Presentation Air Force Guidon

[Texas36th]

WOW, I get to be the first to post in this topic. I was able to get this beautiful Air Force guidon. It was presented to the retiring Commanding officer of the 1st ACC SQ in 1977. Beautiful piece of work with a blue background, yellow eagle and gold/yellow lettering. Appears to be made to actually be on a poll but I see no wear to the piece. Can not tell if it is double sided. Are there a lot of Air Force guidons out there? this is my first one. Thanks for looking.

[nirvana]

Good looking flag there. Original Air Force guidons are very tough to find. You will see presentation ones here and there that look to be actual military marked ones, but even those are scarce. I've only seen one AF guidon that I believed to be an original issue piece.

[Texas36th]

I was able to remove the guidon from the frame today, It is an official USAF guidon clearly marked. Two sided with a tag inside the pole sleeve.

 

GUIDON, USAF

NYLON/ W1 1'8" X 2' 3-3/4"

CONTRACT NO. 8251

8345-082-6173

[flyboy53]

You have something very rare because most guideons are part of the unit's historical collection and are sent to the historical archives when the unit is inactivated.

 

The only time I've ever seen one outside the Air Force was when it was determined unserviceable and grabbed by someone, so their out there. I was given an folded fringed Air Force Flag when I retired. When I unfolded it one day I learned I was given the flag for un-numbered or named Air Force organizations because it was missing the lightening and talons. Guess you can bet where it's kept..

[Texas36th]

Thanks Flyboy. I am very pleased to have it in my collection. Problem is finding a place to hang it.

[nirvana]

Good, I'm glad this turned out to be a real military one, very uncommon. The other one I've seen and confirmed to be authentic was the earlier cloth variety, with the winged propeller in the middle. It wasn't in good shape.

 

I am guessing that the squadron just ordered a spare flag, and presented it to the officer when he left. The guy probably had enough clout that it wouldn't be an issue. Regardless, most presentation guidons you see out there are just made to spec copies ordered from shops.

 

I hear a lot about guidons being sent up to the historical archives when a unit is broken up, but this must rarely take place in practice, as there are simply too many out there floating around. That, or the torn up ones just get kept by someone, and then replaced with a new flag thereafter.