WWI Enlisted Aviator Wings

[pfrost]

I know,old thread.I just wanted to comment on the armband that the fellow was wearing.Might it be for his wound?

 

I don't know, but seems kind of ironic. An arm band for a wound being worn on the sleeve of an amputated arm?

[cthomas]

I'm going to take an educated guess here & say the armband stood for staff duty at HQ. I've seen numerous examples of this armband being used in such a fashion. Looking at this photo again, it makes perfect sense. He might have been prevented from doing many things after his wounding, but he still felt impelled to serve in some capacity (i.e. staff work). Just my humble impression...

 

On another note, I've heard tell that a black armband was sometimes worn in times of mourning or during other significant rolls, for example honor guard duties.

[CliffP]

I have seen a few of these in a couple of higher end wing collections, and they have almost always been on bluish or blackish backing sewn with white silk thread and of much higher quality workmanship than these shown. In fact, Paul has some in his collection that fall more in line of the others I have seen than these.

 

Acting as devils advocate, these wings seem awful crude and unattractive for a hand embroidered patch. Sewing and embroidery were important skills in this time period, and it would seem that anyone with ANY amount of familarity with a needle and thread could have done a much better job of rendering these wings. The feathers are outlined with thread in an amature fashion, the stitching is loose and uneven, the excess thread on the back reminds one of the vast number of fake squadron patches currently available and the fact that its not on the proper background would give me pause.

 

I have to believe that an enlisted pilot would have had a high level of training and education to have achieved flight status and likely would have had a great deal of pride in gaining his wings, it is hard to imagine wings of this quality would have been acceptable to him.

 

Finally, if I remember correctly, at this time officers were expected to buy their own uniforms and insignia. On the other hand, the government issued uniforms and equipment to the enlisted men. So, what was issued from the quartermaster would have had to achieve some level of standardization and authorization acceptable to the government inspectors.

 

Of course, these points dont mean that the wings could have been something that an enlisted pilot put on his uniform.

 

I guess the biggest problems I have with these wings are two fold. First, they really dont follow the regulations for these insignia and second, they look like they were made by someone with very little skill at sewing. One of my collecting rules is that if something LOOKS like it cobbled together in someone's garage, then I assume it WAS cobbled together in someone's garage--and if that is the case, I would look long and hard for some other concrete indications that it wasnt cobbled together. That is where things like provenance, photographic evidence, or other "proof" is so important in establishing its vintage.

 

However, if you are happy with it in your collection and are convinced its real, then that is all that really matters.

 

Patrick

 

:think:

 

Patrick is on the money with this discussion. It should also be stressed with special emphasis that all Enlisted Pilots would have been issued an Enlisted pilot insignia by the Air Service after he met all the necessary requirements to earn the rating. The insignia would have been produced under government contract by an independent manufacturer and it would have been machine made or hand fabricated by a skilled embroiderer. If the Enlisted man needed additional samples of the insigna it was readily available for purchased at the base exchange.