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Post-WWII 1950's & 1960's US Air Force uniform photos


Bob Hudson
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Here is a first for this thread: An SSI for WWII service worn on a khaki short sleeve shirt. The Master Sergeant wearing the Sixth Air Force SSI is identified as Jesse C. Moore, Sergeant Major, 1162nd USAF Dispensary (picture scanned from the McGuire AFB 1957 yearbook). Both Master Sergeant Moore and the unidentified A1C shown here are wearing short sleeve modifications of standard Army issue khaki long sleeve shirts, which was part of the authorized summer uniform in the USAF until Sept. 30, 1959. There are dozens pictures in this book of officers and other enlisted men wearing both long and short sleeve khaki shirts but M/Sgt. Moore is the only one them sporting a WWII service patch on the short sleeve version. M/Sgt. Moore presumably left the patch that already was on a long sleeve shirt (which would have been unexceptional under USAF rules at that time) when he had it cut-down to a short sleeve version, hence this unusual transitional patch sighting.

 

attachicon.gif1161st USAF Dispensary Sgt. Maj. with 6th AF SSI ca. 1957.jpg

 

 

And would soon do away with the collar discs, right Wailuna?

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And would soon do away with the collar discs, right Wailuna?

 

Right, Patches. The Air Force commenced phasing out the legacy Army Khaki uniform by replacing it with one of its own design ca. mid-1957. Here is another M/Sgt. from the same McGuire AFB album wearing the Air Force's new ready-made short sleeve shirt, without collar disks or shoulder loops (and without a WWI service patch).

 

post-1963-0-90353900-1381716936.jpg

 

After Sept. 30, 1959, the new Air Force short sleeve shirt, without collar disks, was the sole survivor.

 

post-1963-0-97324700-1381716993.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

If I am not mistaken, these uniforms were optional and were not issued. They were mostly likely sold in the base clothing sales stores and base exchanges. They were being phased out when I entered the Air Force in July 1965 but were still authorized for wear until a certain date.

 

This photo is seen in various places on the web and it's one of my favorite USAF photos: the 1956 summer uniform with khaki shorts:

attachicon.gifattachment

As noted on the Air Force Association website at http://www.afa.org/magazine/1991/0691splendor.asp, the summer uniform also included long pants and the bush coat:

bushfront.jpg

 

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Note that I am wearing this uniform in my profile picture, which was taken in 1965 at Recife, Brazil. The same uniform, with slight variations, was the standard USAF flight uniform until around 1970 when the Air Force started issuing Nomex flight suits.

 

Sage green remained a popular color for Air Force flight suits long after it disappeared from utility uniforms. This flight suit has a black label:

k2bflightsuit.jpg


The label is undated, but I saw another pair with a higher contract number that was dated 1959.

k2bflightsuitlabel.jpg

 

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The difference is time of year. BMT graduates in winter months wore Class A blues while those who graduated in summer wore the 505 or 1505 uniform (they had just started issuing one set of 1505s along with two or three sets of 505s when I was in basic in the summer of 1963.

 

A February 1953 class:

attachicon.gifattachment

Here's a January 1960 class: notice how geeky the uniform looks compared to those from the 1950's. This is basically what they had when I went through Lackland AFB in 1968 and it was not a look that inspired esprit de corps:

attachicon.gifattachment

 

 

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This shirt is from the late 60s after the Air Force started using a different grade of cotton for fatigues. You can tell by the buttons. They are the same as those used on jungle fatigues.

 

3) An interesting shirt from the 49th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. The F106 Delta Dart patch is quite striking. If you look closely at the left sleeve you will see the shadow of a much higher NCO rank. Most likely this shirt was recycled for use by another airman. Early 1960s?

 

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This is officer was in Tactical Air Command, and the shirt is standard - probably purchased in the BX. The blue name tags didn't come into use until around 1965. In SEA, name tags were black on an olive background.

 

6) A standard issue OG-107 cotton fatigue shirt with direct embroidered rank and pilot wing, as well as name and USAF tapes. As I recall it could have been embroidered in either Thailand or Vietnam. This is most likely from early in the Vietnam War.

 

 

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At no time were Air Force personnel ever authorized to wear U.S. Army unit insignia on the fatigue uniform after the early 1950s. This is probably a shirt a veteran made up as memorabilia. This includes ALOs. I flew in Vietnam from 1965-1970 and never once saw an Air Force officer wearing an Army patch.

 

 

11) Jumping forward in time, one of my favorite uniforms. This would have been for an Air Liaison Officer attached to a unit of the 1ST CAV Division.

This uniform is hard to date. The material looks like the synthetic introduced in the 1970's.

This shirt was probably not worn during the Vietnam War, but immediately after it. While Airmen and Officers wore subdued insignia in theater (Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, PI), I believe they continued to wear full color insignia in the US until the mid 1970's.

 

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The Air Force E-4 grade was called Airman First Class until late 1967 or early 1968 when it was changed to Sergeant. The Air Force did away with the Airman Third Class rank and changed it to Airman Second Class. It was supposed to boost morale. E-4 became Sergeant. I was an E-4 at the time.

 

 

Airman 1st Class -- or was it still called sergeant then? -- Gordon Ellis. England, 1951. USSTAF patch has moved over onto left shoulder of his blues. Note hash mark on left sleeve.
My Dad served in USAAF/USAF from 1943 thru 1969.

