When you state backwards wound spring, are you referring to the type that is larger on one end than the other? If so, those are replacement style. The black ones look the same as the blue ones.
Sorry it took long to get back to this. Look at the attached picture. The spring on the right, with the pen pointing at it is wound in the opposite direction as the other 3 that are for anchoring the shoes to the backing plates (with the discs and pins).
Now, I painted the springs according to one black and one blue each side but at this juncture, I wonder if the difference is actually in the spring's winding direction, not position (read as forward position or rearward position). I also wonder if only one maker (Bendix or K/H) used the backwards-wound spring. I have only one that was of this kind but I have one each backing plate (one Kelsey Hayes and one Bendix backing plates). I have no reason to think or any knowledge that any of the springs have been changed before. I suspected perhaps one had gotten lost somewhere in the ar's service history but the evantugby had the very same spring on the example he is currently working on...
Maybe other examples will show up to help with this detail. Obviously, it is trivial...but we seem to focus on such things here all of the time!
ALSO: Looking for the Kelsey Hayes, herringbone rubber plug, just one for the one side. I have found the 8A version as a pair and will trade if somebody needs just one of them for a K/H one.