Jump to content

USAAF Pilot Portrait


338thRCT
 Share

Recommended Posts

Picked this up at the flea mkt. today. I was wondering as to the weapons qualification badge and chain on an officers uniform. Never saw that before. All I can make out is rifle on one and pistol- something on another. Also branch insignia look sloppily placed. Name of Walton Jones beneath picture. Was photographed by Fabian Bachrach "Photographer of Men" ; don't know where though.post-70300-1347730699.jpg post-70300-1347730709.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering as to the weapons qualification badge and chain on an officers uniform. Never saw that before. All I can make out is rifle on one and pistol- something on another.

 

The 9th edition of The Officer's Guide, on pages 169-170, appears to say that this is kosher. I've seen quite a few photos of officers wearing their shooting badges, but does it seems to be a somewhat uncommon practice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With Command Wings and being either a Major or Lt. Col., you'd expect his insignia to be "by the book"!

Those were my exact thoughts. Did find that the photographer was in Baltimore ,MD. and did portraits of quite a few famous Americans including John F Kennedy. Sometimes those of us who were once in the service forget that there were troops, good bad or indifferent, who were very sharp and those who were not so sharp and didn't always look "by the book". I always tell people that I met some of the best men that I'll ever know in the Army; also some of the sorriest SOB's that ever walker the earth were there too. Just a microcosm of life in general.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here’s a picture taken in early 43 of my FIL at a studio in Kentucky. I believe this was taken after he had completed his advanced glider training at Stuttgart Arkansas and before his promotion to 2nd Lieutenant. He is a Flight Officer at the time of this photo. I’m not sure what the proper protocol would be for a FO waring of the shooters badge. Looks like Nack may have pinned that down.

 

Untitled-7-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As glider pilots were expected to fight their way back to friendly lines following a combat landing, as necessary, they were armed with carbines, so a Marksman's rating would have been a very useful skill to have!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carbines, M3 grease guns, Thompson .45’s, and Garand’s where all issued to Glider pilots, there may have been others too. IMHO the M1 Garand was probably the small arm most often carried by the GP’s.

Bill was at Bowman Field Kentucky on a few occasions for training before going to the ETO in the spring of 44. One of those trips was as a small arms instructor for the Glider Pilots advanced combat training. Don’t know if there is some relation between that and him waring the Expert’s badge in this photo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe I'm a little thick headed today, but what is the issue with this image? He is not wearing any overseas awards, so he could be an aviator from a National Guard unit that was activated and served in a training or other capacity stateside.

 

Plenty of time to hit the range and get your qualifications in. Is it unusual for him to wear the qual badges? Sure, but not against regulations.

 

I have a place for this image in my collection if you don't want it! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
As glider pilots were expected to fight their way back to friendly lines following a combat landing, as necessary, they were armed with carbines, so a Marksman's rating would have been a very useful skill to have!
Carbines, M3 grease guns, Thompson .45’s, and Garand’s where all issued to Glider pilots, there may have been others too. IMHO the M1 Garand was probably the small arm most often carried by the GP’s.

Bill was at Bowman Field Kentucky on a few occasions for training before going to the ETO in the spring of 44. One of those trips was as a small arms instructor for the Glider Pilots advanced combat training. Don’t know if there is some relation between that and him waring the Expert’s badge in this photo.

Not all GPs, but from time to time there were GP groups who went into a six-week Commando training, in Kentucky center among others. All Qualification Bars are possible on GP -- they trained even hand-to-hand fight. I recommend WWII era publications on the I TCC and GPs where such a Commando training can be seen. The GP had to maintain all models of the US firearms including heavy machine guns as well. Various authors-idiots write that the US GP was an elegant tourist with his camera in the battlefield and he did nothing good for his infantry colleagues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Based on photos I have seen, it seems to me that the wear of shooting badges by Army officers varied greatly by time period. Prior to WW2, it was commonplace. During WW2, it was more the exception than the rule. This photo of the command pilot illustrates one of the unusual instances of a WW2 era officer wearing a shooting badge, but I would say that is because he was a holdover from the interwar years and just continued wearing it. The glider pilot pictured in this thread was prior enlisted (based on that Good Conduct Ribbon), so he probably just continued wearing the shooting badge he wore as an enlisted man prior to being promoted to FO. In Korean War and VN era officer portraits, you don’t typically see shooting badges being worn. When I was a cadet at The Citadel in the late 1970’s, none of my officer ROTC instructors wore them. The thought was “officers were expected to be proficient with a weapon and didn’t need a badge to prove it.” While assigned to the 2nd Armored Division in the 1980’s, the Assistant Division Commander required all officers to qualify for and wear them. And, I think it’s more commonplace now. But, with all the other junk currently being worn on the blue US Army “Christmas Tree” uniform, if an officer is not wearing a shooting badge, it’s probably because he simply can’t fit it in amongst all the other gaudy baubles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...