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Who is "Winged" and do you wear them on your jackets?

Ed Rooney

Well-Known Member
I have to admit that I have a weakness for flight jacket nametags. While I don't fault anyone else for the practice, I just find that I could not wear a jacket or whatever with someone else's wings. Whenever I find a new maker, I order one or two tags with my own wings and name.

I was an Aeroscout Observer and a helicopter crew chief in the Army Guard, so my badge is the "Army Aviation Badge", formerly known as the "Aircraft Crewman Badge" or Aircrew badge, but the senior one with the star on top. I recently calculated that I was about 2 months short of being awarded the "Master" version with the wreath around the star. Oh, well.

In general I prefer the embroidered nametags. Back in the day I ordered a few from the Wings store in Daleville, Alabama, which is now called the Hangar. They do a black cordura nylon nametag with white wings and print that was very popular among Army crews for years. The cordura is the same fabric that they used for their pubs bags and kneeboards. I also like the Gibson & Barnes embroidered tags. I recently had one made in the NASA style, that is, Royal Blue with silver wings and border. I believe NASA gets a lot of their stuff at G&B. Nametags4u does a good one, and I ordered a Cavalry tag from them.

For leather tags, I recently had one made in the style that Naval Aviators are using for their G-1s, from a shop in Pensacola called Wings and Things. It was well made, and much better than their standard embossed leather tags. There's another company operating under like 3 different names (flightbadge, militarynames and something else) that does a good job with standard leather tags, as well as the 2-layer A-2 tags. I got a nice tag for my G-1 at Flight Suits Ltd back in 1990 or so, but their new ones seem to have horrible artwork, at least for my badge. It's not even symmetrical.

Apparently a company near Texas A&M does nametags, but I can't find them.
 

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B-Man2

Well-Known Member
If your still looking ... try Flighthacket.com
They make US Authentic flight jackets and I’m pretty sure they make leather name tags as well.
Cheers
 

Ed Rooney

Well-Known Member
If your still looking ... try Flighthacket.com
They make US Authentic flight jackets and I’m pretty sure they make leather name tags as well.
Cheers

Yeah, I’ve seen theirs. I like how they make them, but they get a lot of details wrong.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
I don't quite understand, do you attach your own wings to jackets such as A2 and others?
As for someone else's wings...Only two of the jackets from my collection have wings, but these are the wings of the first owners of the jacket, like all patches on this jackets i.e. this is part of the history theese jackets and I see no problem with it when I wear it sometime. Jackets are really vintage originals and it would never have crossed my mind to remove these vintage wings, as well as impersonating the first owner of these jackets - RAF or USN pilots, who have fair earned their wings in USN or RAF.
I never added my own wings to jackets (my wings are the wings of a civilian airline company) so it never occurred to me to place them to A2 or G1 or nylon or somewhere else :) It’s enough that I wear them at work:)
 

Ed Rooney

Well-Known Member
I don't quite understand, do you attach your own wings to jackets such as A2 and others?
As for someone else's wings...Only two of the jackets from my collection have wings, but these are the wings of the first owners of the jacket, like all patches on this jackets i.e. this is part of the history theese jackets and I see no problem with it when I wear it sometime. Jackets are really vintage originals and it would never have crossed my mind to remove these vintage wings, as well as impersonating the first owner of these jackets - RAF or USN pilots, who have fair earned their wings in USN or RAF.
I never added my own wings to jackets (my wings are the wings of a civilian airline company) so it never occurred to me to place them to A2 or G1 or nylon or somewhere else :) It’s enough that I wear them at work:)

I sometimes wear them on my CWU, along with one or more of my patches, because that is "my" jacket (I wore a CWU-45 more than any other jacket). I have not worn them on an A-2 yet, although I have 2 USAF A-2's with velcro. I'm waiting to see if the new Army A-2's actually become a thing, in which case I will set one up in the approved AR 670-1 configuration. If I end up buying a higher-end repro, I don't think I will add anything to that jacket.

I was more curious as to how many members were military pilots, navigators, aircrew, Navy Air Warfare & enlisted ratings, etc. Para and airborne wings also cool. I recently saw an SF guy's CWU all decked out in airborne stuff with his jump and halo wings, on the coat rack at my dentist. I know people also do FAA, AOPA or CAF wings when they wear flight gear. Others will do the nametag with their aircraft.
 

Ed Rooney

Well-Known Member
Here are some of my nametags. I wish I still had the ones I was issued at Fort Rucker, but they misspelled my name and I probably tossed them in a trashcan about 3 seconds after being promoted.

