Rank insignia on A2

[Mudge]

OK...I was watching 12 O'Clock High for the gazillionth time today and two things jumped out at me.
1) Some of the officers were wearing their rank insignia on their A2s and some weren't. What, if any, is the criteria for yes or no?
2) Some of the insignia was on the inner (unsewn) part of the epaulet and some were on the outer (sewn) part right at the shoulder seam.

I'm sure all of you know that having the insignia sewn to the inner part is not much of a problem. Having it sewn to the outer part would be darn near impossible without a VERY heavy duty needle and REALLY strong fingers 'cause that part is 2 layers thick.

Mudge the curious
Anyone?...Bueller?...Anyone?

[Jerry O'Neill]

Mudge;
Some worn the rank insignia on their jackets and some didn't. Not sure why. If they did wear a version of their rank it would have to appear on both sides.
There were the actual metal insignia that were used in either location that you mentioned, then there was a leather painted tab that was sewn on the difficult part of the "X" stitching of the epaulet near the shoulder edge.
There was also simply painted on rank, painted right on the "X" stitching near the shoulder.
In warmer climates, the rank may have been worn on the shirt collar, on the right side only. Also, I've seen some A-2's with rank insignia painted on the collar on the right side instead of on the epaulets.
I hope that helps and dosen't lend to more confusion.
Jerry

[Mudge]

Yep...thanks Jerry.

Mudge the appreciative

[paul smith]

It's a flight jacket, right? If you wear it flying, you wear a parachute over it. You don't wear metal insignia pinned on your shoulders if you wear a parachute. At least not for long.

Ground pounders wear metal insignia on their jackets.

Paul

[Mudge]

Thanks Paul,
Yeah...no "pin-ons" is something I learned from a vendor at MAAM a couple of years ago. ie. The parachute straps will take 'em off in a heartbeat.

Mudge the educable

ps. and yes, I DO have a parachute.

[Elroy13]

Mudge, Ive noticed that the normal standardization of uniforms wasnt so standard.

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[paul smith]

It's not just that, although that is certainly true, mainly it's because if you have the harness cinched up as tight as you should, the straps press those clips into your shoulders and it hurts like hell!

Paul

[Jerry O'Neill]

Sorry Mudge;
I should have included that metal ranks on the shoulders were for the ground pounders only! But there certainly were metal rank insignia on some A-2's during the war, just not worn by flightcrew!
Jerry

Last edited by Jerry O'Neill on Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Stupid double post!
Sorry

[p51]

They did make leather squares with embroidered officer's rank. I have an uncut 2LT set like that. Considering how fast ranks changed in WW2, it's been my understanding that most officers didn't put their ranks on their jackets all that often. That being said, you CAN find some original jackets with painted rank and sewn-on insignia of various construction. But I agree that pin-on insignia was NOT common at all.

[Johnny Signor]

They also had leather squares that had "painted" rank on them that were usually worn on the "X" area of the leather jacket
Johnny