page_title: U.S. Air Force aeronautical rating
section_title: Air Corps, World War II, Cold War and Post-Cold War changes
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Air Force aeronautical rating / Evolution of the USAF ratings system / Air Corps, World War II, Cold War and Post-Cold War changes
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Army Air Corps/Air Force Navigator badge Courtesy U.S. Air Force Source: www.af.mil (U.S. Air Force)
context_page_description: U.S. Air Force aeronautical ratings are military aviation skill standards established and awarded by the United States Air Force for commissioned officers participating in "regular and frequent flight", either aerially or in space, in performance of their duties. USAF aeronautical badges, commonly referred to as "wings" from their shape and their historical legacy, are awarded by the Air Force in recognition of degrees of achievement and experience. Officers earning these badges and maintaining their requirements are classified as rated officers and receive additional pay and allowances.
  The first U.S. military aviator ratings were awarded in 1912, and the issuance of badges for recognition of the award began in 1913. The division of ratings into multiple skill levels and categories began in 1914 and expanded during World War I. With minor variations in numbers and titles of ratings, the system remained largely unchanged until 1940, when the current system of pilot ratings was introduced. During World War II, as many as 19 aeronautical ratings were recognized and awarded by the Army Air Forces, but most were discontinued after the war when the USAF came into being.
context_section_description: In 1926, the new Air Corps discarded the A Plan in favor of the B Plan, which awarded only a single rating, Airplane Pilot, requiring completion of all phases of a year-long, three-school (Primary, Basic, and Advanced) flying training course. The Airship School closed in 1928 for economic reasons, ending all increases and replacements in airship ratings. The Air Corps Act of 1926 mandated that 90% of all Air Corps officers be rated, and that for reasons of economy, by 1929 at least 20% of tactical pilots had to be enlisted men. However, the latter requirement was so utterly impractical it was circumvented by the Air Corps with the tacit approval of the War Department. The Air Corps had only 38 rated enlisted men in 1930 (about 4% of all pilots), and nearly every enlisted graduate was being commissioned to decrease deficits in rated officers. Those remaining as enlisted men in the Regular Army held reserve officer commissions in the event of war.
  In 1936, Maj. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, commanding the GHQ Air Force, promulgated a policy requiring newly minted pilots to spend a year flying single-engined aircraft and accruing 750 logged flight hours as a prerequisite to becoming a bomber pilot. Seven years of military flying experience and 2,000 logged hours qualified a pilot as an "airplane commander" in the GHQAF. In 1937 the Army formalized the requirement, creating a new advanced rating of Military Airplane Pilot, setting 12 years as a rated pilot and 2,000 hours of flight time as the standard. The rating of Airship Pilot was discontinued at the same time and that of Airship Observer incorporated into Balloon Observer, leaving the Air Corps with five ratings.
  Between November 1939 and March 1940 pilot ratings were revised to the permanent three-tier system with objective standards that exists today, with a total of eight ratings overall. Graduation from Advanced Flying School was required to be rated a Pilot; ten years service and 1,800 hours of military flight for Senior Pilot rating; and either 15 years service with 3,000 hours, or 20 years service with 2,000 hours, to become a Command Pilot. For both advanced ratings, hours as a pilot or navigator (a specialization then performed only by rated pilots) were calculated at 100%, but military flight hours in any other capacity were calculated at a 50% rate. The Air Corps also divided the former Airplane Observer rating into that of Combat Observer and Technical Observer.
  Navigator was recognized by the United States Army Air Forces as a rating and authorized its own badge on 4 September 1942, one of a number of new wartime ratings that included Bombardier, the Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot and Service Pilot ratings (N.B.: these three ratings were typically awarded to soldiers on the basis of prior civilian flying experience, with a higher age limit and relaxed medical requirements for entry vs. the normal Pilot training pipeline; their duty assignments were limited in scope), and enlisted Aircrew ratings. Combat Observer was renamed Aircraft Observer. All of the wartime ratings except Navigator were discontinued by the USAF on 26 July 1949, with Navigator and Bombardier merged into a single Navigator rating and the badge design being changed in 1951 from that of an armillary sphere flanked by wings to that of the USAF shield flanked by wings.  At this time, a tiered system of ratings based on hours and years of service was also implemented with Senior Navigator and Master Navigator following the same precepts as Senior Pilot and Command Pilot.
  Beginning in 2011, the rating of Navigator was retitled, replaced by the aeronautical rating of Combat Systems Officer (CSO), with the same badge insignia as Navigator.  This title change was intended to place the CSO more in line with their Naval Flight Officer (NFO) counterparts of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, especially since the latter have historically enjoyed more robust operational flying command and major command opportunities, to include promotion to 3-star and 4-star rank.  Although observer ratings were also discontin
caption: Navigator wings, 1942–1951
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:09:04 11:59:29", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3657", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "173"}