From upper left to lower right,

This embroidered nametag was bought from the Wings store in Daleville, Alabama (now called "The Hangar"). Daleville is a sleepy little place just outside the gate at Fort Rucker. Bought as a pair and I lost the other one. I have a feeling they were on a flight suit when I turned in my stuff. I know one was on the back of my helmet.

Embossed tag from Wings in Daleville. Also bought as a pair and lost the other one. This was the most common nametag in Army Aviation. Everyone bought them from Wings.

Unknown maker, a dry cleaner shop in Daleville, a few doors down from Wings, made in February, 1991. This nametag has the most wear and tear, rubbing from the survival vest and even some teeth marks.

A recent buy from The Hangar. Nice to know that their product has changed about as much as Daleville in 30 years.

Cavalry style nametag from nametags4u. You can also get something similar from Wings/The Hangar. I remember some guys wearing them.

The modern take on the Wings embroidered tag, made by The Hangar. These are made from the same Cordura nylon as Wings/Hangar pubs bags or kneeboards, and this style is probably my all time favorite nametag. This goes on my CWU.

Blank tag

2-layer A-2 style nametag from Flightbadge.com. Wings are the "filled" version rather than the outline like the Wings tags. Printing is very sharp, possibly laser printed. This place does a nice job.

Hand-painted tag from Wings 'n' Things in Pensacola, with rank and U.S. Army, similar to what is made by Flightjacket.com

Circa 1989 Flight Suits Ltd. I had this sewn on my G-1 for a few years. It's probably the nicest embossing I've ever seen, but sadly, G&B does not have the dies or whatever for these any longer, except for Master Army Aircrew. Their new ones are horrible - not even symmetrical.

El cheapo $6 nametag from Wings 'n' Things in Pensacola. Very old school and would probably wear off in a year, making it a cool, salty nametag. I have a few brown leather ones like this. They are the only ones with mirror finished foil embossing. They are actually hard to read at an angle.

Hangar desert embroidered nametag....in case I get a tan CWU. Also made from pubs bag cordura.

Gibson and Barnes embroidered NASA-style tag. I know NASA buys their blue flight suits from G&B, and I am pretty sure they get their tags there as well.

The Aero Scouts patch is a subdued version of the one given to me after my final night/NVG check ride at Shell Field. This one is arguably a better patch, with a better representation of the OH-58.
 

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Monsoon

Well-Known Member
I have a big velcro nametag collection from a 20-year USAF career, but don't wear 'em on any of my A-2s.

Me, too. I was just digging thru my box of stuff for my daughters and came across them all. Has to be about 20 or more.

I don't wear them on my A-2 but I do on my issued jackets. I figure if anyone has an issue, screw 'em. I earned them, I'll wear them if I want to.
 

fleet16b

Well-Known Member
As a pilot , and specifically a pilot of Vintage civilian and military aircraft. I do have a problem with people wearing Pilots Wings if they are not a pilot
Your wings are awarded to you for having learned to fly , you have earned them . Those of us that wear them, take pride in them and the effort it took to achieve them.
If you are not a pilot, parading around wearing wings is basically a form of stolen valour so to speak . If you are not a current or former pilot , you have not earned the right to wear them
To be blunt , you are a bit of a poser.
 

YoungMedic

Well-Known Member
As a pilot , and specifically a pilot of Vintage civilian and military aircraft. I do have a problem with people wearing Pilots Wings if they are not a pilot
Your wings are awarded to you for having learned to fly , you have earned them . Those of us that wear them, take pride in them and the effort it took to achieve them.
If you are not a pilot, parading around wearing wings is basically a form of stolen valour so to speak . If you are not a current or former pilot , you have not earned the right to wear them
To be blunt , you are a bit of a poser.

What about air crew?
 

ausreenactor

Well-Known Member
As a pilot , and specifically a pilot of Vintage civilian and military aircraft. I do have a problem with people wearing Pilots Wings if they are not a pilot
Your wings are awarded to you for having learned to fly , you have earned them . Those of us that wear them, take pride in them and the effort it took to achieve them.
If you are not a pilot, parading around wearing wings is basically a form of stolen valour so to speak . If you are not a current or former pilot , you have not earned the right to wear them
To be blunt , you are a bit of a poser.

I parallel this with Airborne re-enactment types. Unless you have descended under a static line parachute then stick to 'leg' infantry.
 

fleet16b

Well-Known Member
If you are a Pilot , then you are qualified to wear wings, if you are non pilot AIR CREW , you are not entitled to wear Pilots wings . Same goes for Ground Crew.
Now if you are a qualified Paratrooper , then you are entitled to wear jump wings.
Like I said , the right to wear pilots or para wings is something that was earned . This should be respected . They mean something to those of us that were awarded them . They are not for every Tom , Dick and Harry to slap on. Doing so is a mild case of Stolen Valor
 
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