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Army Air Corps Guidon - 57th Technical School


MasonK
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Picked this up at a local shop today. Embarrassingly, I only paid $10. I assume its for the 57th Class of Technical Training School. Hoping to find more information the class, and the base the school would have been stationed out of.

 

Guidon is in great shape; no mothing to the felt lettering, however one small rip in the flag material. Measures 29"x19". The Philadelphia QM Depot tag is present in the sleeve. Sadly, half of the tag is missing, so if there was a date, it went with the second half.

 

Any help that could be provided in ID'n the class or base, would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

post-29885-0-46489700-1441565792.jpg

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Thanks, Gents! I was quite excited to find it, as it was hidden under a handful of large US flags. Certainly happy with the price, too! Have to make a repeat trip to this shop as he had some other nice items, at fair prices. Sadly, didn't take credit, and I only had a 10 spot on me.

 

My guess is, Ill likely have a hard time confirming with base this would have come from. There were quite a few bases that had technical schools, and I imagine all had a 57th class.

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I think 57 is more a flight number versus a class number..and could be wrong...but flight numbers were continually reused were class numbers were changed

 

would love to find a 3708th BMTS Flt 051 guidon..just sayin

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A great flag, and you stole it, of course.

 

The guidon is original army made and issue of course, the blue with the propellor wing. I am of the opinion that it was made during WW2, as the pole sleeve is khaki/green on the inside. I'm not saying that there weren't white sleeve liners during WW2, but every flag I've ever seen and believed to be 100% war time era has been green. That doesn't mean that its a war time issue flag, as I've seen green liners used well up into the '50s and perhaps even later.

 

The lettering doesn't look like traditional QM sewn letters that you normally see. I would bet that because of its nature (a training class), that the base had a number of these blank, and then would have someone onbase or offbase sew on the appropriate letters. Neat piece, these are really hard to find.

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A great flag, and you stole it, of course.

 

The guidon is original army made and issue of course, the blue with the propellor wing. I am of the opinion that it was made during WW2, as the pole sleeve is khaki/green on the inside. I'm not saying that there weren't white sleeve liners during WW2, but every flag I've ever seen and believed to be 100% war time era has been green. That doesn't mean that its a war time issue flag, as I've seen green liners used well up into the '50s and perhaps even later.

 

The lettering doesn't look like traditional QM sewn letters that you normally see. I would bet that because of its nature (a training class), that the base had a number of these blank, and then would have someone onbase or offbase sew on the appropriate letters. Neat piece, these are really hard to find.

 

Thanks, Nirvana!

 

I appreciate the additional details you've provided, and am glad you are in the opinion of it being WWII; that was my thinking as well. This is the first guidon I've seen in person, and have had the opportunity to study. Usually at a show they are behind glass, and priced out of my range, so I don't take the opportunity to look them over.

 

The letter's are felt, and sewn onto the flag. I imagine, as you said, the QM sent blanks to allow for them to be made up as needed, which makes perfect sense.

 

I did find it odd that letters were sewn backwards on the reverse side of the flag.

 

I plan on framing it behind glass. Should look great on display. Already have a spot on the wall ready for it!

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I think 57 is more a flight number versus a class number..and could be wrong...but flight numbers were continually reused were class numbers were changed

 

would love to find a 3708th BMTS Flt 051 guidon..just sayin

 

Thanks, Phantom. You certainly could be correct. I've been browsing online photos of AAF/AAC yardlongs, trying to find a similar guidon, specifically for tech school, and no such luck.

 

Hoping to find that link to confirm.

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