Evening star., 1937-06-12

pansion program that brought the unit
into being and also the five pilots
originally assigned to the squadron;
seven is lucky number and the
number used in the squadron's oficial
designation; the ace OF spades, the
traditional symbol of death, Is a
warning to enemies, and lastly the
design lends an atmosphere typical
OF the life Of pursuit pilot in actual
combat-just gamble"
A far from dignif1ed insignia Is that
Of the 27th Division, New York Ma
tional Guard. 1t Is an ape sitting on
a cloud listening to radio messages
and 1t signifies, the division unblush-
ingly admits, "the missing link be-
tween air and ground"
The 95th Pursuit Squadron, which
participated in 230 combats during
the World War, has kicking mule
for its insignia: the Goth Attack, which
fought % combats, chose a pair of
red dice, with white spots, showing a
natural, and the 9lst Observation, in
104 war combats, was identified by its
mounted knight in armor chasing 4
devil.
The growing cock is the insignia of
the aircraft carrier Saratoga and Of
that ships utility air unit. Aboard
the original Saratoga, during the
Battle OF Lake Champlain, a chicken
pen was damaged by gun fire, a cock
escaped. flew to the rigging and began
to crow Justify just as the tide of
battle turned in favor of the Saratoga.
Pilots OF Fighting Plane Squadron S
Of the Navy are widely known as the
red rippers," because Of the red light
ming tearing across their blue insignia
shield.
The winged stallion Pegasus Is the
emblem Of several squadrons. The
coat Of arms OF the 2lst Army airship
group is a shield showing a duck, a
sheep and 4 rooster, the three ami
mails which were passengers in the
first successful balloon ascension.
GQUADRONS in the Navy usually
- consist OF 1s planes, though the
patrol squadrons, with larger ships,
have only II. Army squadrons vary
in size from IL planes in observation
squadrons and 13 in bombardment
squadrons (Which wear their insignia
on the planes nose) to "a planes in
a pursuit squadron and u in attack
units.
Naturally, no mention of flying in
sigma can be made without bringing
in the famous Caterpiller Club, in
which both Army and Navy men share
with civilian flyers the privilege Of
membership. The red-eyed little
golden caterpillar Is familiar sight
wherever flying men gather and means
that its wearer has saved his life by
forced emergency jump from an
airplane or a balloon in flight. Eli
gibility for membership is probably
more exacting than in any other Or
ganization In the world, for to join
the club one must virtually lose ones
life and then regain 1t.
The club started as the result Of
discussion among two Dayton, Ohio,
newspaper men in the early days Of
the parachute, soon after the World
War. 1t was suggested by them that
club be organized composed only Of
persons whose lives were saved by use
OF a parachute, and the name prob
ably resulted from the fact that para
chutes are manufactured from silk, q
product Of the caterpillar cocoon.
The Caterpillar Club has no on
GERS, constitution or bylaws. Its aim
is simply the collection of data relative
to emergency parachute jumps that is
Of value to others who may fnd them
selves in similar situations.
Insignia seem desirable to military
men for diverse reasons. Recently the
Ignoble Order OF Blind and Dumb Air
plane Pilots, complete with insignia
calculated to impress on the minds of
all beholders the utter ignominy Of
the order, has been created at the
Pensacola Air Station as an adjunct
to the training Of the Nays student
pilots
Student pilots become eligible auto
matically for membership when
through negligence they become In
volved in taxing crash or are re-
ported for endangering other planes in
the air by failure to look around, or
when they have been reported for vio-
lation Of course or flying rules
The conference with the training
squadron commander which follows
such lapses constitutes the initiation
OF the order, membership continuing
two weeks only, during which period
the novitiate must wear a suitably in
scribed metal breastplate calling at
tention to his shame, and a bulletin
board also carries the names of cur
rent members OF the order.
Many nations have adopted mill
tary and naval aircraft markings. In
most cases these markings follow the
colors Of the nag OF the country rep
resented by the plane. In few cases,
As in Great Britain and Soviet Rus
sia, special air force flags have also
been designed. Argentina, for ex-
ample, used an anchor ON the army
circle to indicate that plane is in the
naval service. The military service
omits the anchor. \~-saa