Okay, this is less a uniform question and more a history question.

Now, I'm aware that plastic-encased grade insignia is required on the green flight suit for those senior members who are 2LT and higher.  I'm also aware that USAF pilots wore plastic-encased grade insignia during the Vietnam era, but no longer do so (correct me if I'm wrong). 

So, my question is what was the original reason for encasing grade insignia in plastic in the first place on USAF flight suits?

Before they had cloth grade they used the plastic encased grade for safety.

Quote from: lordmonar on October 12, 2013, 03:50:35 AM
Before they had cloth grade they used the plastic encased grade for safety.

Can you elaborate? I'm curious, too.

The grade insignia was most likely metal, encased on plastic. Aviators also wore metal insignias on their leather jackets, which they no longer do.

But when?  A CAP jacket I have from that era has plastic insignia in the plastic encasing.

OK, I thimk I've got it fangered out. Metal grade is pin on, and would be a personnel and FOD hazard in any number of situations.

As for metal in plastic, my captains bars are plastic and plastic, and I've had them since 1987, having been purchased at an AFB uni shop.

Huh.  Interesting.  I've always had the WAG theory that it was because the metal could cause a static spark and, as such, was a fire hazard.  No, I don't have any real basis for that guess, just something that seemed like a plausible "maybe".

1950s-60s Vietnam Era Plastic Encase Grade Insignias

Interesting.  In that picture of the captain's bars above, it appears to actually be two separate 1LT bars just encased in the same piece of plastic.  I don't see the connecting "railroad tracks", unless it's just a trick of the camera.

That's how they go in these things.

In the Air Force, the Military Airlift Command wore the plastic encased rank until 1992 when the great Air Force reorganization took place and MAC became Air Mobility Command and they started wearing the subdued cloth rank they wear today.

Quote from: Panache on October 12, 2013, 04:29:02 AM
Huh.  Interesting.  I've always had the WAG theory that it was because the metal could cause a static spark and, as such, was a fire hazard.  No, I don't have any real basis for that guess, just something that seemed like a plausible "maybe".

Metals, in and of themselves, cannot create static sparks, because any friction-generated voltage will dissipate almost immediately. Static usually comes from rubbing two insulators together, and the spark comes when you discharge the accumulate voltage on a conductor. Certain combinations of insulators work better than others, and the air needs to be fairly dry. Humid air will dissipate static fairly. In case you're going to mention them, thunderstorms are a bit of a special case.

Excellent article.

It's interesting that most of the insignias and patches (plastic encased grades, white letter over blue background name tapes, etc.) that many consider "ugly" or "odd" looking on our uniforms today, were worn by the Air Force sometime in the past. Of course, we always seem to be a few decades behind our parent service when it comes to updating our uniforms.

Spit-balling here, but my guess is to prevent the rank itself from tarnishing.

In the era of non-pressurized cockpits, I "assume" the transition from one elevation to another caused condensation to form on the metal insignia which caused tarnishing and even rusting on the metal. The plastic coating most likely prevented that.

As to "Vietnam", I'm guessing the high humidity of the jungle climate caused similar effects to the insignia.

I know that sew-on insignia and badges started appearing in the Vietnam era but I also heard that the early cotton uniforms and sew-ons didn't hold up too well in the climate (ie jungle rot) so the plastic held up better for the time and  as the newer poly-cotton and nylon-cotton blends came along they began to replace the older insignia.

Again, just a guess.

Now instead of tarnishing, it just turns green inside the laminate.

It's a toss-up what looks worse, the 1/2-inch "pillar of wisdom" made by fliers attaching it with
velcro (+1 for those lifer-captains who have no interest or intention of promoting, yet need to be
able to sanitize their uniform at a moment's notice).

Or the "greenhouses" that flourish on humid days.

I used a laser cutter to blast holes in the plastic before sewing it on.. Did it at the right pitch for the sewing machine

Quote from: a2capt on October 13, 2013, 01:16:47 AM
I used a laser cutter to blast holes in the plastic before sewing it on.. Did it at the right pitch for the sewing machine

I have some things for which a destructive laser might come in handy...

Quote from: Panache on October 12, 2013, 03:28:08 AM
Okay, this is less a uniform question and more a history question.

Now, I'm aware that plastic-encased grade insignia is required on the green flight suit for those senior members who are 2LT and higher.  I'm also aware that USAF pilots wore plastic-encased grade insignia during the Vietnam era, but no longer do so (correct me if I'm wrong). 

So, my question is what was the original reason for encasing grade insignia in plastic in the first place on USAF flight suits?

I'm going to get the dates wrong, but here's what I remember about plastic-encased rank.

First, and most important is to know what CAP wears on flight suits or other uniforms is pretty much driven by approvals made by the Air Force. Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised has a lot more to do with our status as civilian volunteers than any other reason.

Second, plastic rank was just as much an Air Force command thing and theater thing. Sure, aircrews for Mother MAC wore plastic insignia, but so did SAC AAC, ADC and USAFE. I remember ADC and AAC specifically from the late 1970s wearing plastic rank insignia because I served in Alaska during that era.

During WWII, some aircrews certainly wore metal rank insignia, but the majority wore embossed leather insignia on flight suits and jackets. I even had a pair of clear plastic captains' bars from WW II that were made of a hard thick type of plastic and were sewn on flight suits with pre-formed holes on the connecting bars.

The use of leather rank insignia continued well into the late 60s and changed largely because of the Vietnam War. From Vietnam, you started seeing a lot of subdued insignia on flight suits -- if worn at all.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, ATC (or AETC as it is now called) and ADC used to wear the same blue rank insignia worn on flight suits that was worn fatigues of that era. By the way, you could pretty much determine what an aircrew's mission was of that era by the color of their flight suites. ADC and Systems Command pretty much wore orange flight suits. Special duty aircrews and some SAC crews wore blue.

If you were in Air Force Security Forces or AF Communications Service (Command) and were lucky enough you might have even scored a MA-1 flight jacket, but with blue name taps and related rank insignia for officers. I was in Air Force Security Forces (Police) in 1978. The issue fatigue uniform still had embroidered rank insignia on a blue background for officers. Everyone started transitioning to subdued insignia that summer.

The big change to subdued insignia occurred about 1980, but I am personally aware of MAC crews that continued to wear plastic insignia during Desert Storm.

Quote from: shuman14 on October 13, 2013, 12:51:33 AM
Spit-balling here, but my guess is to prevent the rank itself from tarnishing.

In the era of non-pressurized cockpits, I "assume" the transition from one elevation to another caused condensation to form on the metal insignia which caused tarnishing and even rusting on the metal. The plastic coating most likely prevented that.

As to "Vietnam", I'm guessing the high humidity of the jungle climate caused similar effects to the insignia.

I know that sew-on insignia and badges started appearing in the Vietnam era but I also heard that the early cotton uniforms and sew-ons didn't hold up too well in the climate (ie jungle rot) so the plastic held up better for the time and  as the newer poly-cotton and nylon-cotton blends came along they began to replace the older insignia.

Again, just a guess.

Doubtful. The chrome plated stuff does not appreciably tarnish. Certainly not like the silver from the '40s and '50s. This plastic stuff was used only on flight suits, so wasn't a factor on utilities. As for material, Nomex has been around since the late '60s, and is pretty rot resistant.

The pin backs were the big issue.

QuoteThe pin backs were the big issue.

Really? Why? Snag too much on stuff in the cockpit?

BTW, became a Patron Member tonight, figured the least I could do is send my 35 USC in.