Here we have the badge of The Royal Flying Corps, which non military collectors may think a bit odd in a set called "Army Badges of Rank" - but The Royal Flying Corps, founded in 1912, was indeed actually part of the British Army, and its early wartime service entirely geared into supporting the Army on the ground, noting any locations of moving or gathering enemy forces, and taking aerial photographs.
At that time there was only the Army and the Navy, no separate Air Force - that only happened on the first of April, 1918, when the Army`s Royal Flying Corps was merged with the Navy`s Royal Naval Air Service in order to form The Royal Air Force.
This badge was only given to pilots who had proved their skills at flying, and were therefore qualified to wear it. This is where we get the phrase "earning your wings".
The wings curve because they are based on the wings of a swift, one of the best fliers of all birds, and one which, amazingly, leaves its nest and remains in the air for three years, during which it eats, and sleeps whilst flying. This is mainly because it cannot perch or walk very easily. It only comes back to land at the age of three, in order to breed, and it lays its eggs almost on the same spot as it broke from its shell.
The Royal Air Force were not impressed with this romantic idea, and once they were born they changed the shape of the wings, to those of an eagle. The other change was in the lettering, which went from RFC to RAF. After that, the only change came in the 1950s, when the King`s crown on the top was changed to the Queen`s crown for Queen Elizabeth II. And now, once more, it carries the crown of a King, King Charles III.
Now this card is definitely the "odd man out" - as the other twenty-four of the cards are almost identical, being sleeves of uniforms, with the rank markings sewn in place, as showing here.
There is a slight difference, if you look closely, for some of them show the bottom of the sleeve, whilst others show the shoulder - and that purely depends on where the rank depicted wears their insignia - but they are all sleeves, and nothing else.
The only exception to this is our card, which, firstly, shows the badge all alone - and secondly, is the only card in a horizontal format.
The only thing we do not know is why. There is a suggestion that this is because the RFC wings were not worn on the arm, but on the front of the tunic, but a three quarter view of the badge, on the tunic, would still have fitted in way better with the rest of the cards.
Anyway, this set first appears in our original Churchman reference book, RB.10, published in 1948, as :
6. Mar. 1916. 25. ARMY BADGES OF RANK (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 68 x 36 m/m. Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in brown, no descriptions, except for 4 cards marked *. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
Numbered below for convenience, titles taken from picture side of card.
- Colonel
- Lieutenant-Colonel
- Major
- Captain
- Lieutenant
- Second Lieutenant
- Colonel, Highland Regt.
- Lieut. Col,. Highland Regt.
- Major, Highland Regt.
- Captain, Highland Regt.
- Lieutenant, Highland Regt.
- 2nd Lieut., Highland Regt.
- (*) Warrant Officers, Class I (Crown in Wreath)
- (*) Warrant Officers, Class I (Royal Arms)
- (*) Warrant Officers, Class II
- Assist. Instruc., Signalling
- Serj.-Maj., Gymnastic Staff
- Serj.-Maj., Sch. of Musketry
- Master-Gunner, 1st class
- Master-Gunner, 2nd class
- Master-Gunner, 3rd class
- Battery Q.M. Serjeant
- (*) Serjeant
- Infantry Pioneer
- Roy. Flying Corps Qual. Pilot
This is understandably much shortened in our World Tobacco Issues Index, to just :
ARMY BADGES OF RANK. Sm. Unnd. (25). See RB.10/6 ... C82-11
Whilst the entry in our updated version reads just :
ARMY BADGES OF RANK. Sm. Unnd. (25). ... C504-180