From the Aviation Act (40 Stat. 243), 24 July 1917: That officers detailed in or attached to the aviation section of the signal corps may, when qualified therefore, be
rated as junior military aviator, military aviator, junior military aeronaut, and military aeronaut ... Provided further, that any officer attached to the aviation section of the signal corps for any military duty requiring him to make
regular and frequent flights shall receive an increase of 25 per centum of the pay of his grade and length of service under his commission.
Civil ratings Aeronautical ratings were established on 23 February 1912, by
War Department Bulletin No. 6, as a new measurement of pilot skill. Before that time most pilots of the
Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps soloed by the "short hop method" (also known as "grass-cutting"), in which student pilots, flying alone, learned to handle airplane controls on the ground, taxied in further practice until just short of takeoff speeds, and finally took off to a height of just ten feet, gradually working up to higher altitudes and turns. The practice resulted in the first pilot death only a month into training. At least three of these pilots had been previously instructed by
Glenn Curtiss at
North Island field, California. Concurrently, two pilots (future
General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold and
Thomas DeWitt Milling) were instructed by the
Wright Brothers and certified by the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in July 1911.
Military Aviator To establish formal standards of certification, the Army created the
Military Aviator rating and published requirements on 20 April 1912. The first rating was awarded to Henry H. Arnold on 5 July 1912. The first rating requirements were: • Attain an altitude of at least 2,500 feet; • Pilot an aircraft for at least five minutes in a wind of 15 m.p.h. velocity or greater; • Carry a passenger to an altitude of 500 feet, with a combined weight of pilot and passenger of 250 pounds or more, and make a
deadstick landing to within 150 feet of a designated point; and • Make a military reconnaissance flight of at least 20 miles cross-country at an average altitude of 1,500 feet. War Department General Order No. 39, dated 27 May 1913, certified 24 officers including Arnold as "qualified", and authorized issuance of a certificate and badge. A number of designs for the badge were considered before the War Department chose that of an eagle holding Signal Corps flags in its talons, suspended from a bar embossed with "Military Aviator", and had the dies manufactured. A group of 14 aviators still detailed to the Signal Corps was recommended on 29 September 1913 to receive the badge, and the two gold
proofs were issued 16 October 1913, to Captain
Charles DeF. Chandler and Lt.
Thomas D. Milling, both of whom had also received the first ratings with Arnold on 5 July 1912. All 24 officers certified by G.O. 39, or their survivors, were eventually issued the badge. Two levels of qualification were specified in War Department Bulletin No. 35 on 4 May 1914, with aviators below the rank of
captain to be rated as
Junior Military Aviator and those captain and above to be rated as
Military Aviator. Similar ratings were created for the
lighter-than-air branch of aviation, termed
Military Aeronaut. On 18 July 1914, Congress established the
Aviation Section, Signal Corps, incorporating, expanding and superseding the Aeronautical Division, and established in law both flight pay (called the "aviation increase") and the awarding of ratings. The Act of 1914 authorized an aviation increase of 25% in pay to student pilots, 50% to those rated JMA, and 75% to those rated MA. Rated lieutenants who flew "regularly and frequently" were given the temporary rank, pay, and allowances of the next higher grade. Because a provision also required three years' experience as a JMA in order to become eligible to be rated MA, all remaining Military Aviators had their ratings changed to JMA. None re-acquired the rating (and its "aviation increase") before July 1917. The
National Defense Act of 1916 eliminated pilot age and rank eligibility restrictions and allowed captains to also draw the temporary rank, pay, and allowances of the next higher grade if required to participate in regular and frequent flight.
