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WW1 Naval Aviation Groups and Named Tunics


Too Much WW1 Militaria
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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Fantastic so far. So really interesting groups.

Mark,

 

I'm a rookie compared to some of these guys! More after dinner!

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Next, a aviation cadet named to J. M. Wallace. Thanks to a member (cwnorma) I now know that the collar devices were used by aviation cadets for a short time in 1918. I haven't been able to find anything on Wallace, my guess is he was only in for a short period, the war ended, and he went home. I do know, based on this tunic, he never received his wings. Notice it has no provision for board attachments. If he'd of been comissioned, he most likely would of used "soft" sewn down boards.

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Last one in the series is a named working tan tunic to Ensign Robert V. Cassidy. He was a Heavier than Air (HTA) pilot. Stationed in Penscola FL and Queenstown Ireland. See why I'm looking for a set of boards, it looks like heck with my single on it! Wish I could go to the SOS, it and a couple of bell crowns (officer's green, Chief's tan and green) plus the boards are the only things I'm looking for, but my legs and feet won't allow it. And the open fluke wings were used late in the war, although there are arguments both ways. This kinda settles it. This wing has been on this from the get go. He took the boards off though! No rhyme or reason sometimes!

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

left side. Note the shoulder board attachment loops. A lot of folks pass these by without knowing what they are. In period photos, you usually see them worn without wings. At least the majority of them. This is it for my small slice of Naval aviation. Have 3 times the number of Army aviators/observers.

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Just a note on working tans..... They exist in both 2 pocket and 4 pocket versions, and weren't limited to aviation use. I've never seen a legit blue officers tunic with WW1 sewn on wings on it. All that I've ever seen were humped up with WW2 blue backed wings. Never say never, but I've never seen one. Has anybody seen one?

 

John

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Mark,

 

You got it! This is going to take several days, got to dig a lot of them out. And, Harlow Harding (Hardique) in Gorrell's is one of them!

 

First up 26th Division Balloon observer. Is named, but the name is escaping me right now. This is the one that I needed the arty devices for, finally found a matched pair on e-bay. Some of the photos are mine (the grainy ones) and some are from the auction where I picked this up. Came with 2 pairks of the thick breeches used by flyers/observers, and balloon guys.

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Next up is a observer that I acquired from Mark (falls creek). Named to Harlow Harding, which draws a blank in Gorrell's. However, Gorrell's used a lot of French transcribers who sometimes used the French spellings of names. Chris (cwnorma) on here said, "Well, you read and write French, what are some of the rough French spellings that might be used for Harding?" Since Harlow is a odd first name, I figured this stood a chance. Came up with the last name of Hardique. Well, there he was! He commanded the radio school at Issoudn. He never put his overseas chevrons on, they are still loose in the pocket. I'm using Mark's pictures on this one, they are about 10,000 times better than mine!

 

As it turned out with this, he was a CPT, not a 1st Louie. Also have his flying helmet, (packed up) also from Mark! Thanks Mark, I still get a chuckle out of our conversation that began "How in the h*ll did you find the guy so fast?" Just based on that conversation alone, this tunic will never go anywhere. And, for those of you who gon't know him, Mark is one of the really "good eggs" in this hobby.

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Next up we have a balloon winch operator (I think). According to DesChanes book, the rank is for the 6th balloon company. The pants have the guy's first letter of his last name which is "V" followed by the last 4 of his ASN, like WW2 laundry marks. Does anyone have a 6th balloon company roster? I'd love to solve this mystery! The chain of custody has been Duncan, Richard, me, cwnorma, and me again! Chris and I trade like little girls trade dolls! LOL And, there isn't a lot of difference! My wife calls the 19 mannequins I have in the club basement "Barbies". Can't argue with her!

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Give me a day or so to dig some others out. Have several pilots, ground crew, balloon observers, etc. And, if anyone is going to the SOS and want's to help an old man out, if you happen to see a set of those Ensign's boards, I'll pay ya for them, + postage, +20%! Every time I look at that tunic with one board, it just makes me crazy! Well, crazier! lol

 

John

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I'm getting willy-nilly now! Forgot this last night. A Navy aviation cadets bell crown to Carlos Bjeck Smith (what a mix of names!) For some reason, the cadet covers don't draw a ton of collecting interest. I've onlt ever seen a handful! Don't know if any of you saw the aviation green WO cover on e-bay a while back, but I dropped out at around $840. It remains the only one I've ever seen for sale. Anyway, the cadets cover.

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