Aviator Ranks and Insignia

[Ravenna]

I'm in the middle of upgrading country.cfg entries for a WWI Western Front install. WW2 rank insignia and rank titles are fairly easy to come by but I am having trouble finding information on US Navy, USMC and some USAS ranks and insignia for the period. Does anyone know where I can find images relevant to this period and these services? Also useful would be pictures of USN and USMC aviators wings/ badges for this period.
Thanks.

[p14u2nv]

Try here as a start Ravenna:

https://www.google.com/search?hs=dfd...ih=781#imgrc=_

[Ravenna]

Thanks P14u2nv. I've had a look through the search and it gives lots of images but no definitive dating of insignia/ badges. I have pilots wings for the USAS and rank insignia from the 1930s, but it seems the rank insignia were changed after 1919.
My guess is that most air services changed their structure and insignia after World War One. It would be good to find a text on the structures and ranks the USN and USMC used in Europe in WWI.

[_486_Col_Wolf]

You can also try the WW I packages here http://thefreeflightsite.com/WW1_CFS2.htm

[Ravenna]

You can also try the WW I packages here http://thefreeflightsite.com/WW1_CFS2.htm

Thanks Col_Wolf. The UIRES files from Aerocrate don't include screens ranks and awards for the USAS, USMC or USN. There is also nothing for the RNAS, the Imperial German Naval Air Service or the Aviation Militaire. for now I can put the USN and USMC on the backburner but I want to at least include the other 4. Some of the screens can be used generically but I need good pics of rank insignia, either on the sleeve or the shoulder.
I have pics of RNAS rank insignia and good sets for the RFC and Imperial German Air Force. I also have a set for the RAF and I'm guessing that the rank sleeve striping didn't change during the 20s and 30s. Of course I welcome corrections on that score.
There appears to be little on all this, either on the Net or in books but I'll keep looking.

[Captain Kurt]

Hi Ravenna

French (horizon blue uniform), USAS, USMC (USAS and USMC) were the same as the regular army and the US Navy airmen kept the same ranks as the regular Navy.

The USA rank insignia are here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...of_World_War_I

The French rank insignia are here:

http://i.imgur.com/Md7ctkp.jpg


The ranks themselves are here:

https://www.overthefront.com/resourc...s/french-ranks

https://www.overthefront.com/resourc...american-ranks

These are the wings and a French uniform



French wings



French uniform



USAS wings



USN wings

[Captain Kurt]

PS The Marines used the same wings as the Navy

[Devildog73]

I believe the vizeflugmeister was a designation of a "champion" ace pilot in the German Navy. They wore the same rank as a oberflugmeister with the addition of the vizeflugmeister pin or badge.
The ranks went from elisted to officer: Flugmaat, Oberflugmaat, Flugmeister, Vizeflugmeister, Oberflugmeister, Leutnant zur See, Oberleutnant zur See.
They are equivalent to non-rated ranks for Flugmaat and Oberflugmaat, a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, Naval Aviation Senior NCO, Sub-Lieutenant, Lieutenant.
So, Vizeflugmeister would be a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, who were accomplished pilots, but not yet Naval Aviation Senior NCOs.

It was only for WW I Germany and the designation disappeared by the time WW II started.

[Ravenna]

I believe the vizeflugmeister was a designation of a "champion" ace pilot in the German Navy. They wore the same rank as a oberflugmeister with the addition of the vizeflugmeister pin or badge.
The ranks went from elisted to officer: Flugmaat, Oberflugmaat, Flugmeister, Vizeflugmeister, Oberflugmeister, Leutnant zur See, Oberleutnant zur See.
They are equivalent to non-rated ranks for Flugmaat and Oberflugmaat, a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, Naval Aviation Senior NCO, Sub-Lieutenant, Lieutenant.
So, Vizeflugmeister would be a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, who were accomplished pilots, but not yet Naval Aviation Senior NCOs.

It was only for WW I Germany and the designation disappeared by the time WW II started.

I've gone up to Kapitan zur See, making allowances for Christiansen's command based in Zeebrugge. If I can't find a badge or sleeve for Vizeflugmeister I will have to try starting at Oberflugmeister.
Thanks Devildog and Kurt. My brain keeps replacing the "z" with an s".

[Captain Kurt]

I believe the vizeflugmeister was a designation of a "champion" ace pilot in the German Navy. They wore the same rank as a oberflugmeister with the addition of the vizeflugmeister pin or badge.
The ranks went from elisted to officer: Flugmaat, Oberflugmaat, Flugmeister, Vizeflugmeister, Oberflugmeister, Leutnant zur See, Oberleutnant zur See.
They are equivalent to non-rated ranks for Flugmaat and Oberflugmaat, a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, Naval Aviation Senior NCO, Sub-Lieutenant, Lieutenant.
So, Vizeflugmeister would be a Naval Aviation Junior NCO, who were accomplished pilots, but not yet Naval Aviation Senior NCOs.

It was only for WW I Germany and the designation disappeared by the time WW II started.

Shows how much I know LOL

[Ravenna]

OK, this is what I have come up with on the NCO pilots of the German Naval Air Service: It seems that Flugmaat was an entry rank, conferred by the German Naval Air Service. I have a photograph of an original Flugmaat sleeve patch which will do nicely. Above Flugmaat it looks as though the ranks from Oberflugmaat to Oberflugmeister had breast pins worn in conjunction with their Flugmaat patch, still worn on the upper sleeve. I'm still looking for those. So far the only reference I've come across is in Johan Ryheul's "KEKs and FOKKERSTAFFELS".
One difference between the floatplane/ seaplane pilots of the Naval air service and their landfeld (land based) brothers was the pilot's badge. At first sight I had assumed that their badges were the same. A closer look shows the difference beneath the eagle: for seaplane pilots there was a seascape but landfeld pilots had a stylised landscape.