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Shirt, District of Paris patch, Air Service/Signal Corps


Tinley100
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Thanks in advance, I know nothing about this with the exception of it being WW1- any help or info would be appreciated.

 

 

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The Bullion patch is Distict of Paris

 

Looks like Air service.Maybe mechanic

 

The Air Service fell under the SignaI Corps in WW1 initially as I undertand it and wore Signal Corps brass

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The embroidered insignia on a O/S cap is different than any I've seen, is it Air Service? Doyler nailed the rest of it for you. Unusual and unauthorised overseas stripe combination also, all and all a very interesting and desirable uniform...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello!

 

The embroidered device on the OS cap is indeed Air Service. Odd variation, probably done for the man by some French seamstress. The overseas service chevron combination is unauthorized. Apparently this man wanted to show that he had done a bit more than the one year his two gold chevrons represented. The less than six months blue chevron was not supposed to be worn in combination with any other service chevron. At some point in 1919 (I don't have my notes handy as to exact date) authorization was made for men serving over five months but not a full six months to be granted the six month service chevron. As I recall, by the time this directive came out most men with less than six months service overseas had already been shipped back home, so it was the two and three stripers that got to add another gold chevron to their arm. It is not common to see all this insignia on the shirt other than the PFC rank and discharge chevron. As Doyler stated, the Army Air Service began its life as part of the Signal Corps. On 29 May 1918 the Air Service was separated from the Signal Corps and became known as the Air Service AEF. By the time of the Armistice there were 58,090 aviation personnel in France. The service chevrons suggest this man was in France when the change from Signal Corps to Air Service was made. It is quite possible that his promotion to PFC came after the changeover, so he received the Air Service rank chevron instead of the Signal Corps crossed flags PFC chevron. He would have originally been issued Signal Corps collar discs in the US, and may not have been issued replacement Air Service discs in France, or just decided to keep the original issue disc (a common practice for all types of units). The District of Paris contained Air Service supply squadrons, construction squadrons and replacement squadrons. For a long time the District of Paris was off limits to any American soldier not actually assigned there. The District of Paris was abolished in May 1919, so this man might well have missed out on the authorization for the added gold chevron as he had already been shipped home. This is quite an interesting outfit, and it is good as gold as far as I can see. Thanks for sharing it! MHJ

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Really nice uniform grouping.

 

That cap is a really great item. It's the key piece of the grouping, as it's so unusual. When researching value, you might see identical caps without the embroidered winged prop for $15 to $20. That has no bearing on value of your cap. Keep in mind, that little winged prop embroidery on there substantially increases the value of the cap.

 

Also, it's very unusual to find a WW1 shirt with a unit patch on it.

 

If you have a researchable name associated with the uniform, that would really enhance the desirability of the set.

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