I know the Spaatz has been numbered from the start, and the Spaatz Association has done a great job of keeping a list.
I'm wondering about the Mitchell and Earhart. Both awards existed at the start in '64, but I know there are some SM on this board that have unnumbered Mitchell numbers, or were C/LtCol before the '95 institution of the Eaker.
So, does anyone have anything official/hearsay of the official origin dates on the Mitchell and Earhart?
Numbering for the Earhart began in 1979
The Mitchell, Earhart and Spaatz awards were introduced in May/June 1964. My award is titled "Certificate of Proficiency [Gen Billy Mitchell Award]", dated 31 Dec 66, and is un-numbered.
So there is a 15 year period from '64 to '79 where neither Mitchell nor Earhart was numbered. Given historically higher membership numbers, anyone want to venture a guess as to the potential number of Mitchell/Earhart awards given in that time + the awards currently numbered?
I seem to recall that my Cadet Commander in 1965 had an Earhart #14.
I got my Mitchell in '77 and it had no number. When I rejoined in '05, NHQ had none of of my records, and the Squadron has long since gone away. My actual certificate was the victim of Military PCS movers who apparently dropped some of my boxes overboard in transit back from Italy... I asked about getting it replaced when I rejoined, and was told no paper, no certificate... Oh well, my bad luck. Moral of the story, keep copies of everything...
Quote from: USAFaux2004 on November 02, 2009, 07:28:30 PM
So there is a 15 year period from '64 to '79 where neither Mitchell nor Earhart was numbered. Given historically higher membership numbers, anyone want to venture a guess as to the potential number of Mitchell/Earhart awards given in that time + the awards currently numbered?
I'd guess maybe 60% of the current number for the 15 year period. It was probably double around the early '90s. Find somebody with a Mitchell dated around '92 or '93 and see what the number is.
The current average time for the award is lower these days, so the number of unnumbered awards was likely exceeded by numbered awards sooner than 15 years after the numbering started.
YMMV.
IIRC, we had a thread on this not to long ago. Might search for that one. It went on for a while, so you might get some info there.
Quote from: Cecil DP on November 02, 2009, 07:33:47 PM
I seem to recall that my Cadet Commander in 1965 had an Earhart #14.
My Earhart was from 1969 and is unnumbered as was my Mitchell.