There is an emerging market in the world of junior wings—Airport Junior Wings! While airlines rarely introduce new junior wings today, many airports around the country are adding junior wings to support their airport help desks and to give to young people on tours.
Many airports have issued junior wings going back over 50 years. Often the name of the airport is a clear indicator of when a wing was issued. For example, in New Orleans the MSY code was derived from Moisant Stock Yards. It was named after daredevil aviator John Moisant who died in 1910 in an airplane crash on agricultural land where the airport is now located. The airport was known as Moisant Field until 1959 when the name was changed to Moisant Int’l. Airport. Just a few years later, in 1961, the name was changed to New Orleans Int’l. And in 2001, to honor the 100th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s birth, the name became Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The trend of new airport junior wings is clearly positive, and we are seeing newly issued airport junior wings every quarter. In fact, there are now nearly 150 known junior wings issued by airports. Great news for wing collectors!
Below are some examples of airport junior wings:
SBA – Santa Barbara Airport, newly issued
DEN – Denver Int’l. Airport, issued in the 90s
SAN – San Diego County Airports, issued in 2010s
SGF – Springfield, MO, issued in the 80s
PHX – Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, issued in the late 70s
IND – Indianapolis Airport Authority, issued in the 70s or 80s
MSY – New Orleans Int’l Airport, issued in the 70s or 80s
TPA – Tampa Int’l. Airport, newly issued
PRB – Paso Robles Airport, CA, issued in the 80s (above)
On November 11, 1929 Inter-Island Airways’ first scheduled flight took off from Honolulu and in the decades that would follow, one of America’s finest airlines would emerge. Their name was officially changed to Hawaiian Airlines in 1941. Their brand has evolved into perhaps one of the most beautiful logos and incredible aircraft paint schemes in the industry. Sadly, Hawaiian does not currently distribute Junior Wings on their flights. There are 9 different known Junior Wings issued by Hawaiian.
PICTURED: Hawaiian issued 3 different laminated foil junior wings: Junior Pilot, Jr. Stewardess and Jr. Hostess (telling of the era). Figures 4-6: Hawaiian’s oldest known Junior Wings. Figures 7-9: Hawaiian’s last issued junior wings.
On February 11, 2000 jetBlue launched their inaugural flight between New York (JFK) and Ft. Lauderdale with a new Airbus A320. Founded by David Neeleman, jetBlue started operations as an all coach airline with every seat equipped with a seatback TV with 24 channels of live TV, a first for the airline industry. jetBlue currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320, A321 and Embraer 190 jets. They have also ordered the Airbus A220 (formerly named C Series). They fly throughout the US, Mexico, Central America, northern South America as well as the Caribbean. Future expansion to western Europe is planned.
jetBlue has issued 8 different Junior Wings. The first 3 wings are very similar, with minor differences in font and letter spacing. The next 5 wings feature a different design on the center.
Junior wing with large, tightly spaced lettering.
Junior wing with wide lettering spaced evenly.
Junior wing with raised lettering.
The remaining 5 wings can easily be identified by their geometric shape: circles, stripes, grid, dots, and triangles.
In the late 1920’s Pan American Airways attempted to extend its route network to the western coast of South America. However, a shipping conglomerate known as the W.R. Grace Company had a near monopoly, albeit by land and sea. Pan Am knew that it would be extremely difficult to acquire landing rights. In 1929 a deal was struck and a new company was formed. Pan American Grace Airways, known as Panagra, was established with Pan American and W.R. Grace each owning 50% of the new airline.
Over the next 38 years, Panagra would grow and connect points from New York to Santiago and Buenos Aires. They would operate numerous different types of aircraft, including the DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, and DC-8. In February 1967 the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and President Lyndon Johnson approved a merger between Panagra and Braniff International. Braniff would operate these South American routes until its bankruptcy in 1982. The CAB then awarded these routes to Eastern Airlines in a 5-0 decision. In 1990, Eastern Airlines signed an agreement to sell its Central and Latin American routes to American Airlines, which continues to operate many of these routes today.
Over a period of nearly 4 decades, Panagra issued some of the most beautiful and detailed Junior Wings. There are 10 different known junior wings, each made of metal, and each wing is considered quite rare and highly collectable. These wings represent a period of history known for innovation and resilience. Panagra is a prime example of the power of compromise.
Panagra Junior Pilot and Junior Hostess with block lettering.
Panagra Junior Pilot and Junior Hostess with green background and script lettering.
Panagra Junior Pilot and Junior Hostess with script lettering and no color.
Panagra Junior Pilot and Junior Hostess with dark green background and short pin.
Panagra Junior Pilot and Junior Hostess with light green background and long pin.
Commemorating 65 years of commercial airline service is exciting. We have come a long way. The de Havilland Comet, the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8 set the stage for the next generation of the airline industry—the jet age. Looking back at the first passenger flight for these impressive aircraft reveals some interesting details.
On May 2, 1952 British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was first to market. On this day, BOAC’s maiden flight started a new era in commercial aviation which would usher in a new, faster way of connecting our world. Interesting to note, however, was the passenger capacity of the Comet. It held between 36 and 44 passengers. By today’s standards, that’s the size of a small regional jet. Also interesting to note was the first route– London to Johannesburg. However, due to range limitations of the Comet, the actual route was London-Rome-Beirut, Khartoum (Sudan)-Entebbe (Uganda)- Livingstone (Zambia) – Johannesburg. Travel time was approximately 24 hours. By today’s standards, the same route is operated nonstop by 3 airlines and takes approximately 11 hours.
