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Army Qualification Badges

Army Air Force Wing Badges

Second World War

A Colonel and Flight Surgeon of the 11^th Air Force based in Alaska wears embroidered wings.

Qualification badges for Army Aviators were originally adopted in 1913. The design was revised in 1917 to one with a winged shield bearing the letters U.S. and again revised to the modern appearing design without the letters U.S. in 1919. In addition to the familiar pilots wings, any other flying personnel were authorized badges as aircraft became larger and crews bigger. The date is the date that the particular design was introduced. In some cases the title of the badge was changed.

Pilots

Pilot	Senior Pilot	Command Pilot
1919	1937	1940

Balloon Pilot (1)	Senior Balloon Pilot
1921	1940

Service Pilot (2)	Liaison Pilot (2)	Glider Pilot
1942	1942	1942

Observers

Observer	Technical Observer (3)	Balloon Observer
1921	1940	1940

Medical

Flight Surgeon (3)	Flight Nurse (4)
1943	1943

Crewmen

Air Crew Member	Bombardier	Navigator
1942	1942	1942

Aerial Gunner	Flight Engineer Early Version (5)	Flight Engineer Regulation Version
1943	c. 1944	1945

Flying Instructor Insignia

Flying Instructor (6)
1943

NOTES:

1. Courtesy: Randy Scorby
2. Courtesy: Bob Schwartz
3. Courtesy: Jay Graybeal
4. Courtesy: John Cook
5. Courtesy: Doug Alexander
6. Courtesy: Jay Graybeal