NOT BY THE BOOK: CHEVRONS AND THE ARMY AIR FORCES

By John P. Conway

The Army Air Corps has to be one of the most popular collecting fields of Second World War militaria. In addition to the fact that it was the largest element of the U.S. armed forces involved in the war, it was host to the widest variety of specialized uniforms and equipment! One of my favorite ice-breaking questions when working a show is "what do you collect?" I'm always surprised at the mixture of responses I get, but even more so at how often the list includes "WWII Army Air Corps stuff"!

Interest in this area has been perpetuated in almost every aspect of society, not least of which - the movies!! Artwork on aircraft and flight jackets are indeed recognized military icons of the 20th century. Nothing epitomizes the spirit of the American fighting man and his defiance of authority when he's doing his "job" more then the jaunty "50 mission crush" visor cap or the naked bathing beauty painted on his leather jacket. In some cases defiance existed at much more conservative levels. Sometimes this defiance was capitalized on by shrewd marketers who understood the word "uniform" was something of a misnomer for the men of the Army Air Forces.

Of course the Air Forces were adept at creating insignia for various commands, groups, squadrons and components thereof. In the execution of these insignia there appeared materials, colors and designs emblematic of locations all over the world. The designs often reflected the perils of the job or the things missed most about home! With so much activity and deviation from what regulations specified it's not surprising that more commonplace insignia, such as chevrons, were overlooked when they didn't comply with specs.

An interesting aspect of chevrons worn by all U.S. Army personnel in the Second World War was the existence and prolific use of so-called "summer tan stripes". These chevrons usually consisted of a tan cotton base with olive drab embroidery forming the design. Bill Emerson first brought a fact to light for me many years ago in his wonderful book on U.S. Army chevrons. Mr. Emerson indicates that these tan chevrons were never authorized for wear nor produced by contract for the U.S. Army! Over the many, many years I have collected and researched Army uniforms from the WWII period I have observed literally hundreds of these "outlaw" chevrons worn on tan shirts and, on some occasions, service coats. Now that's marketing by someone who really understood the "uniform" paradox. Any self-respecting G.I. would have done everything in his power to look just a slight bit different from the next guy, and they did just that in many ways! The regulation chevron for tan clothing was actually very contrasting to its non-regulation cousin. The construction was woven, rather then embroidered, and thought more durable. The colors used were silver-gray on a blue-black background. Understandably, the tan chevrons seemed vastly superior in looks but failed to provide the visual recognition of the darker chevrons.

Getting back to the Army Air Forces, we have to look back to the First World War to find the roots of their quintessentially non-regulation chevrons. Immediately prior to WWI it was accepted for specialty branches of the Army to adopt chevron designs which incorporated their service branch insignia. This started to fade away in the immediate post-war years as the forces reduced, regulations became tighter and economy of production became a factor for the smaller armed forces. With the growing interest in national defense in the 1930's, branch insignia chevrons began to creep into National Guard units whose members were more inclined to spend an extra buck to boost unit morale and get everyone looking sharp. Branch insignia chevrons flourished right up into the beginning of the Second World War. Once these Guardsmen were inducted, all the frivolities faded away and they were outfitted as rank and file and integrated into the giant effort of winning the war. Of course the intrepid members of the Air Forces just couldn't stand to shut the door on this really splendid uniform accessory.

Since winning the war was the prime focus, these insignia were often overlooked by base commanders and other authorities. Over the years I have noticed period photos in which these were even worn by instructional personnel at various training bases! On one occasion I received a uniform coat worn by an aviation cadet who had blacked out the attractive winged propellers below his chevrons. When quizzed about this he indicated that an irate advanced instructor had outlawed further use of them and it was much easier to black them out then it was to cut them down and re-sew them! As the war progressed, regulations were scrutinized and old stocks of the unofficial chevrons dwindled away they became less and less prevalent. At the close of hostilities the main objective was to get home and anything that stuck out too much just might attract the eye of an M.P.! Today it is fairly unusual to find these chevrons on uniforms. It seems as if they existed in all the regulation color schemes as well as the tan configuration discussed earlier. Collecting of these chevrons is very interesting and  there is a myriad of variations to be found. It seems as if the Air Force was the only branch to enjoy the use of these branch insignia chevrons after the outbreak of the war.