These junior wings were issued by BOAC and are representative of the type of wings given to children on early BOAC flights.
Next up, it’s America’s turn. On October 26, 1958, Pan American World Airways inaugurated Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris. Although several years behind the de Havilland Comet, the Boeing 707 was much more refined and technically advanced. Interesting to note was the marketing and celebrations prior to entry. Just 10 days before the inaugural flight, Pan Am had a lavish ceremony at Washington National Airport. Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Juan Trippe christened the “first American built jet airliner” as Jet Clipper America.
This rare formal invitation and picture of the event shows the pride and professionalism of Pan Am as well as the excitement of our nation.
These junior wings were representative of the type given to children aboard Pan Am’s early jet flights.
Junior Clipper Pilot and Stewardess.
Junior Clipper Pilot and Stewardess (note all blue background)
Nearly one year later, Douglas celebrated the entry of service with the Douglas DC-8. Although last to service, the DC-8 would far outlive the Comet and the 707 in commercial airline service. In fact, in 2017 you can still see an occasional cargo version of the DC-8 still flying. The DC-8 entered service on September 18, 1959 with both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Delta was first by a few hours on the Atlanta – New York route.
These wings are representative of the type of junior wings given to children aboard Delta and United’s early DC-8 flights.
Although Delta introduced the widget in 1959, the DC-8 first flight likely carried the older “Flying D” style wings.
The more updated widget logo later appeared on Jr. Captain and Jr. Stewardess wings.
Over the past 80 years, American Airlines has issued nearly two dozen different junior wings. Over the years, the junior wings tell a story. From the proud early years American issued metal wings, followed by plastic wings in the post-deregulation years, followed by no junior wings in the post 9/11 and bankruptcy years, followed by a cookie-cutter junior wing currently in circulation. There have also been some extremely rare and hard-to-find wings issued perhaps by mistake or perhaps in a short-lived trial run. Either way, all of these wings are important to junior wing collectors.
The oldest AA junior wing and one of the rarest wings in the world.
The newest and current issue AA junior wing.
An American junior wing in the shape of a wing (what a great idea!).
The pin-back version of the all-silver, large font AA wing.
The common AA junior wing, followed by a rare ‘mistake wing’ with the red letter on the right, followed by the all-silver version of this wing.
The sticky-back versions of the large font AA wings.
The metal junior stewardess wings in silver and gold.
The metal junior pilot in silver and gold.
The metal AA wing in silver and gold. Interesting to note that these wings were the last of the wings that were issued in both silver and gold. All subsequent wings were silver.
The cloth patch with sticky back version.
The rare Miss Stewardess AA wings in both silver and bronze.
A novelty item and perhaps airline issued AA hat pin.
A novelty item and perhaps cereal box issue, 3 AA plastic pins in blue, green, and brown that includes a fuselage perhaps of a Boeing 707.
A few “new finds” to pass along. Allegiant, Aegean Airlines (Greece), and Alaska Airlines have issued new junior wings. Note the blue and green colors in Alaska’s new wing. Many thanks to Dave Cherkis and Bryan Mellon.
This article is a part of The Captain’s Log, Issue 40-4, Spring 2016
Written by Lane Kranz
To celebrate the Captain’s Log 40th Anniversary we have put together a list of the World’s 40 Rarest Junior Wings. I have collaborated with the world’s greatest junior wing collectors to assemble this list. Many thanks to Dave Cherkis, Bill Gawchik, Jose Gonzales, Cameron Fleming, and Bryan Mellon for sharing wings from their outstanding collections as well as their expertise. Together, the six of us voted on the Top 10 and we present this list to celebrate 40 Years of collecting. Also, a very honorable mention to long time collector, mentor, and friend Stan Baumwald for being the “godfather” of junior wings and his contributions, as well.
Collecting junior wings is certainly a ‘niche’ hobby. WAHS member Bryan Mellon shared his story on how he got started collecting junior wings. In 1980, Bryan was five years old and his family moved to Japan. He flew four different airlines between Richmond and Tokyo. At the end of the trip, he had four different junior wings (Eastern, Delta, Western, and Northwest) and he was hooked on collecting. Today, Bryan is a pilot for Alaska Airlines and he still has those original four wings from his trip.
My experience started in the early 1980s as a young teenager. I started collecting timetables, post cards, junior wings, and just about anything airline related. In 1985 I attended my first Airliner’s International convention in San Jose, California. I was in heaven. These were my kind of people! I was hooked. Over the next few years I began to realize that I needed to narrow my focus to junior wings and timetables. One story comes to mind from my early days as a junior wing collector. I was a college student in 1989 and I didn’t have much money. I ran into Stan Baumwald at an airliner show and he was selling a Texas International junior wing for $40. He told me it was really rare and hard to find, but $40 was just too much for my college student budget. I passed on that one. I spent the next 20 years regretting my decision as that wing is extremely rare and hard to find. I eventually found another one, but it cost me a lot more than forty bucks! I guess they call that perspective. Today, I’m a pilot for Delta Air Lines and collecting junior wings is still one of my greatest passions.
I realize this list is quite subjective and everyone will have their own opinion. However, the purpose of this list is to showcase the best of the best from the world’s greatest junior wing collectors. Here are the 40 Rarest
