As a young lad growing up in the UK in the 1950's, I was very close with my Grandfather who, as a member of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, had been involved in the fighting in World War 1 right from the beginning. My own interest was in aeroplanes and as well as telling me about his days in the trenches and the madness and sickness of war, he also used to talk to me about "flying machines and madmen" (the pilots and observers). The public image always portrayed of dashing hero pilots of the RFC was always that of an officer class, but my Grandfather used to talk about Sergeant pilots who flew unarmed and wore the wings on their uniform. He said these were the men who were qualified pilots, usually senior mechanics, who repaired the damaged planes and were then required to test fly them again before they were returned to squadron duties. The repair centres were very close always to the main fighting and these men took the planes up for testing without them being armed. He said many were in fact chased by marauding German flyers and indeed many were shot down or forced down by the Germans, as they could not defend themselves.

I had no reason to disbelieve my Grandfather and he was certainly not given to exaggerating a thing, in my experience. Later in life, my interest in aviation history still strong, I wanted to find out more about these Sergeant pilots and I started to make enquiries in all the proper official places. At first I was met with total denial of their existance by aviation historians in official museums and keepers of such histories as existed. This continued for years despite further forays into archival data which should have brought forth information. Non of the official historical bodies in the UK claimed any knowledge of such a mustering. Non-the less I knew deep down that my Grandfather had no reason to lie to me and I knew he had seen an awful lot of interesting things in his 5 years in the mess of France and Belgium.

I discussed this issue also with other well respected observers and researchers on the history of the RFC and I believe all of them thought I was somewhat off my rocker in insisting that there must have been Sergeant pilots in the RFC, despite official assurances that only the officer class were trained to fly and sported the RFC wings.

One day I spotted a rather cracked and sad looking old photograph for sale on Ebay. It was clear that he was wearing the wings of an RFC pilot but..... the man was wearing an enlisted man's uniform and a flight sergeant's stripes on his sleeve! I didn't win the auction, but I contacted the winner (in the good old information-sharing days when this was still possible on Ebay - Ebay, please note that by stopping such communications between Ebayers you have stopped dead a fantastic resource of research and information sharing!!!) and I told him my story and asked if it was possible to have a scan of the picture for my records. He was quite happy to share, especially under the circumstances (thank you so much Cliff!) and together we set up a collaboration to find more evidence. He had not been aware that there was any question about sergeant pilots in the RFC and a search of his extensive RFC image collection turned up several more images clearly showing Sergeant and Flight Sergeant pilots, in uniform and wearing the RFC pilot wing.

Since that time, with the cooperation of others who have access to the UK national archive at Kew, further period official records and communications documenting the authorised existance of NCO pilots have materialised.  I guess its now official!

There is value in listening to old men's stories and chasing down little bits of evidence, even if it takes years,  to build a groundswell of irrefutable evidence. A salute to ALL those brave men who wore the wings, commissioned and armed, non-commissioned and unarmed.

Chris Langley

The first metal pilot wings issued by the Royal Flying Corps were authorised in 1912 and first issued on February 1st 1913. These were bronze or pickled brass die-cast wings with a long steel pin on the rear and were for use with the khaki service dress. Orders dated 1st November 1913 referred to a gilded metal wing, also die-cast with a long steel rear pin, for wear with full dress or undress uniform.

These wings had a couple of differing rear arrangements. In all cases the wings bore the long pin which was mounted on a bar hinge. Some had a full plate across the rear of the badge, attached by fine soldering, and most often with one or two small circular piercings in the back plate to allow gases to escape during the soldering process. The pin was attached to the rear of the attached plate. There was rarely a maker lozenge attached to the fully rear plated wings. Others are seen with only small plates on the rear of the wing tips and the hinge and catch were mounted to these two small plates. The remainder of the back of the badge remains open clearly showing the die-cast interior. Some, but not all, of these open backed badges bore an attached lozenge  inside the rear of the badge which most commonly bore the name of the maker, Gaunt, and marked alternatively to their London or their Montreal operation. Some also had a shaped wire hook attached inside the rear centre which allowed the badge to be also attached to a sewn loop on the uniform, as well as pinned. This served to save the badge from loss if the pin catch ever became undone.

There are also smaller versions of this badge, to the identical pattern, most often about 50mm in length, which were worn on Mess dress uniform. These are seen in a variety of fastenings, the same as above but also with twin loops on the rear for fastening with a cotter pin. This latter fastening is very scarce and only found on the Mess dress wing..

By early 1914, the Royal Flying Corps abandoned expensively made metal wings in favour of fabric and bullion wings for their different applications.

It must be understood how terribly scarce the metal RFC original wings are. This may be aided by the knowledge that in the preparing for WW1, mid 1914, the Royal Flying Corps had less than 250 officers, of whom only a small portion were pilots.

There are  other wings sold as RFC pilot wings which one should be aware of  and which are indeed not period, original RFC pilot wings.

One of the most common errors made is due to erroneous credibility given to what look like RFC wings by what has been rightfully the most respected text on the subject to date, 'Eagles Recalled' by the Canadian Warren Carroll. These items are by far the mostly commonly sold in the popular auction sites. These are those metal wings which have the two metal tines on the rear of the badge and usually have no other backing material at all. Research and discussion with Warren has brought about his acknowledgment of the error in identifying these as period originals.

These are in fact items made in the early 1920's for sale in the souvenir market, specifically for application to frames and shadow boxes sold in their many thousands to house the memorabilia of loved and lost ones who had served in the RFC. The frames had two machined holes in them through which the tines were passed and then folded over inside to secure them.  These badges were, as stated, made and sold in their thousands and this gives comprehension to their ready availability. What is most remarkable is that some were obviously made from the original dies used to make the original badges, although with tines only on the rear and often not of the same metals or gilded. Other (with tines) exist which are clearly more crude than the originals, both in pattern and finish. These are easier to argue about than those made from the original dies. In any case potential buyers of any such tine backed wing should be aware of their history and not be convinced to pay anything lile the price which a period original wing would attract.

Other wings marked to the RFC which are not period pilot badges include many 'sweetheart' civilian wing pattern badges made for and sold to the families of those in service. These are often enamelled, sometimes quite brightly and almost always of a different pattern to the original wings. Many non-enamelled ones are seen being sold as Mess dress wings. Please check the pattern carefully before you committ to buying something masquerading as soemthing it is not.

You can find good reference images  on www.worldofmilitarywings.com -> United Kingdom -> Royal Flying Corps -> Pilot -> Metal Pilot Wings

Chris Langley