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USAAC Distinguished Aerial Gunner & Distinguished Aerial Bomber badges of the 1920s & 1930s


CliffP
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These two badges were awarded only to U. S. Army Air Corps officers who were participates in a special competitive event held once a year at Langley Field, VA between 1926 through 1932. They are extremely scarce and rarely if ever found.

 

First awarded at the 1928 event - they were also awarded that same day retroactive to the winners for the two previous years,1926 and 1927.

 

All were made of 24k gold. The ones awarded between 1926 and 1930 were struck by the Ordnance Department, Rock Island Arsenal. Those made for the event held in 1931 and 1932 were made by Bailey Bank & Biddle and hallmarked.

 

All were inscribed on the back with the recipients name and the year for which he won the award.

 

The Distinguished Aerial Gunner badge in the photo on the left was awarded to a pilot who actually won the event three years in a row, 1926, 1927 and 1928. During the closing minutes at the first awards ceremony in 1928 the officials in charge decided that War Department regulations would not allow an officer to wear more than one identical badge on a uniform; therefore, the pilot who had won the event three years in a row was only allowed to take one badge so he chose to keep the one engraved for the 1926 event.

 

The Distinguished Aerial Bomber badge in the photo on the right was awarded to a pilot for the 1928 event.

 

While both Distinguished Aerial Gunner and Distinguished Aerial Bomber badges are quite rare, it should be noted that fewer were won for bombing than those won for gunnery thus the bomber badges are extremely rare.

 

Cliff

post-4542-0-71123100-1431216628.jpg

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Photo taken of the winners at the event held at Langley Field Virginia in 1928. A number of the pilots who had won the event in 1926 and 1927 are also standing in this photo.

 

Cliff

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DakotaDave

I have never seen these except in the 1943 National Geographic article on military medals and decorations, even then they were only line drawings.

Thanks for posting these incredibly rare badges. Would love to see the engraving on the reverse.

 

DakotaDave

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LuftStalg1

Beautiful badges Cliff, thanks for posting them! I have never had the pleasure of seeing or handling one in person. I bought a set from of die struck copies from, I dare not mention his name here. They fill this spot for display but with out even having them in hand at the moment I know they are more flat then the originals. The originals seem thick or slightly domed in the center, bullet / bomb, and the copies are not like that at all. Better then nothing for display though.

 

Mark

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aerialbridge

Interesting coincidence that the event was suspended after the 1932 award and that on 4/3/33 by executive order, FDR mandated that persons turn in all gold coin, bullion, certificates, etc, with an aggregate value over $100. Any idea why the competition was suspended? Were all years of this badge struck in gold and all government procured? Did any of the services issue gold badges of any sort after 1932?

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Interesting coincidence that the event was suspended after the 1932 award and that on 4/3/33 by executive order, FDR mandated that persons turn in all gold coin, bullion, certificates, etc, with an aggregate value over $100. Any idea why the competition was suspended? Were all years of this badge struck in gold and all government procured? Did any of the services issue gold badges of any sort after 1932?

 

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

 

'aerialbridge' in answer to your questions.

 

All the badges were struck in 14k gold paid for by the government. In fact, for the 6 events up through 1930 all were made by the Rock Island Arsenal.

 

There were three primary reasons why the event was no longer held after 1932. The country was in a deep depression and funding to the military had been severely cut. FDRs mandate against the ownership of gold didn't help either.

 

No gold badges were awarded by any of the services after 1932.

 

cp

 

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  • 5 years later...
5thwingmarty

Another thread was started showing a couple more of these badges:

As noted in my first post in that thread, BB&B showed these badges in their 1928 catalog, but with the statement "Issued on permit from War Dept."

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wartimecollectables.com

My first two Distinguished Aerial badges were obtained from Cliff Pressley years ago and I continue to be be humbled by his knowledge! The two recent examples I obtained from another noted historian collector, William Emerson. He was kind enough to share more detail on these badges. I have copied it below.

"Andrew,

You asked about some details of the two aerial distinguished badges.  The War Department first awarded Distinguished Aerial Gunner and Distinguished Aerial Bomber badges in 1928, retroactively to 1926.   

Afterwards the badges were given each year through 1932.  MG Benjamin Foulois, who became Air Corps chief in 1931, concluded the current ability to hit targets were not up to desired standards.  After national match standards were not sufficient to meet the Foulois standards in the 1931 and 1932 matches, he ended award of aerial distinguished badges.

  Two similar but slightly different versions exist for each of the two badges.  The initial WD version and the subsequent BB&B version.  From the front they appear identical.  WD drawing 4-4-22, dated February 28, 1930, show these badges and note that they, and all other distinguished badges (Marksman, Pistol, and Automatic Rifle), have the same composition: All of the wire links are made from 14K gold, gold solder is to be used to fasten the pin and catch to the suspending bar, and the overall badge is to be “14K gold, plated with 24K gold plated complete approx. XXX grains,” where for the bomber badge XXX is 235 and the gunner badge is 227.  
   It is worth noting that in the late 1920s and well into the mid 1930s, the QMC was creating official drawings of its insignia for the first time.  In most cases these drawings were simply documenting the insignia then in use.  In the case of the five distinguished badges this appears to fit this pattern as the caches on them have two different styles of catches:  The Aerial and the Auto Rifle have ball catches, while the rifle and pistol badges have the older style of catch made from a heavy wire.
   The reverse of the two styles of aerial badges differ slightly.  The initial 1926-1929 WD badges have ball catches differ from the BB&B ball catches, as the slot in the ball and rotating catch differ by 90 degrees.  The drawing simply calls for a ball catch and does not specify any brand or design for these catches.  Also the reverse of the planchets are of different styles.  The WD versions have a slight concave shape and are marked 14K.  The BB&B versions are flat and are marked BB&B in various ways. "

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