The Evolution of Japanese Army and Navy Aviation Badges (1913-1945)
Article about: The Evolution of Japanese Army and Navy Aviation Badges (1913-1945) Foreword I wrote this primarily to satisfy my own curiosity over some questions about an incident of a century ago. For my
1932-1939, Expanding the Range of Personnel Eligible for the Aviation Badges
The new formula described above and adopted from December 1928 was basically in effect until the end of WW2, but here are some changes that got introduced to tweak the system to motivate more active crew participation in the scheme.
1st December 1932
In the past, when one participated in tests for different skills within the same year and qualified for two different proficiency badges, only one type of badge was to be presented. The Navy at least had the heart to award you the badge you won with scores bringing the greater cash prize. However, the citations for both skills were provided. It was now decided that badges not presented for this reason would still be counted as one win towards the Master Class Badge
As we have seen, this type of two-timing became impossible from December 1928, as you had to be actually serving in the position for which the exam was devised for, but this regulation change reached back 5 years till December 1927, so it was actually referring to the unawarded second badge for the year 1928.
5th March 1935
As the 1928 regulations did not clearly specify which NCOs in maintenance could earn the badges, a detailed listing was now released
1. Air Crew 飛行員 EM and NCOs
2. Fuselage Personnel NCO 機体員
3. Engine Personnel NCO 発動機員
4. Onboard Engine Specialist NCO 搭乗発動機員
5. Weapons Personnel兵器員 NCO (excluding Torpedo Crew 魚雷員)
6. Fuselage Maintenance Personnel NCO (機体整備員)
7. Engine Maintenance Crew NCO (発動機整備員)
8. Flight Instruments Maintenance Crew NCO (計器整備員)
9. Flight Unit航空隊 Fabrication Dept. NCO (工業部)
10. Flight Unit Metal Work NCO (金工員)
11. Flight Unit Wood Work NCO (木工員)
Also, since the introduction of the Fabrication Proficiency Badges on 22nd April 1930, the borderline between Aviation and Fabrication Badges had become somewhat unclear for metal and woodworking NCO repairmen in aircraft maintenance. So those workers were now clearly excluded from eligibility for the Fabrication Badges at this time. At the same time, Metal and Woodworking NCOs in Air units, who had previously tested for and won a Superior Class Fabrication Badge, could have that result credited towards winning their Master Class Badge in the aviation maintenance exams. However, the badge to be awarded in this case was to be the Master Class Fabrication Badge, not the Aviation Badge. For such workshop carpenter types, barely at the fringe of aviation, a badge for Fabrication excellence must have been more desirable than a somewhat farfetched aviation badge.
19th June 1937
Personnel eligible for the aviation badges were split into (1) those who served in planes, (2) on aircraft carrying ships or (3) land-based air units
1. EM and NCO Flight Crew
2. Ship-based NCOs, who are Weapons Personnel (兵器員, excluding Aerial Torpedo Crew 航空魚雷員), Aircraft Personnel (飛行機員), Aircraft Maintenance Crew (飛行機整備員) or Flight Instruments Maintenance Crew (計器整備).
3. Land-based Flight unit NCOs, who are Aircraft Personnel (飛行機員), Onboard Engine Specialist (搭乗発動機員) Weapons Personnel (兵器員 excluding Torpedo Crew 魚雷員), Fuselage Maintenance Personnel (機体整備員), Engine Maintenance Crew (発動機整備員), Flight Instruments Maintenance Crew (計器整備員), in the Fabrication Department (工業部), in Metal Work (金工員) and Wood Work (木工員).
22nd July 1937
When a ship-based aircraft had an Onboard Engine Specialist 搭乗発動機員 as crew, that NCO was also to be eligible for the Superior Class Badge. Formerly such personnel were only anticipated at land-based flight units.
22nd December 1937
Ship-based Take-off and Landing Personnel (発着機員) were added to the eligible positions list.
23rd September 1938
The different tests that awarded the same badge, were for the time being now regarded as the same test, and wins from different tests could be credited toward the three wins for the Master Class Badge.
1st March 1939
The requirement for winning the Master Class Badge was now eased to three wins in six years instead of the previous five years.
Ship-based and Air unit Weapons Crew NCOs who were torpedo specialists had been previously excluded from eligibility for the aviation badge, as they could earn instead the torpedoing badge, but now they became eligible for the aviation badge instead. At the same time, Superior Class Torpedoing Badges formerly earned by such personnel were now credited toward their Master Class Aviation Badge.
Thus the listing of aviation personnel positions eligible for the aviation badge was now as follows;
1. EM and NCO Flight Crew
2. Ship-based Weapons Personnel NCOs (兵器員)
3. Ship-based Aircraft Personnel NCOs (飛行機員)
4. Ship-based Take-off and Landing Personnel (発着機員)
5. Ship-based Onboard Engine Specialist NCOs (搭乗発動機員)
6. Ship-based Aircraft Maintenance NCOs (飛行機整備員)
7. Ship-based Flight Instruments Maintenance NCOs (計器整備員).
8. Land-based flight unit Aircraft Personnel NCOs (飛行機員)
9. Land-based flight unit Onboard Engine NCOs (搭乗発動機員)
10. Land-based flight unit Weapons Personnel NCOs (兵器員)
11. Land-based flight unit Fuselage Maint. NCOs (機体整備員)
12. Land-based flight unit Engine Maint. NCOs (発動機整備員)
13. Land-based flight unit Flight Instruments Maint.NCOs (計器整備員)
14. Land-based flight unit NCOs in the Fabrication Dept. (工業部)
15. Land-based flight unit NCOs in Metal Work Fabrication (金工員)
16. Land-based flight unit NCOs in Wood Work Fabrication (木工員)
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 02-17-2017 at 07:00 PM.
