USN name tags

[Anonymous]

Anyone here knows who makes the best and most accurate?
Interested in WWII and later designs

 

[Steve27752]

I have been very happy with the name tags that I have had from Gibson & Barnes.

 

[Hobbstc]

If you want the ones that most of the current aviators get, they are from TypsyGypsy in Jacksonville FL. It's where I ordered mine from. Fantastic work, though a bit of a wait.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks

how about wwii type?

 

[a2jacketpatches]

http://www.flightjacket.com/nametag-1.html?limit=all

 

[Treetopflyer]

The ones from Flightjacket.com are good. If you want to order a current version I would go with "Wings and Things" out of Pensacola, FL. They are as good as Tipsy Gypsy without the long wait and they have a website you can order on-line.

 

[shedonwanna]

I've been doing some wings and squadron patches for a few years. These are debossed and then painted - not hot foil stamped. No minimum order if I have the design in stock. Examples of all my work can be seen at the following site. I have most qualifications available - pilot, nfo, aircrew, flight surgeon.

http://photobucket.com/milkrun

 

[Anonymous]

very interesting
can you replace the wings above with any design? if I hand you the design I want for example?

 

[shedonwanna]

very interesting
can you replace the wings above with any design? if I hand you the design I want for example?

Sent you a pm. Generally, we can put any design to leather and the setup fee is waived if several patches are requested.

 

[dilbert]

Anyone here knows who makes the best and most accurate?
Interested in WWII and later designs

I was a Navy pilot during the '60's and '70's. The name tags we wore then were the same as the WW II name tags and were different from the ones you see made today. They were always gold embossed on leather, I only saw dark brown and not the lighter brown leather popular today, there were no embroidered tags then that I saw and the design was almost what I would call a solid gold silhouette rather than the more detailed wings available today. They were permanently sewed to the leather G-1 jacket (you had to remove and replace with an updated tag when you were promoted). The tags worn on the flight suit were sewn to a Velcro backing and could be removed for laundering the flight suit. Velcro was not used on any flight jackets back then either for name tags or squadron logos (our jackets were leather- this was before the CWU Nomex jackets). There were no leather squadron patches then, either, they were all cloth.

The actual names on the tags usually didn't identify rank earlier but by my day this was the norm:

(Wings)
John Doe
LCDR USNR

Sometimes some of the more adventurous would have tags made with funny names. I flew with a Marine major who had "Super Sparrow" as his name. I flew for a while with "Yossarian" as my name in honor of the wonderful book, Catch 22. What you could get away with differed from squadron to squadron. My last skipper had a good sense of humor.

I personally prefer the wings made today over the ones we wore. I used to see some of the old ones available on the web but a quick look around was unsuccessful. If you are looking for an antique look I'm not sure where you can find them today.

 

[shedonwanna]

Variations of some older aviator wings followed by an unpainted tooled version I made and plan to paint. My version would not be authentic but would just be another design offered to those interested.

 

[CBI]

In the 80's 90's many name tags were embroidered with a squadron's colors or insignia incorporated in/on it. Even silk screen options were somewhat common. Both not as nearly common as the standard leather.

 

[Treetopflyer]

Currently the cloth colored (squadron colors) are worn on flight suits, nomex jackets and now the fleece jackets. The only place you really see the leather name tags are on the leather jackets, even then they are the brown leather embossed ones. The black leather can still be seen in Pensacola where all the newly winged Aviatiors are issued them.

 

[Jaguar46]

Heres a tag allegedly from a WWII 422A jacket

 

[Treetopflyer]

It very well could have been. The wear marks fit with that of where the straps for a parachute would go and the AMM (Aviation Machinist Mate) would indicate that he was an Enlisted Aviator.

 

[CBI]

It IS from an m422 - I removed it. I would never normally do such a thing but in my/this case (and the circumstances surrounding it after the jacket arrived) I did.

 

[galvestonokie]

i enjoyed this thread and was about to agree with points made here. both the USN/USMC/USCG pilot and enlisted combat aircrew wings did evolve from the period WWII until (I think) Korea/Vietnam war. Vietnam wings, i believe, are same as current. i visited Flight Suits in San Diego, and they had dies for both the WWII and current wings for name tags. both for pilot and combat aircrew.
i would note that the US naval services have 2 wings available for aircrew. the standard aircrew resembles aviator wings in size and are awarded at completion of training, probably in the US.
the combat aircrew wings are awarded to naval service enlisted crewmembers who participated in at least 3 combat air strikes. this criteria is much debated and may have varied over time. in 1969, i was flying as a USMC door gunner in the DMZ area of Vietnam. since i could type, i was assigned to be the squadron Awards NCO, even though the US had spent a lot of money training me as an avionics tech.
for my Huey gunship squadron, members received the combat aircrew wings after, basically, being crew on at least 3 flights where they got shot at. therefore, i belive the naval service combat aircrew wings are the only ones you had to get shot at to receive. maybe a bit like the US Army's combat infantryman badge.

 

[galvestonokie]

also, i did meet at least one of the USMC's last Enlisted Aviation Pilot, known officially as EAPs. unofficially called themselves "Flying Peons" and proudly wore patches on their G-1s stating that. in 1968, a Master Gunnery Sergeant (highest enlisted rank) named Rip Schroeder (spelling?) flew an R-4D (C-47) into the airfield at Camp Pendleton, CA. He was flying VIPs around from MCAS El Toro, Ca.
i got to spend a few minutes privately with him discussing a generator problem on the port engine (funny how you remember). i noticed he had 2 or 3 asian coins threaded onto the zipper pull of his jacket. i asked him. already at age 20 was fascinated with the jackets (another story). MGySgt Schroeder smiled and said each coin represented one landing/tour on the Asian continent. at that time, he had 20+ years in the USMC so he was surely WWII vintage.
incidentally, i saw one of Schroeder's G-1s sell on ebay but wasn't quick enough and it sold. he was i bit of a legend, and all the enlisted guys identified with him as an enlisted pilot. i remember someone asking him about being an officer. his response, "why would i want to do that?"
bob