 

 

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The individual on the bottom was probably not authorized aircrew wings. It was common for non-flying airmen to have their photograph taken with wings on their uniform to impress the folks back home. Those of us who were authorized them knew how to wear them.

 

scan0019.jpg

close up...

scanNCOacademy.jpg




Odd placement of the aircrew wings... on the pocket flap...

scan0029.jpg

 

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That's not a standard B-4 bag (which was only issued to aircrew personnel.) It's most likely a commercial version.

 

 

Not a uniform photo, but certainly from the early USAF period, so I guess this is the best place to post the picture. This was my Dad's personalized suitcase; the style I believe known as a "B-4 Bag". (If I'm wrong on that, I'm sure somebody will let me know.) I think it was a dark blue color. Surely dates from late '40s? Notice the "AF" prefixed on his serial number. I have my Dad’s dog tags from WW2/AAF and also USAF – seems the AF ones came into use as early as 1948. Hope this is of some interest...

 

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A blue wool flannel long sleeve winter shirt was authorized as early as May 15, 1959 (AFM 35-10), for wear “on base only.”

 

Someone else can sweat the details of an end date for this shirt but, based on personal sightings, this blue winter weight shirt was still being worn by USAF personnel assigned to some joint commands in Korea ca. late 1970s.

 

As for dating this picture, the “earliest” date clue shown here is the service star worn on the National Defense Service Medal ribbon, which was authorized in January 1966. As Patches points out, however, the presence of merrow-edged chevrons in this picture pushes the earliest feasible date out to ca. late 1960s at least. As indicated by his Air Force Longevity Service Award ribbon with three oak leaf clusters, this staff sergeant has between 16 and 20 years of honorable active or reserve military service with any branch of the United States Armed Forces. Surely he would have been pushing the limits of USAF’s up-or-out promotion policy by about 1970.

 

I bought one of these shirts in clothing sales at Amarillo in 1963, but it was hot and scratchy and I quit wearing it. USAF came out with a polyester version later on and I was still wearing it when I got out of the Air Force in 1975. It was an optional Class B winter uniform. I think I still have it. However, the shirts worn in the late 60s was different material from the wool shirt.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A twofer of one Horst W. Tittel, M/Sgt, he apparently was in the Army/Air Force forever.

 

This one taken 1945 ( note he does not wear at this time the quadruple collar discs ( the sets on the upper and lower lapels ), note the Hashmarks.

post-34986-0-76968100-1386208686.jpg

 

And this one taken in December 1956 at Randolph Air Force Base.

post-34986-0-86543400-1386209029.jpg

 

 

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A twofer of one Horst W. Tittel, M/Sgt, he apparently was in the Army/Air Force forever.

 

This one taken 1945 ( note he does not wear at this time the quadruple collar discs ( the sets on the upper and lower lapels ), note the Hashmarks.

attachicon.gifphpsa3jx5PM.jpg

 

Just this morning I was posting photos from the 1949 AIRMAN'S GUIDE and wondered about an illustration showing WWI stripes on a USAF uniform and wondered how often that was worn?

 

stripes.jpg

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The Air Force E-4 grade was called Airman First Class until late 1967 or early 1968 when it was changed to Sergeant. The Air Force did away with the Airman Third Class rank and changed it to Airman Second Class. It was supposed to boost morale. E-4 became Sergeant. I was an E-4 at the time.

 

 

 

 

The change to rank titles came in October 1967. Airman 3rd Class (one stripe), became just plain Airman. Airman 2nd Class (2 stripes), became Airman 1st Class and Airman 1st Class (3 stripes) became Sergeant. I was one of those guys who having only recently been promoted to Airman 2nd Class, got a new "instant" promotion to Airman 1st Class. Same chevrons, same pay, just a new rank title..

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Korean War Army vet. goes into the Blue, ca. 1955.

 

post-1963-0-59283100-1386892488.jpg

 

Associated Press Wirephoto of new USAF Blues, Jan. 26, 1949, which was several months before these uniforms would have become generally available in the field.

 

post-1963-0-76689300-1386893478.jpg

 

Source: ebay buy-it-now (link here).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All,

 

I was waiting for a post like this... The best post dedicated to the best uniform types ever in the US Armed Forces...the Post War USAF uniform. Ok I am biased.

 

Anyway want to share this one with you all...

 

Enjoy.

 

zb2r.jpg

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. The best post dedicated to the best uniform types ever in the US Armed Forces...the Post War USAF uniform. Ok I am biased.

.

 

zb2r.jpg

I'm biased too & I agree 100%.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi all,

 

I have what I believe is a service coat from when the 12th Air Force was assigned to USAFE (1951-1957). Looking for help confirming the origin of the SSI. It is the "standard" issue and it isn't bullion. Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks, Jeff

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/airbornetrooper/14193825383/

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/airbornetrooper/14150548126/

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/airbornetrooper/14173706915/

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As the 12th AF was stationed in Germany in the 50s, early 1951-early 1958 I would say German made. A permanent non flicker posting of the coat would be appreciated by one and all.

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One Rudy Cadori strikes a dashing pose after his Aircrew Training and gets set to head into the wild blue yonder, circa early 50s.

post-34986-0-64069400-1400036137.jpg

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