World War I and Air Service revisions encountered credibility problems from wearing their single-winged JMA/RMA badges in Europe, where the design signified "observer" status for the wearer rather than "pilot." Largely through their efforts, the regulation was changed on 27 October 1917 and a two-wing badge was authorized for JMA and RMA as well as the Military Aviator rating, which was denoted by having a star added. The Military Aviator badge was superseded on 15 August 1917 by authorization of a new embroidered "wings" badge, The Aviation Act of 24 July 1917 authorized those holding a pre-war JMA rating to advance to MA rating by the three-year rule, and along with RMA holders, by "distinguished service." as was a rating of
Observer for both airplanes and balloons, bringing the total number of aeronautical ratings to seven. After the creation by executive order in 1918 of the
Army Air Service, a standard wings-and-shield design for the rating badge, still in use today, was created by sculptor
Herbert S. Adams of the
United States Commission of Fine Arts and approved on 25 January 1919. Army regulations regarding ratings underwent a major revision by the
Director of Air Service on 16 October 1919, when the RMA rating was officially changed to
Airplane Pilot (although usage of the RMA terminology continued until 1920), all observers were termed
Aerial Observer, and new ratings of
Enlisted Pilot,
Airship Pilot,
Aerial Gunner, and
Aerial Bomber were created. Among the new ratings, a 50% aviation increase was authorized for the enlisted pilot and 25% for all the others. The new ratings, however, proved to be only a demobilization expedient and lasted less than nine months. In 1920, when the Air Service was made a statutory arm of the line, the
National Defense Act of 1920 also ended the differentials in flight pay and standardized it at 50%. The policy of awarding rated officers a temporary advancement in grade was also terminated. To qualify for command of a unit, an officer was required by law to be rated. The existing ratings were reduced to four on 10 August 1920, combining the ratings of Reserve Military Aviator/Airplane Pilot, Junior Military Aviator, and Military Aviator into the rating of
Airplane Pilot and Military Aeronaut and Balloon Observer into the rating of
Balloon Observer, renaming the rating of Aerial Observer as
Airplane Observer, and continuing the rating of
Airship Pilot. All those already holding the old ratings qualified automatically for the new. In 1921 the Air Service authorized the wearing of 3.125-inch ratings badges made of oxidized silver in lieu of embroidered badges. The bulk of new pilots were acquired from the enlisted classification of "flying cadet", with achievement of a JAP rating making a cadet eligible for advanced pilot training and commissioning. However, some older Air Service officers without flying experience, but requiring a rating to remain in the Air Service, acquired a JAP rating, including Chief of Air Service Maj. Gen.
Mason Patrick. In 1924 the
Tenth Annual Report of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, submitted by President
Calvin Coolidge to the Congress, reported: The Air Service has 845 officers with rating as airplane pilots, airplane observers, airship pilots, airship observers, or balloon observers. In addition about 51 enlisted men have the rating of airplane pilot, junior airplane pilot, or airship pilot.
Air Corps, World War II, Cold War and Post-Cold War changes In 1926, the new
Air Corps discarded the A Plan in favor of the B Plan, which awarded only a single rating, Airplane Pilot, requiring completion of all phases of a year-long, three-school (Primary, Basic, and Advanced) flying training course. In 1936, Maj. Gen.
Frank M. Andrews, commanding the
GHQ Air Force, promulgated a policy requiring newly minted pilots to spend a year flying single-engined aircraft and accruing 750 logged flight hours as a prerequisite to becoming a bomber pilot. Seven years of military flying experience and 2,000 logged hours qualified a pilot as an "airplane commander" in the GHQAF. In 1937 the Army formalized the requirement, creating a new advanced rating of
Military Airplane Pilot, setting 12 years as a rated pilot and 2,000 hours of flight time as the standard. The rating of Airship Pilot was discontinued at the same time and that of Airship Observer incorporated into Balloon Observer, leaving the Air Corps with five ratings. Between November 1939 and March 1940 pilot ratings were revised to the permanent three-tier system with objective standards that exists today, with a total of eight ratings overall. Graduation from Advanced Flying School was required to be rated a
Pilot; ten years service and 1,800 hours of military flight for
Senior Pilot rating; and either 15 years service with 3,000 hours, or 20 years service with 2,000 hours, to become a
Command Pilot. For both advanced ratings, hours as a pilot or navigator (a specialization then performed only by rated pilots) were calculated at 100%, but military flight hours in any other capacity were calculated at a 50% rate. The Air Corps also divided the former Airplane Observer rating into that of
Combat Observer and
Technical Observer.
Navigator was recognized by the
United States Army Air Forces as a rating and authorized its own badge on 4 September 1942, one of a number of new wartime ratings that included
Bombardier, the
Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot and Service Pilot ratings (N.B.: these three ratings were typically awarded to soldiers on the basis of prior civilian flying experience, with a higher age limit and relaxed medical requirements for entry vs. the normal Pilot training pipeline; their duty assignments were limited in scope), and enlisted Aircrew ratings. Combat Observer was renamed
Aircraft Observer. All of the wartime ratings except Navigator were discontinued by the USAF on 26 July 1949, In July 1940, the recommendations of a board of flight surgeons appointed by Gen. Arnold were adopted, standardizing ratings requirements as: • graduation from a Class A medical school, • completion of a one-year rotational internship, • completion of the
School of Aviation Medicine course, • one year's service in the AAF as an Aviation Medical Examiner, and • 50 hours of logged military flight. The Flight Surgeon rating received its own distinctive gold badge on 3 March 1942, which was changed to the standard oxidized silver wings in 1944 to avoid confusion with
naval aviator badges. ==USAF rating requirements==