The Aerial Gunner Badge was a military aeronautical badge of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and was issued during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The badge was first created and authorized on April 29, 1943 to recognize both the training and hazardous duty of aerial gunners, who manned defensive machineguns on board such aircraft as the

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

, B-25, B-26 and

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

bombers. The Aerial Gunner Badge appeared as a standard observer badge, upon which was centered a winged

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

. It was primarily awarded to USAAF enlisted aircrewmen, but a small number of commissioned officers also qualified and were awarded this insignia, to include film actor

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

. The Aerial Gunner Badge was issued until 1953, in the newly created

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(1947). The Aerial Gunner Badge was declared obsolete and phased out in favor of the

Aircrew Badge The United States aircrew badges, commonly known as aircrew wings or simply as wings, are qualification badges that are awarded by five of the United States Armed Forces to personnel who serve as aircrew, aircrew members onboard military aircra ...

. Those having received the Aerial Gunner Badge were permitted to wear the original badge until 1955, at which time the badge was no longer authorized for display on an Air Force uniform. Prior to the establishment of the Aerial Gunner Badge, these airman could compete in an aerial gunnery competition to earn the Distinguished Aerial Gunner Badge. This lasted from 1926–1932.Distinguished Bomber and Aerial Gunner Badges
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818164324/http://emersoninsignia.net/files/Download/1AerialDist.pdf , date=2016-08-18 , U. S. Army Insignia, by William K. Emerson, last accessed 29 December 2014 Beyond this, there was no badge displayed on the uniform to denote one as an aerial gunner.

References

United States military badges

See also

References