As explained for the Gunnery Badges, those that participated in the exams got citations and gifts, even though they may not have won a badge. These gifts came in 3 classes, and the usual gifts in the earlier days were pure silver sake cups, which came in 3 sizes of which the largest was class 1 and smallest a class 3. However as it got tedious to receive the same every year, they switched to paper weights, plaques and other not so useful trinkets from 1935 to break the monotony.
I will wrap up explanations on the navy aviation badges by showing how the 3 classes of consolation prizes were allocated in the Aviation Exams. For this purpose, I will take distribution of prizes for the 1938 prize-giving as a concrete example.
The score rankings necessary to win the Superior Class Aviation Badge in the 1938 exams as well as the allocation of prizes were announced on 25th June 1938. According to this, one needed to be in the top 20% of contestants for the badge. The plaques they gave out featuring a sculpted relief of Samurai head armor in 3 classes that year were allocated as follows;
Flight Exam Prizes
Top 50% of contestants----------Class 1 Plaque (Top 20% also got the Superior Class Aviation Badge)
Remaining 50%-------------------Class 2 Plaque
Maintenance Exam Prizes
Top 50% of NCO contestants---- Class 1 Plaque (Top 20% also got the Superior Class Aviation Badge)
Remaining 50% of NCOs----------Class 2 Plaque
Top 25% of Enlisted Men--------- Class 2 Plaque
Remaining 75% of EM------------ Class 3 Plaque
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 02-17-2017 at 11:42 AM.
The original ambition behind Japanese military pilot badges was not as a humble proficiency badge, but more of a badge of status for the highly educated new military elite of the skies. The kind that otherwise would have gone to army and navy war colleges were to be diverted into a career in aviation. Thus both army and the proposed navy designs of 1915 seemed to be even parodying the army and navy war college badges they could be worn next to.
The army avoided discussions with the cabinet by choosing to launch the badge through the back door under the authority of the Minister of the Army alone, instead of an edict from the Emperor, which would require cabinet backing.
However in the Navy, discussions stalled even before reaching the Minister, as this kind of favoritism towards one kind of job function did not sit well with the other branches in a navy where sailing ships required team thinking that kept “everyone in the same boat” in a manner of speaking. Thus the pilot’s badge ended up being killed primarily because it was associated with an unpopular sub commander’s badge that some saw as neglecting those serving in the engine room. A pilot badge, being for a lone wolf, may not have had to suffer rejection had it been proposed by itself, but irreversible damage was done by pairing up with the sub people, and the subject had to be shelved for over a decade.
Thankfully the democratization of aviation had progressed enough by 1927 to see Navy men and NCOs in the pilot’s seats, so it became possible to add an aviation badge to the established series of proficiency badges the navy had. However, having learned its lesson from the failure in 1915, and in a show of team spirit, they expanded eligibility to the badge to maintenance personnel. As a result, the navy’s badge was far from being a pilot’s badge and could even be given to a NCO woodworker shaving and sanding a wooden propeller in the carpentry shop or a Weapons NCO developing gun camera footage in the dark room.
Though the army had seemed to have made an immaculate start with their version of the badge, shadows of intrigue were suddenly cast upon the program when young general staff officers wearing army war college badges staged a failed coup de tat in the 2-26 Incident of 1936, which made any badge with elitist aspirations a dubious no-no in the army. So the only way for the army pilot’s badge to survive was to have its officers disown it in 1940, and disguise it as a lowly proficiency badge for men and NCOs, thus ending the 27-year history of the officer’s pilot badge. Interestingly, though the army claimed as many as 23 kinds of proficiency badges for various skills, they never had anything that gave credit to maintenance personnel of any kind, which is in very big contrast to the team spirit the navy showed.
So though both army and navy badges ended the war as proficiency badges for their men and NCOs, only the army version was a true pilot’s badge to the end and the navy badge was, as the name suggested, only a general aviation badge. However, if one made an army pilot with the badge compete against a navy pilot with their badge, I would bet on the navy pilot, as he would have been from the top 20% in the most recent exams, while an army pilot just had to finish a compulsory course.
As to my own question of whether Kyuzo Miyabe of the story, “Eternal Zero” had the Navy Master Class Aviation Badge, the answer is certainly yes. But the book author’s uncles, who coached him on navy aviation, probably had little or no knowledge of such badges and what flying skills in the navy once were like, as their generation was no longer even taught how to land on a carrier for fear of losing precious aircraft in such exercises. So pilots trained for Tokko, no chance, but Miyabe was already flying Zeros in China, so definitely yes. A memo dated 4th August 1939 declared that even while in China for the China Incident the aviation exams would be conducted without interruption.
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 02-18-2017 at 07:28 AM.
I can only second what JapanX has said! This is an EXCELLENT article within a MOST-EXCELLENT series of information on Imperial Japanese military badges.
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