Auxiliary Pilot Badge The Glider , Service , and Liaison Pilot Badges were qualification badges of the United States Army Air Forces which were issued during the years of World War II . The badges appeared as the standard USAAF Pilot Badge with one of three letters centered on the badges ’ shield , or escutcheon . The letter on the badge indicated the qualification type . Glider Pilot . " Glider Pilot " wings were issued to soldiers who completed training as pilots of military gliders ( MOS 1026 ) . The wings were issued initially during the Second World War . Glider Pilots often said that the " G " on the shield stood for " Guts " . These wings should not be confused with the Glider Infantry Badge which was created in 1944 to recognize glider " infantrymen " of U . S . Airborne Divisions . The success of German glider - borne forces early in World War II catapulted the Air Corps into a glider program in February 1941 . Glider pilots were unique in that they had no parachutes , no motors and no second chances . In December 1941 , plans called for training 1 , 000 AAF glider pilots , but eventually about 5 , 500 received their wings . Most glider pilots came from enlisted ranks — all were volunteers . Upon graduation , enlisted men would be promoted to staff sergeant ( or would retain present grade if higher ) while officers would train in grade . But after Nov . 21 , 1942 , all enlisted graduates were appointed as Flight Officer s equal to the then existing rank of Warrant Officer Junior Grade ( WO 1 ) upon completing advanced glider training . The Glider Pilot badge is currently awarded to cadet instructor pilots at the USAF Academy glider flight training program , by permission of the Academy Superintendent and the National WW2 Glider Pilots ' Association . Service Pilot . The " Service Pilot Badge " was awarded to soldiers in MOS 773 : " Pilots airplanes on noncombat flights such as observation flights , tow target flights , and in ferrying aircraft . ( Type of airplane flown depends on rating . ) " Liaison Pilot . The " Liaison Pilot Badge " was presented to enlisted military pilots of MOS 772 : " Pilots and maintains a small liaison airplane of 175 horsepower or less for purposes of ferrying officers , taking observers on observation missions , or transporting small amounts of critical materiel . Inspects and performs minor maintenance on airplane to which assigned . " , and usually assigned as to liaison units of the USAAF . These units flew " . . . light single - engine liaison aircraft . Included were many enlisted aviation students who washed out of pilot training after having soloed and were given the opportunity to become liaison pilots . Flight training consisted of about 60 hours of flying time and stressed such procedures as short field landings and takeoffs over obstacles , low altitude navigation , first aid , day and night reconnaissance , aerial photography and aircraft maintenance . Unarmored and unarmed — except perhaps for a . 45 pistol or . 30 carbine — these men in 28 different squadrons flew low and slow with wheels , skis or floats . They flew varied and often hazardous missions in nearly every theater — medical evacuation from forward areas ; delivering munitions , blood plasma , mail and other supplies to front lines ; ferrying personnel ; flying photographic or intelligence missions ; serving as air observers for fighters or bombers ; and other critical yet often unpublicized missions . Liaison Pilot Duties . During the campaign to recapture the Philippines , pilots of the 25th Liaison Squadron flew a dozen L - 5 aircraft in short 30 - minute flights ( Dec . 10 - 25 , 1944 ) delivering supplies ( including a 300 - bed hospital ) to the 6 , 000 men of the 11th Airborne Division isolated in the mountains of Leyte . In another mission , an army officer wounded in the chest in New Guinea was evacuated in a liaison aircraft as the pilot pumped a portable respirator with one hand while he flew the aircraft with the other . In the northwestern United States , some liaison pilots flew forest patrols ( Project Firefly ) , watching for fires ignited by incendiary bombs carried across the Pacific beneath unmanned Japanese high - altitude balloons . " Postwar ( 1945 - 1947 ) . Following the close of World War II , the Auxiliary Pilot Badges fell into disuse and there were no further issuances . With the creation of the U . S . Air Force , the three Auxiliary Pilot Badges were declared obsolete . The United States Air Force Academy Soaring Instructor Pilots wear the Glider wings in honor of the WWII glider pilots