Jump to content

My small collection of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force stripes


kyhistorian01
 Share

Recommended Posts

I have been putting together a small display on the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. These are the stripes I have picked up over the years. Most of them I have in pairs. I am hoping someday to find an example of the collar insignia and hat device as well as an example of the rank in the new ACU color. What do you think so far?

 

Robert

 

1st type

post-6492-1254353029.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...
Chevron Guy

I liked Robert's collection of CMSAF chevrons and thought I would post my small incomplete collection also.

 

post-97008-0-38336900-1466783405.jpg CMSAF subdued chevrons in 1967 and 1991 and 2004 styles

 

post-97008-0-17897200-1466783429.jpg CMSAF desert & ABU chevrons in 1991 and 2004 and 2009 ABU styles

 

post-97008-0-49530900-1466783462.jpg CMSAF blue service coat chevrons in 1991 and 2004 styles

 

The older 1967 style chevrons have been the most difficult for me to obtain. Comments?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice collection! I too have collected CMSAF chevrons over the years and even have the 3 styles in metal pin-on chevrons. By the way, some think the one that omits the center dot in the star are mistakes, but a friend of mine who also collects these asked one the of the former CMSAF's about it, he verified they were used. I even have the metal pin-on that's missing the center dot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way, some think the one that omits the center dot in the star are mistakes, but a friend of mine who also collects these asked one the of the former CMSAF's about it, he verified they were used. I even have the metal pin-on that's missing the center dot.

 

How interesting. Could those be an adaptation of Army CSM embroidery pattern? They look similar.

 

Thank for the posts,

 

Justin B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chevron Guy

Justin, I think you may be right that the USAF adopted the same central image (the official seal of the United States) in their Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force chevron in 2004 as the US army had approved in 1996 for the Sergeant Major of the Army. The USMC has had such a senior NCO rank the longest and approved their current chevron style for the SMMC in 1970 with the Eagle, Globe & Anchor with a star on either side as the central image. I have not read any articles that specifically state how and why these chevrons were designed, only the dates when they were approved. Thanks for your comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Justin, I think you may be right that the USAF adopted the same central image (the official seal of the United States) in their Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force chevron in 2004 as the US army had approved in 1996 for the Sergeant Major of the Army.

 

Thanks, I was actually referring to the "pierced" vs. "solid" stars on the USAF stripes. Actually as I compare them they are all pretty similar, but you can see what I mean:

 

post-3982-0-99190100-1467071253.jpg

 

Justin B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Justin, that's a good comparison photo. I guess somebody, somewhere figured out that the USAF center star required the dot which refers back to the old US National insignia used on military planes prior to June 1942 when the center red dot was dropped to avoid confusion with the Japanese "meatball", aircraft marking. This serves as a subtle reminder that the USAF evolved from the "old corps" as part of the Army.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chevron Guy

Justin and Lee, I think you both have it figured just right. I think the star with the wreath around it looks quite nice and we should expect that our military services would share good ideas just as they do weapons. The dot in the center of the USAF star has always been a neat touch. Nice job superimposing one chevron over the other Justin. How did you do that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess somebody, somewhere figured out that the USAF center star required the dot which refers back to the old US National insignia used on military planes prior to June 1942 when the center red dot was dropped to avoid confusion with the Japanese "meatball", aircraft marking. This serves as a subtle reminder that the USAF evolved from the "old corps" as part of the Army.

 

Agreed, and the red-centered star featured prominently in the AAF shoulder patches. I always liked that call-back to the USAF's heritage. The "solid" star just doesn't look right to me.

 

 

Nice job superimposing one chevron over the other Justin. How did you do that?

 

Thank you. A feature called "mask" in the digital graphics programs I have used (other programs might have a different name for it) which lets you "mask out" an image or parts of an image. The mask is shown in shades of gray, the darker the gray the more transparent it will make the image. So I just made copies of the stripes, adjusted the size so they were at the same scale (or as close as I could get), "masked" copies of each and superimposed the semi-transparent images, then lined up all the copies into one picture.

 

You can see the USAF wreaths are a little "fuller," so my guess that they might just use the same embroidery set-up from the CSM chevrons was probably wrong. They are pretty close, though.

 

 

Justin B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chevron Guy

Lee & others, have you seen other sew on USAF chevrons without the dot or hole in the center of the star besides the CMSAF desert chevrons of the 1992 type as posted?

I looked through my collection of other ranks and did not find any others that were solid stars. I am just curious about which type chevrons or ranks and what years this type of embroidered solid star occurred. It looks like the 1976 style shoulder mark that kyhistorian posted earlier may have a solid star or very small dot. Thanks for your replies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...