Air Crew During WW2

[thecardigankid]

I'm curious as I just picked up a 2 inch Air Crew wings made by Amico, what personnel would wer the Air Crew wings during WW2?

 

[Bingo]

Hi.
Have a look at this excellent website. It shows the different types of wings worn by aircrew.

http://www.ww2wings.com/main.shtml

 

[thecardigankid]

I looked at that site and while it shows a many good variation of the wings it doesn't seem to give any information about who wore them and what jobs they did which is what I'd like to know.

 

[Rathdown]

The Aircrew badge was issued to all enlisted personnel who were trained for flight status (this would include enlisted pilots, bombadiers, and navigators). At the discretion of a commanding officer non-flight crew (crew chiefs, bomb sight repair technicians, etc.) could also be issued Aircrew wings.

 

[cco23i]

The ground crew could only be issued wings IF THEY WERE ON FLIGHT STATUS. They didn't just issue to whoever on the ground crew.

Scott

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Radio operators and flight engineers were issued the enlisted aircrew wings while those who were just plain gunners had their own wings. Toward the end of the war separate flight engineer wings were issued to B-29 flight engineers.

enlisted aircrew (senior version shown)

aerial gunner

flight engineer (B-29)

 

[Rathdown]

The ground crew could only be issued wings IF THEY WERE ON FLIGHT STATUS. They didn't just issue to whoever on the ground crew.

Scott

That's correct, and that's why I said "...all personnel who were trained for flight status." as this includes (obviously) ground crew personnel on flight status, not just flight crews.

 

[filfoster]

The Aircrew badge was issued to all enlisted personnel who were trained for flight status (this would include enlisted pilots, bombadiers, and navigators). At the discretion of a commanding officer non-flight crew (crew chiefs, bomb sight repair technicians, etc.) could also be issued Aircrew wings.

Not doubting there were some, I have not read or seen anything about enlisted pilots. Do you have more info on them? Most pilots/co-pilots seem to have been officers.

 

[thecardigankid]

Not doubting there were some, I have not read or seen anything about enlisted pilots. Do you have more info on them? Most pilots/co-pilots seem to have been officers.

A lot of Liaison pilots were enlisted

 

[cco23i]

That's correct, and that's why I said "...all personnel who were trained for flight status." as this includes (obviously) ground crew personnel on flight status, not just flight crews.

What I was saying is yes they can be trained as aircrew and HAD been on flight status BUT if they were NOT on flying status they were not SUPPOSE to wear it BUT sometimes they would. (Girl bait)

Scott

 

[RichardH]

Not doubting there were some, I have not read or seen anything about enlisted pilots. Do you have more info on them? Most pilots/co-pilots seem to have been officers.

Chuck Yeager was a Flight Officer (Warrant Officer 1) during ww2 (He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt just before the end of his combat tour)
Neil Armstrong also got his wings of gold before he was a commisioned officer (He was a midshipman at the time (August 16th, 1950) )
He was promoted to ensign a week after his first carrier landing in a jet (F9F Panther) in 1951.

 

[MPicciotto]

Early in the war before the creation of the FO rank there were a good many pilots with the rank of S/sgt. Liason, Troop Carrier etc. Mid-war by Presidential decree the bastardized rank of Flight Officer was created with those in the rank being caught in a murky world between officer and enlisted. The most notable FO was of course Chuck Yeager but there were thousands of others. To expand on the air crew research google the term "Bomb Toggler" for enlisted bombardiers who weren't really bombardiers, the lead plane in the flight had a real bombardier, the rest just "toggled" their bombs on cue.

Matt

 

[Sgt Brown]

If you can get your hands on a copy (rare book), read
The Odyssey of Fighting Two. It is the story of the famous "Fighting Chiefs", Squadron VF-2. Except for the squadron officers - CO. Exec., etc. - all the pilots were Chief Petty Officers. It was the Navy's "Top Gun" squadron of the day and it was considered an honor for a commissioned officer to lead them.

All the Chiefs were immediately promoted to officer status at the start of the war, many of them taking over new squadrons.

Tom

 

[Treetopflyer]

Not sure about the AAF/USAF, but the Navy had Enlisted pilots up until the late 60's early 70's. They were Dirigible pilots or flew cargo planes and helicopters. The National Museum of Naval Aviation has a great display about them. They wore the same wings as Officer Aviators.

 

[cco23i]

Chuck Yeager was a Flight Officer (Warrant Officer 1) during ww2 (He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt just before the end of his combat tour)
Neil Armstrong also got his wings of gold before he was a commisioned officer (He was a midshipman at the time (August 16th, 1950) )
He was promoted to ensign a week after his first carrier landing in a jet (F9F Panther) in 1951.

Remember Yeager started out ground crew and was a Sergeant while in training.

Scott

 

[MisterCairo]

The RAF and RCAF also had a variety of aircrew insignia. Here is one link to various historic insignia used by the RAF in the Second World War:

http://www.rafweb.org/Badges3A.htm

 

[RichardH]

Remember Yeager started out ground crew and was a Sergeant while in training.

Scott

Yes, he started out as a mechanic if I recall correctly.

 

[Sgt Brown]

Ken Walsh, USMC, MOH, began the war as a Technical Sgt fighter pilot. He was made a Warrant Officer in 1942 and a 1st Lt in 1943. I have read that he earned his MOH as a Sgt pilot but I could be very wrong about this. He finished up as #4 in the Marines with 21 kills.

Tom

 

[Phantomfixer]

The enlisted pilot program was eliminated in 43 I believe, most flying NCOs were given FO status or commisioned. Charles Yeager started out as a enlisted pilot. here is good link

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=31103853

JZ

 

[cco23i]

I love how the AF won't even mention Yeager started in the AF being a mechanic at Luke field, AZ.

Scott