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AAF Tank Corps uniform!


doinworkinvans
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Unusual, yes; strange, no.

 

It obviously belonged to a liason pilot assigned to the 6th Armored Division, that's what the L on the wing stands for. Infantry and armored divisions had liason aircraft assigned to them in WWII for reconnaissance and artillery spotting. So it's entirely possible to have an Air Corps officer serving in an armored division.

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I have had Liaison Pilots uniforms before and this is certainly feasible. i had one that had artillery collar brass and field artillery unit DUIs that was a vet pick up ( wish I still had it). The flight officer rank is correct too. The wing looks like a Meyer re-strike though. Of course ANY uniform can be put together!

 

Paul

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FA Bns and the HHB of Divarty each had two L-planes, normally eight per Div. Non-Divisional FA, Bns and Gps, also GENERALLY had the same allotment -- BUT when their units were far back from the battlelines, they were often siphoned off for "air taxi" jobs on behalf of Corps or comm zone.

Most of their pilots were NCOs, but FOs and LTs were included; IIRC the senior L-pilot in a Div was a CPT.

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Moving this to the Uniform section.

 

The rank on it is for a Warrant Officer... one more thing that lends to it's credibility. If it was fake, it probably would have had commissioned officer's rank on it.

WO.jpg

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doinworkinvans

Warrant officer, wing prop collar brass, Liason pilot, 6th armored - - - - man.....you learn something new every day

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Moving this to the Uniform section.

 

The rank on it is for a Warrant Officer... one more thing that lends to it's credibility. If it was fake, it probably would have had commissioned officer's rank on it.

 

That's actually a Flight Officer rather than a WO. If it were a WO, it would have WO BOS rather than Air Corps BOS.

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And it's another cadet jacket to boot. Those liaison pilots sure had a job that wasn't too enviable, flying around in little planes when you knew the guys under you had some heavy firepower. This is a neat uniform, for sure. Hopefully it's named.

-- Jon

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That's actually a Flight Officer rather than a WO. If it were a WO, it would have WO BOS rather than Air Corps BOS.

 

Exactly, and likewise a commissioned officer doing the same job might be Artillery branch.

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It is possible. Armored and Artillery units have air observers for recognition and correction of shots.

 

Generally pilots were WO or NCO.

 

BTW, I remember seeing pictures of the pilots in Panzer Heer and WSS uniforms with badges of Luftwaffe pilots in WW2.

 

The Brazilians in the U.S. 5th Army had a air unit called ELO.

 

The 1ª ELO was created on 20 July 1944, being assigned the task of supporting the Artilharia Divisionária - AD (Divisional Artillery) of the Força Expedicionária Brasileira - FEB (Brazilian Expeditionary Force), spotting the fall of shots of the artillery, and performing other liaison and reconnaissance missions.

 

Its commander was Cap.-Av. João Affonso Fabrício Belloc, who was promoted to the rank of Maj.-Av. during the Campaign in Italy. The 1ª ELO personnel was comprised of 11 flight officers, 1 administrative officer, 8 sargeants (aircraft technicians), 2 radio sargeants and 8 soldiers (maintenance).

 

The 1ª ELO landed at Naples on 6 October 1944, with the 2nd Echelon of the FEB, and was transported to Livorno on landing crafts. It was first based at the Royal Fields at San Rossore, near Pisa, from 28-X-1944 to 13-XI-1944. The Flight received at this base its aircraft, some of which were named as "Grupo Escola", "Brasil", "Bandeirante", "Santa Therezinha", "Timbiras", "Ceará", "Diogo Júnior" and "Luly".

 

The Flight was also based at San Giorgio (Pistóia) (13-XI-1944 a 10-XII-1944), Suviana (10-XII-1944 a 18-III-1945), Porreta Terme (18-III-1945 a 27-IV-1945), Montecchio Emiglia (27-IV-1945 a 4-V-1945), Piacenza (4-V-1945 a 9-V-1945), Portalbera (9-V-1945 a 12-VI-1945) and finally at Bergamo (12-VI-1945 a 16-VI-1945). Its movements followed the advancement of the Allied front line and in particular those of the artillery units of the FEB.

 

A typical mission of the Flight lasted for approximately two hours, flying over the German lines, searching for targets such as convoys, ammunition depots or enemy troops, whose positions were duly informed to the artillery control posts by the observer flying in the aircraft. Some pilot officers were not satisfied with just directing the artillery shots, and carried rocks and, later, grenades, to throw at the German troops.

 

The crews were always exposed to the bitter cold and to the German anti-aircraft fire - the Flak. In several missions ice formed on the carburettor, leading to an engine stoppage - the pilot then had to fly the aircraft gliding downwards until at a lower altitude the ice melted and the engine started up again.

 

The 1ª ELO completed 684 missions in almost 200 days of continuous operations, having made 400 artillery directing missions, supporting the Brazilian, American and British artillery units. The artillery directing missions attributed to the Flight were performed most efficiently - justifying its motto, "Olho Nêle!" ("Keep your sight on him!") - which allowed the Divisional Artillery of the FEB to be considered the most accurate of all the artillery units under control of the US 5th Army.

 

Ricardo.

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