AAC/AAF Enlisted Sleeve Patches

[R. Watkins]

If this topic has been covered before maybe someone could point me in the right direction.

 

Can anyone provide me with a time frame when the 'winged prop' sleeve insignia were in use?

I know that this type of enlisted rank patch was worn in early WWII, but have not been able

to establish just when these were first adopted or subsequently discontinued.

 

Cab anyone help me out with this one?

 

[doinworkinvans]

I believe (and have heard) that the chevrons with the wing prop were never formally adopted....and I found this old thread too, that mentions the same thing.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/88182-wwii-air-corp-staff-sergeant-chevron/

[doinworkinvans]

I do know that in 1942 the chevrons went to what we commonly see on AAF uniforms. I have always been under the assumption that prior to that you see the wing prop ones but they were never formally adopted. There were no war circulars dated between 1920-1942 that addressed changes to rank insignia according to internet research.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150113122159/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/HeraldryMulti.aspx?CategoryId=9168&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services

 

 

If its on the internet it HAS TO BE TRUE!

[R. Watkins]

So far it appears that you guys are spot-on regarding these 'winged propeller' sleeve rates never being officially authorized.

 

One source I contacted at Roosevelt-Randell stated that in spite of all the period photographic documentation that exists

showing the widespread use of these devices, especially in the early years of WWII, that nothing could be found in the old

AAC/AAF uniform regulations manuals regarding them. It seems really strange that something so widely adopted within the

USAAF would leave no paper trail of any kind.

 

This is a minor matter in the full scope of WWII history, but one of those things that keeps gnawing at me

I'm still checking some additional sources and will post any information I may receive back for anyone else that may be interested.

[Justin B.]

One source I contacted at Roosevelt-Randell stated that in spite of all the period photographic documentation that exists

showing the widespread use of these devices, especially in the early years of WWII, that nothing could be found in the old

AAC/AAF uniform regulations manuals regarding them. It seems really strange that something so widely adopted within the

USAAF would leave no paper trail of any kind.

 

 

I once asked a relative who was a 8th AF pilot about them, and he said he didn't really know much except some guys wore them. But keep in mind, he told me, a lot of the higher-ups in the AAF thought it should be independent like the RAF, and things that differentiated the AAF from the rest of the Army were not really discouraged even though non-regulation.