Evening star., 1937-06-12

clude the following:
They should be Of real value to
the service, simple and possess some
historical significance
They should be dignified and in
good taste; fantastic designs are char
acteristic and funny but have no
permanent value.
They should be designed so that
picture story significant Of the or
ganimtion Is told.
They should be distinguishable in
the air.
They will not contain: Numerals
or lettering. the letters u. S., Air
Corps insignia. the United States flag,
the United States coat of arms or any
part OF 1t, the complete arms OF any
State or country though parts OF
such arms may be used), the out
lines OF geographical maps. foreign
decorations. campaign ribbons or
mottoes."
The Navy doesn't mind numerals
or notices. 1t joins the Army in
favoring "dignified' designs, but both
services have many amusing and
"colorful' approved insignia. OF
course, they turn down any that are
TOO facetious, too ribald or Just too
lar-fetched. One recently disapproved
Army design was so modernistic that.
according to of1cers, only the designer
could decipher its picture story" and
ne was likely to forget in a short time.
DRoBABLY the most famous of
Army aircraft insignia is no
longer in use. 1t was the old that
in the ring" showing Uncle Sans
hat Of stars and stripes in the center
OF circle and 1t was the insignia of
Ace Eddie Rickenbacker's old Gath.
After the war Rickenbacker used the
symbol on his private automobile and
the Army declared 1t obsolete. The
new oath insignia is q war -whooping
Indian.
Most Of the insignia Is homemade,
but two famous cartoonists have con-
tributed their pet characters to squad
rons. George McManus authorized
the use Of his Mr.. Jiggs for the Army's
11th Bombardment Squadron and Pat
Sullivan allowed the Nays Fighting
Plane Squadron 6 to use his famous
Felix the Cat When the 1lth first
decided in wartime on Jiggs, they
drew him themselves and he wasn't
too recognizable. Later McManus
contributed genuine Jiggs.
The famous A. M. Willard painting.
THE Spirit of '76," has been adopted
by the Army's 18th Pursuit Squadron,
thus getting around the number pro-
hibition in indirect fashion. Two
other squadrons neatly lodged the
monuments rule by incorporating
their squadron number in their in
signia-the 72d Bombing Squadron's
shows jagged lightning tearing through
clouds and looking surprisingly like
the figures 7 and 2, while the 9th
Bombing Squadron's shows search
lights forming the Roman numeral TX
Neither Army nor Navy is very kind
to Its student pilots. The Army chose
a dodo bird for the 47th School
Squadron, at Randolph Training Field
explaining that student flyers are
known as "Dodoes" until they solo;
that they must wear their goggles
about their necks, as do the insignia
dodoes, until after that momentous
first flight, and that the dodo is
very appropriate symbol, being "a
large, heavy flightless bird, now ex-
tinct."
The Navy has a surprised goose
landing splashly in the water to rep
resent its rockies at the United States
Naval Air Station at Pensacola. point-
ing out that: The goose Is generally
associated with a certain degree Of
foolishness and amusement. The sillv
countenance on this particular goose
indicate lack Of skill, when the ex-
cessive Tapping OF the undeveloped
wings proves thorough willingness
on the part OF the student naval avia-
tors to work hard. The SNUG express
sion indicates extreme pleasure at hav-
ing arrived back on the surface OF the
water In a single piece"
great many birds and animals are
used in insignia. Eagles, falcons,
partners. leaping tigers, wolves, thun-
der birds. game cocks, grifins, rattle
snakes and kicking mules are favorites
IN representing deadly attack and pur-
suit planes. Geese and MONKEYS are
included in observation squadron in
sigma, and the service squadrons range
from beavers. elephants and bees to
green, silk-hatted octopus, holding
monkey wrenches and tools in his ten
tacles.
EAVORITE colors are black and
green, the old Army aircraft COL
ors, and blue and gold, the new. Blue
and gold are also the Navy colors.
There Is . considerable quota Of
skulls, red devils and skeletons, many
OF them dating back to wartime
squadrons, but the new insignia are
not quite 80 wArlike.
A poker hand OF four sevens with
the ace Of spades In the hole Is the
effective insignia Of the 77th Pursuit
Squadron Of the Army. It means q
lot, according to that squadron. The
dve cards represent ths dvs.yeax ex-