World War One Weekly Wing # 26 -- Half Way!

[cwnorma]

World War One

Weekly Wing #26

G. W. Haltom “Military Aviator” Wing

 

Background

 

Half way through the year-long effort to post a World War One wing every week!  To commemorate the mid-point of this journey, I thought we could share a somewhat special wing and perhaps in so doing generate some discussion.

 

WWOWW #18 noted that the Army designated the wing with star for Military Aviator 27 October 1917. However the same changes stipulated that to qualify as a Military Aviator, a pilot had to fly for at least three years—meaning the overwhelming majority of WW1 era pilots would have never qualified for the star before the war ended.  Furthermore, the Army ceased presenting ratings as Military Aviator 25 January 1919.  The star was not resumed as Campbell (1991) noted, until 1937 when the Army created the rating of Military Airplane Pilot:

Quote

On 23 December 1937, the War Department awarded this rating to 63 veteran aviators, who had held the rating of pilot for at least 12 years and had flown more than 2000 hours" (War Department Circular #62).

Even this designation was short lived as War Department Circular 21, 20 February 1940, changed the wing with star badge designation to Senior Pilot.

 

WWOWW #26 with WWOWW #17 immediately below for comparison

Description

 

As we discussed in WWOWW 17, G. W. Haltom produced a series of very handsome badges with exaggerated Art Nouveau curves and a shield bearing well executed forced perspective of stripes to escutcheon with 13 five-pointed stars on background of fine horizontal lines in chief. The wings are near mirror image, exhibiting very fine feathering with a Neo-classical representational motif. 14K gold, separately applied, thin, gothic U and S.  The affixed star is executed in the “Etruscan” or “false embroidery” style.

 

Manufacture. Die struck in three main sterling silver pieces (wings, shield, and star) with separately applied die struck gold U and S. The single piece wings share a bar of silver upon which is separately mounted the shield. The star is separately silver soldered to the top of the shield with evidence of a somewhat crude repair/reinforcement to the star.

 

Mountings. As other G. W. Haltom badges, this badge appears to show evidence that it was originally screw-post mounted but has been converted to pin back.  The cammed pin opens 80 degrees and The catch is of type not seen until the very end of WW1.

 

Markings. The badge bears no markings.

 

Notes.  Considering the vanishingly small numbers of Military Aviators and Military Airplane Pilots, collectors should automatically view any WW1 era badge with star with a healthy dose of skepticism.  So what then should we consider this badge to be?  The badge was purchased years ago by a non-wing collector in a pawn shop near Somerset, KY for a tiny fraction of what a WW1 pilot badge would normally command, so it has never been presented to the collector community as an “exotic rarity.”  Unfortunately, no information was available from the pawn broker as to its original owner.  Having carefully examined this badge for all the years I have owned it, my best guess is that it represents a long serving aviator who earned his wings during the WW1 era and eventually had the star added at the appropriate time by a jeweler.   Perhaps this badge belonged to, and was modified by, one of the 1937 Military Airplane Pilots, but a more likely scenario would be that the badge was worn during the post 1940 era by a WW1 era aviator who achieved the Senior Pilot rating. Indeed the badge itself shows evidence of multiple repairs, some a little crude—a strong indication of a long, proud, and cherished service life.  Regardless of its history, its a unique and handsome WW1 era badge!

 

WWOWW #17

[blind pew]

So the star is not attached to the wing?

 

I have one of those separate stars and I never knew what the hell it was!

 

PS- only halfway through? Holy crap- I thought with all the stuff you have posted that we were approaching the end. Thanks again for doing this- I am learning a lot. I may not post a response, but I am reading all of the posts and learning. Thanks again for the effort- it is certainly appreciated.

[cwnorma]

blind pew,

 

On the badge at the top, the star is silver soldered to the top of the shield.  Careful inspection with a 5x loupe also shows that the star was originally about a millimeter to the left of its current position.  

 

I think the star was originally a pre-WW2 era General Officer collar or overseas cap size star.  It is just under 1/2 inch tip to tip.

 

In his formal portraits, Brigadier General William L. "Billy" Mitchell can be seen wearing a similar 1/2 inch star pinned to his uniform just above his BB&B Dallas wings (compare in size with the full-size star on his shoulder):