Hero award boxes; which colour?

[Laurent]

PMD wrote in his book that red boxes for Heroes of the Soviet Union were awarded to ground forces personnel, and it was rumorred that blue boxes were awarded to aviation personnel.

One blue box is shown in PMD book and I saw only another one on a Russian militaria site (with a early T.1 HSU medal awarded to a pilot).

Can anybody confirm or deny this fact? because I have among my HSU medals one which has been awarded to a Navigator and I want to have it in the most "original" condition.

[Lapa]

Laurent,

As far as I know, hero boxes were red. The blue ones were used for the Mother Heroine. A hint about their intended use is their size, which is somewhat smaller than the red ones.

Marc

[desantnik]

I also lean toward the red box only theory. This was a state-level award that wouldn't have gotten into branch of service rivalries. If blue for the Navy - why not the airforce which was a much bigger arm of service. Why not green for border guards, etc.

[Laurent]

Thanks for your replies!