Military Families
Bruner1
member
help re: winging - from non military
Bruner1
member
Hi all. I'm hoping you can help as one of my husbands & my good friends will be winging tentatively July 2nd (am I even using proper terminology? is it winging? getting winged? etc). Obviously I'm civilian and have no clue what's normal, i just know, this is a big deal & we want to congratulate him.
We want to do something for him, seeing as we can't make it down. Is it appropriate for friends to send something? is there a usual gift people send? or what would be appropriate? what wording would be 'right' for the card? "congrats on your winging?"
any help is appreciated!
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Re: help re: winging - from non military
Yep, it's a "winging" ceremony. Although we have a while before my H will have his.. but anyways...
Wings N Things is a good idea, they also have a website that you could order from. Another idea instead of an aviation related gift you could send a gift card to go out for a celebratory dinner with their spouse/family/friends.
I think you are awesome for thinking of your friend and congratulating them on this huge accomplishment.
I ordered DH gold wings from Santa Rosa Jewelers: https://www.santarosa-jewelers.com/ I love their customer service. Plus, they charge $399 (plus $20 or so for overnight, insured shipping) for regulation size wings, while the Naval Aviation museum in Pensacola charges $530.
Another popular winging gift, is a matted frame that contains sketches of all of the airplanes that they flew starting with the T-34. Some people just get sketches of the actual plane that they are going to fly. Sometimes there are wings (not real gold ones) in the frame, as well. This place used to carry them, but I can't find it on their website: https://www.flywings.com/default.htm
Watches are also a popular gift. I know several guys that have gotten Breitlings.
If he is getting winged in the Pensacola area, I think that their exchange has a lot of winging gifts. Corpus, however, has a couple of wingings per month and their NEX has crap for winging gifts.
SIL got DH airplane cufflinks. His parents got him a new camera. Whatever he wants is a great gift.
Winging and getting winged are all appropriate terms. Enjoy the winging. They are a lot of fun.
As a friend, I would just send a card. The traditional gift for a winging is 24k gold wings. But that is a gift usually given from the wife, fiancee, parent, etc. In other words - it is a gift that should be given to the pilot's/aviator's closest supporter. I would have, personally, been offended if somebody usurped me and got DH his 24k gold wings. That is something I wanted to give him as a special thing from his wife (then fiancee). A card is perfectly fine from friends.
I'm confused. My boyfriend will be winging in March and I have never heard that we are supposed to buy him his wings. I thought they are issued by the military? Please help me if I am mistaken, because it sounds like I may need to invest in a set of wings soon!