Imperial Russia IRAS SHOULDER BOARDS

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

Shoulder boards of the IRAS Imperial Russian Air Service from my collection.

Pilot - 2nd Lieutenant. Made in Sebastopol.

Air Observer and or Bombadier - Captain. Air observers were commonly Artillery officers who sought service in the Air Corps. Grey steel button. Eagle has crown removed. Circa 1917 provisional. Probably one of the last officers to make it out alive from Gatchina.

Pilot - Staff Captain, 2nd Kaukaus Army. 94% silver wire.

George...thought you might get a kick out of these since your Grandfather was a IRAS pilot.

[GeorgeCL]

Love em'

Cant wait until i can get some boards like that.

Still learning about badges, uniforms and boards are even more complicated.

Every time a neww book comes out i get it, weather i can read it or not.

As Chris said Welcome and Thanks for all the insight.

George

[GeorgeCL]

Again another understudied field of WW1 study.

Everyone knows Germany, Austria, France even Turkey..

But WW1 Russian provisional Government pilots wings..

Got to be the rarest of them all.

George

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

Again another understudied field of WW1 study.

Everyone knows Germany, Austria, France even Turkey..

But WW1 Russian provisional Government pilots wings..

Got to be the rarest of them all.

George

George,

Your grandfathers pilot wings are a beauty and very rare. Trivia : The smaller shoulder board insignia was nicknamed by pilots as "The Black Fly".

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

This is an interesting piece. Officer pilot hat belonging to a former Czarist pilot now in the service of the Lithuanian Army. Circa 1917-1918.

[GeorgeCL]

George,

Your grandfathers pilot wings are a beauty and very rare. Trivia : The smaller shoulder board insignia was nicknamed by pilots as "The Black Fly".

Hi Greg,

Here are three real small eagles two silver one gold..

Are these Fleas!

George

[GeorgeCL]

Heres a pic.

I tried to scan but it was so small, your can still make out the small eagle mounted to his piloka cap.

I'm guessing he wore these on his cap during the civil war instead of the imperial cockard.

George

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

Hi Greg,

Here are three real small eagles two silver one gold..

Are these Fleas!

George

Interesting pieces. The 3 small pieces look like they used electricians copper ground wire. Pretty thick stuff. The shoulder board insignia made of brass looks to be a cast copy. Lacks detail. The bronze one above actually looks good. The originals look just like this. Black finish on bronze. They were originally made with the crown which had been snipped off during the provisional days. I do not believe that this badge was made for the provisional government, rather it was modified. If original, you should see some snip marks as to where the crown was and this piece should also be stamped, not cast. You can tell by observing the back side and to look for the shear lines on the edge of the badge indicating that it was forced through a stamping machine. I forget what they called this process. Die-cut ? The silver badge, who knows. never seen one like this. Need to physically observe to comment on it.

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

These insignia's where nicknamed by their pilots as the "FLY". Now you know why.

[GeorgeCL]

Hi Greg,

Heres that mini in wear, got two of these with the wings and those little eagles.

All Yuris stuff. I'm guessing this pic was taken 1920-25.

George

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

I am to assume that this was a czarist made badge as it is in silver with crown and silver back plate. Must be silver hall marked ? In China during the 1920's, badges were made using a process of sand casting and melted down silver coins. This badge pre-dates the photo. Was this badge privately made for civilian attire ?

[Ramblinfarms]

Interesting topic and beautiful boards and badges. These have got to be breathtakingly RARE!

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

They are very rare and highly reproduced. What I like about Pilot shoulder boards are that they usually identify the pilot to an actual corps, division, Army that the pilot was assigned to. Perhaps with that information, we could someday identify the pilots of such boards.

[Daniel Murphy]

Magnificent pieces everyone. These originals have got to be so rare and obscure as to be near impossible to find. Thanks for showing them.

Dan

[Regulus1]

Looks familiar !