I ran across a neat little set of gold plated metal wings with "Cox C-D Pilot" this morning at an estate liquidation. They are fairly similar in design to the wing and prop design of the old Army-Air Force design. Anyone know the history of these wings or other info?

Thanks

Hi Sky,

The Cox wings were part of a promotional program put forth by the company in 1960/61. There was an advertizment/demo movie called "Wally Wins His Wings" that was run on KTTV channel 5 in L.A. at the time, and copies were loaned out to Hobby Clubs, Boy Scouts, and anyone that wanted to show the film. The storyline was that of a young "Wally" and his father, and how he earned his wings. It was to be kinda like a merit badge thing, and when one completed a solo flight with a Cox plan, you would get a free set of wings from the Hobby Shop that sold you the plane. The film used the crew from the Disneyland flight circle (Kieth Palmer, George Molitor, Lee Heinly), and included showing Wally how to fly at the L.A. County Fair in Pamona with George and Lee. (Disney did not allow filming at the Park, so they used the show in Pamona.) Later, the crew at Disneyland also wore the wings as part of the uniform.

How do I know all this? I was in the film, and I still have my wings. (We also wore a tie clip made from an .010 engine) I'm not sure if it's worth anything, but it's a bit of history that not many know about. If you ever get to see the film, you will see Wally's father pinning his wings on Wally.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1950s-COX-Airpla...QQcmdZViewItem

Wow! Thanks for that history lesson CoxPilot. So were you Wally?

"Wally", "Dad" and "Hobby Shop Owner", were all actors hired by the production company. The rest of us worked for Cox at Disneyland.