Perhaps the title “Junior Birdmen” goes back to those days.Ī number of the gold-badge aviators earned aeronautical prominence even before the first badge was worn. Eventually a separate badge was designed for wear by Junior Military Aviators, and a few reluctant men had to give up their gold badges. Some of the flyers originally authorized to receive the badges were later downgraded to the status of Junior Military Aviator due to changes in requirements for the rating.
The War Department’s qualifying test required a pilot to fly to 2,500 feet, to fly while the wind was blowing at least fifteen miles an hour, to complete a reconnaissance flight of at least twenty miles at an average altitude of 1,500 feet, and to demonstrate precision landing capability both with the use of power and without the engine. These two flyers, along with Lieutenant Arnold, had qualified for their Military Aviator rating in July of the previous year. Several months elapsed between the first order authorizing the awarding of badges and their actual issue, with Chandler and Milling receiving the first two in October 1913. Subsequent orders authorized the awarding of gold badges to eight others, but Army Quartermaster records indicate that a total of only fifteen were issued before the design was discontinued in 1917. Initially, twenty-four officers were qualified to receive the badges, but the first written orders listed only eleven men: Capts. It was suspended from a bar inscribed “Military Aviator.” These badges were made of 14-karat gold and plated with pure gold. The design of the original Military Aviator Badge was an eagle in flight, carrying signal flags. Now, fifty years later, the US Air Force is celebrating its Golden Anniversary of Silver Wings.īut the silver wings weren’t always silver. On October 6, 1913, the first two Military Aviation Badges were awarded. The flyers who receive silver wings wear them proudly. These badges of accomplishment are awarded only to those who serve our country in the sky-or space. The most cherished possession of tens of thousands of members of the US Air Force is the pair of silver wings that adorns their uniforms.
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