Aviation Badges

[otlichnik]

Very interesting badge. Not "best pilot" though.

"Distinguished air soldier" would be a direct translation. The term "boets" was almost exclusively reserved for enlisted personnel in the GPW. Given the winged bomb I would guess it was for enlisted ground crew (weapons handlers) or possible enlisted crew of large aircraft such as bombers.

Very neat whatever exactly it was for!

Shawn

[Chuck In Oregon]

Alexei

Now that I think about it, I also have an Imperial "Friends of Aviation" badge in my collection. It is a silver wreath with a blue ribbon and a superimposed aircraft. I never thought to connect the two.

Chuck

[otlichnik]

Hmmm. No, not friends either. "Boets" was used for a serving enlisted man. Some sort of enlisted air force personnel.

Shawn

[Chuck In Oregon]

As to Eddie's great badge: "Excellent Air Fighter" ... enlisted personnel badge. In this case, according to my esteemed colleague Levan, most likely to an ordnance worker.

My two cents.

Chuck

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

This badge is from late 1920s, and was awarded mostly to fighter pilots, but also to some virtuosos, flying other types of aircraft. Valery Chkalov had one. It was discontinued before WWII. Extremely rare! It is supposed to be made of solid silver. I don't think the H&S and the bomb were anodized, which leads me to believe (here I go again!), that it is not genuine.

Alexei

[Nota Bene]

Chuck,

Can we see it, please-please! :) It's always interesting to see how the Imperial designs were used by the Soviets.

Alexei

Originally Posted by Chuck In Oregon

Alexei

Now that I think about it, I also have an Imperial "Friends of Aviation" badge in my collection. It is a silver wreath with a blue ribbon and a superimposed aircraft. I never thought to connect the two.

Chuck

[Chuck In Oregon]

Originally Posted by Nota Bene

Chuck,

Can we see it, please-please! :) It's always interesting to see how the Imperial designs were used by the Soviets.

Alexei

Hi Alexei

I would be happy to post a scan of that Imperial "Friends of the Airfleet" badge when I get home. That would be in exactly 72 days from this evening. Don't look for it the first evening, though. This is probably one of those things that a small reminder in early August wouldn't hurt! I don't have my Avers catalogs here with me, but that badge is illustrated in one of them, or maybe two, one a color plate. I don't remember for sure.

BTW, thanks for the great information about that "Boets" badge.

Chuck
A CRS Victim

[Chuck In Oregon]

OK, I'm back and I'm ready to show a few of the things that I brought back this trip. Just before I left I found a second Friends of the Russian Military Air Fleet badge, identical to the one already in my collection. I don't think you'll find that the Soviets borrowed this design, though.

This is #446 on page 336 in Avers 5v.I, @ 1912.

Chuck

[Chuck In Oregon]

Here is a Friends of the Georgian Military Air Fleet badge from the early 1920s. I can't find it catalogued anywhere, but it is similar to the Urals ODVF badge in Avers 5vI, page 172, item 468, which is attributed to 1923.

On this one, on the left wing as you are looking at it are the letters SSRG, for Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, of course. On the right wing are the letters ODVF, and down the fuselage are the Georgian letters for ODVF. The rosette is dry and delicate, but original. It must have really been something to see, back in the day, shiny silver on bright red.

Chuck

[ibaya]

An example of this badge was posted earlier, but here's a closer look