Pineapple Air Force Pilot Wings Luke Field (Ford Island) 5th Composite Group 1930's

[Salvage Sailor]

On 9/19/2022 at 10:02 AM, hoppylu2 said:

That's interesting about the Hawaiian Dept patch being so widely used.

I'm trying to get a handle on whether/when the pinwheel patch was worn there, if at all, around 1941 and whether a generic AAC DI existed, and if there was such a DI, whether it was worn by officers on shirt or blouse epaulettes.

There's an apparent split in postings around this site, regarding shoulder patches; their use on blouses but not shirts, and whether sewn on or snapped on.

Mahalo plenty.

 

In regard to Interwar HAF units and their DI's and Hawaiian Department SSI, let's go to the contemporary photographs from the

11th Photo Section.  These are all Hawaiian Department units (Hawaiian Air Force) which also wore the 18th Pursuit Group DI and Hawaiian Department SSI (not the Pinwheel).  All part of the Seventy Fifth Service Squadron, Air Corps, Schofield Barracks, T.H. in support of Luke Field (Photos taken at Wheeler Field, 1936)  Note that each section is led by an Air Corps flying Officer

 

75th Service Squadron, Maintenance Section

 

75th Service Squadron, 11th Photo Section

Of note here is the 11th Photo Section attached to the 75th. They were the primary photographic unit for the Hawaiian Department and Division. You'll see them credited on many US Army photos taken in the Department, much of it Aerial Photography, throughout the 1920's and 1930's.

Wheeler Field & Schofield Barracks with the Waianae Mountains in the background

11th Photo Section, Air Corps

 

75th Service Squadron Headquarters

(again, all wearing 18th Pursuit DI's & HD SSI)

 

75th Service Squadron, Engineering Section

 

75th Service Squadron, Supply Section

 

75th Service Squadron, Flight Section and Parachute Department

Note: The detail photo is interesting as it shows either a native American or native Hawaiian and also what may be the oldest private in the Air Service (at right).  Also, it's commanded by pilot 1st LT Offutt who also commands the engineering section above. He may be related to 1st LT Jarvis Offutt (lost in 1918) namesake of Offutt Air Force Base.

 

I'll have to rescan some of these Officer's and their wings (may be an Airship wing above) and repost some of the collar details.

 

18th Pursuit Group

UNGUIBUS ET ROSTRO

 

HAWAIIAN DEPARTMENT

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Another photo from my Pineapple Air Force collection

 

Enlisted Private, Hawaiian Air Force

 

Gerald A. Leen, 4th Recon. Sqdn. Luke Field, Honolulu, T.H.

Note that he is wearing 5th Composite Group DI's

[Wailuna]

Check out Find-a-Grave memorial number 138887182  to see what happened to Private Leen after Luke Field.

[Salvage Sailor]

11 hours ago, Wailuna said:

Check out Find-a-Grave memorial number 138887182  to see what happened to Private Leen after Luke Field.

 

Mahalo,

 

I hadn't taken the time to look up his bio, thanks for the tip.  I found a detailed obit for him covering his service assignments in the HAF/USAAF.

 

 

Excerpt

Colonel Gerald Adrian “Gerry” Leen, Command Pilot, USAF

3 Apr 1916 Saskatchewan, Canada - 7 Dec 2015 (aged 99) Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

 

 

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1937, becoming an aircraft mechanic and supply technician. He attended the University of Washington during 1939-1940, at which time he received a flying cadet appointment. Upon completion of flight training he was commissioned in the Army Air Corps. His first five years were spent giving flight training to advanced students and instructor training to experienced military pilots.

 

In 1941, he married the former Florence Hendrickson of Bremerton, Washington, in San Antonio, Texas. The remainder of his twenty-seven years of service in the United States Air Force was spent in logistical career fields and command-pilot flight assignments.

 

Colonel Leen has 5,000 accident-free flying hours in 35 different types of propeller and jet-driven aircraft. He flew in the Berlin Airlift. Tours of service took him to Hawaii, Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and numerous bases in the United States. He traveled in over 100 countries as well as to every US state.  He retired from the Air Force in 1964 

[Salvage Sailor]

1 hour ago, Salvage Sailor said:

 

Mahalo,

 

I hadn't taken the time to look up his bio, thanks for the tip.  I found a detailed obit for him covering his service assignments in the HAF/USAAF.

 

 

Excerpt

Colonel Gerald Adrian “Gerry” Leen, Command Pilot, USAF

3 Apr 1916 Saskatchewan, Canada - 7 Dec 2015 (aged 99) Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

 

 

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1937, becoming an aircraft mechanic and supply technician. He attended the University of Washington during 1939-1940, at which time he received a flying cadet appointment. Upon completion of flight training he was commissioned in the Army Air Corps. His first five years were spent giving flight training to advanced students and instructor training to experienced military pilots.

 

In 1941, he married the former Florence Hendrickson of Bremerton, Washington, in San Antonio, Texas. The remainder of his twenty-seven years of service in the United States Air Force was spent in logistical career fields and command-pilot flight assignments.

 

Colonel Leen has 5,000 accident-free flying hours in 35 different types of propeller and jet-driven aircraft. He flew in the Berlin Airlift. Tours of service took him to Hawaii, Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and numerous bases in the United States. He traveled in over 100 countries as well as to every US state.  He retired from the Air Force in 1964 

 

Forgot I had this too in the Pineapple Air Force archives...

Note PFC Gerald Leen on the Thanksgiving roster

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jacko]

It seems to me that the officers in the yard-long are wearing white shirts, not faded khaki. But I can't find any Army Regs online earlier than the 1941 AR 600-40.

I have the 1943 Officer's Guide; on page 160, under "Dress Uniforms", it says, "The whte shirt is no longer prescribed for wear as a means of converting the service uniform to "dress" status; the khaki shirt is worn with the coat under all conditions."

Working backwards from that, I have to fill in the blank that these men were wearing white shirts to make the khaki service coats "formal" for the formal portrait.

I have few skills, but I'll bet there are many here who know how/where to access old army manuals and regs.

If the earlier ARs, which cover the "1926" khaki service coat, and/or white shirts, are on this forum, I haven't been able to find them.

Any help from you old salts?

One thing I did find in the 1941 AR 600-40 pertains to the forest green middy braid around the cuffs of many of the officers.

In AR 600-40, 46f: Warrant officers and enlisted men who served on active duty as commissioned officers...during the World War, and whose commissioned service was terminated honorably, are authorized to wear a band of forest green braid, 1/2 inch wide around both sleeves of the service coat...to be 3 inches from the end of the sleeve.

The yard-long photo seems to be dated in the first few years of the 1930s, based on one of the men shown, which detail I can't remember at this point.

Jack

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Commanding Officer 5th Composite Group, 1936

Lt. Col. Asa North Duncan