small sticker with a name and also R.C.N. (??). I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to Commonwealth insignia... “C” usually stands for Canadian, but there is no large letter “C” on the brevet.  The “N” for Navy?

I wouldn't rely too much on that hand written tag.  That is most definitely an RAF brevet and used only for that purpose.  The RCAF, RCN and RNAS all had their own separate and distinct brevets.

Any chance he could have been Canadian but got his wings in England... or flew from a ship?

 

You’re probably right.. they may have just out them in the riker mount box and never looked at the bottom.

 

Thanks so much!  I have some other Commonwealth tabs, etc. that I need to find out what they are and time period... real or repro.

I whole-heartedly agree with Scarecrow and will say that I would be very comfortable calling them "WWII era" as they sport a King's Crown, but it is well-known that there was a lot of left over insignia after the end of the war. I really like the fact that the brevet is padded and does appear to have been worn. As far as stitch holes in insignia goes, that is actually a very common "trick" used by fakers to lend an air of legitimacy to a fake, so don't use stitch holes as a criteria for determining real vs fake.

 

Most of us non-Empire folks sometimes have a difficult time with the various commonwealth brevets. Believe it or not, it was actually quite common for Canadian flyers to earn RAF wings and to be posted to RAF units. Also, many squadrons were designated the names of various commonwealth countries, but that again, doesn't mean much as far as what insignia was worn. I knew an American who flew with the RAF and was posted to a "Rhodesia Squadron." None of his bomber crew were Rhodesian, and he couldn't recall any Rhodesians being assigned to the squadron. He did have RCAF crew members in his crew, so the squadrons had a wide variety of insignia being worn.

 

The various Naval Aviation units were normally identified as "Fleet Air Arm" or FAA rather than RN or RCN etc. Army wings also differed from the RAF wing designs.

 

One very nice thing about collecting British and Commonwealth militaria is that it is usually much easier to find records and associated information. I would assume that it would be relatively easy to confirm a "M.E. Wasteneys" in the records- either Canadian or British.

 

Allan

Thanks, Allan

 

I spent a good hour or two last night reading up on the early pilots from Canada and the individual squadrons that were formed.  A lot of interesting and heroic stories.
 

I did search the name on Ancestry and found some RAF entries but none with the initials M.E.

 

In the meantime, I’ll put them aside with some other British tabs etc.

 

 

12 hours ago, Digi-Shots said:

Any chance he could have been Canadian but got his wings in England... or flew from a ship?

 

You’re probably right.. they may have just out them in the riker mount box and never looked at the bottom.

 

Thanks so much!  I have some other Commonwealth tabs, etc. that I need to find out what they are and time period... real or repro.

Take some photos of your other Commonwealth tabs post here and see if any of us can help with identification.