WWI Prussian Pilots Badge – 1915-17 – Germany – Unmarked – Silvered Cupal.

WWI Prussian Pilots Badge – 1915-17 – Germany – Unmarked – Silvered Cupal.

WW1 Pilot badge by C.E. Juncker, Berlin. Cupal construction with soldered-on setup. It is a typical Juncker-made piece assumed to have been produced in the 30s—a very nice and detailed obverse showing light traces of age: no damage or repairs.

The silver wash is fairly thin and would not have lasted very long under service conditions. I have a silver-plated two-piece hollow badge from late in the war. It is not marked for silver content, but I thought it was silver until I looked at it with a jeweler’s loupe. The loupe brought out the tombac peeking through on the high points. This badge has these same characteristics.

Three different types of flight badges were produced. The basic flight badge was stamped (cliche). If you are familiar with Imperial German Army and Navy Wound Badges (stamped out by high-pressure machines), this is the same design (Type-1). The second type (a step up) was the one-piece massive design. These solid badges were manufactured from a single piece of metal (Type-2). The third, and highest-quality flight badge, was the two-piece hollow design. These badges were made from two separate metal pieces that were then soldered together. A weep hole on the badge’s reverse allowed the gases produced during the soldering process to escape (Type-3). Our C. E. Juncker flight badge is an excellent example of this second (Type-2) design.

The Imperial Prussian military instituted several flying awards and badges before 1918, to recognize the skills and achievements of pilots and aircrew before and during the First World War. The Prussian Army Pilot’s Badge was officially instituted by the King of Prussia and Emperor of the German Empire Wilhelm II on January 27, 1913, as a qualification badge. The criteria for the award of this badge evolved during WWI, making it more of an award; pilots were expected to have completed some actual combat flying. In addition to the Pilot’s Badge, an Observer’s Badge was also instituted; in January 1918, an Air Gunner’s Badge was also instituted. There was also a Commemorative Flyer’s Badge, which commemorated service with the German Army air service. At some point in WWI, the issue of these badges ceased, and aircrew members who met the qualifications for wearing the badge were simply given paper certificates; they had to purchase their own badges. Perhaps for this reason, various private purchase styles of these badges are generally more common than the stamped metal issue types. Wear of these badges continued after WWI by those men who had earned them.