Japanese badges & medals being worn by American aviator Art Smith

[Gunjinantiques]

Art Smith collected his share of Japanese badges on his 1916 tour of Japan. The Dai Nippon Aviation Association badge is easy to spot, the others are a mystery. Years back I bought a large badge that was supposed to be presented to Art Smith when he was in Kyoto. The reason why he didn't end up with it is lost to history. I'll try to post a picture of it soon.

Edited March 8, 2009 by Gunjinantiques

[Gunjinantiques]

Edited March 8, 2009 by Gunjinantiques

[Gunjinantiques]

The front, showing the city symbol of Kyoto in the center.

[Gunjinantiques]

Here's the back. This badge is big, measuring 3-1/8 inches from top to bottom.

[Paul L Murphy]

John,

He certainly likes his bling !

Are you able to get any close shots of the individual items he is wearing or email me a high res picture and I will see if I can identify any of them.

Cheers,

Paul

[Gunjinantiques]

John,

He certainly likes his bling !

Are you able to get any close shots of the individual items he is wearing or email me a high res picture and I will see if I can identify any of them.

Cheers,

Paul

I know, he's all pimped out. I have more photos of him wearing them send me your email address and I'll forward them to you.

John

gunjinantiques@hotmail.com

[Guest Rick Research]

I've never heard of him-- any biographical information please?

[Gunjinantiques]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Smith_(pilot)

Art Smith was an American pilot. He grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana; in 1910, his parents mortgaged their home for $1,800 so that he could build a plane, on which he spent six months; however, he crashed it on his first flight, destroying everything but the motor.^[1] However, he quickly became a celebrated stunt pilot, notable for flying at night; he was one of the pioneers of skywriting at night using flares attached to his aircraft. Katherine Stinson, one of America's first female stunt pilots, was inspired to compete against him by this feat, and the competition between her, Smith, and other men received widespread press coverage.^[2] Smith made two trips to Asia, in 1916 and 1917; his aerobatics demonstrations in Korea during those trips are believed to have inspired both An Chang-nam (Korea's first male pilot) and Kwon Ki-ok (Korea's first female pilot) to learn to fly.^[3][4][5] He later worked as a test pilot and instructor after the American entry into World War I; he had originally sought to enroll in the United States Army's Air Service, but was refused. His height (5 feet 3 inches) was mentioned as one possible reason for the refusal; the numerous injuries he had suffered in earlier crashes were another.^[5][6] During the war, he was stationed at Langley Field, Virginia and McCook Field, Ohio; he was one of two men trained to fly the De Bothezat helicopter, an early quadrotor helicopter.^[5] After the war, he joined the United States Postal Service; he eventually came to fly the overnight mail delivery route between New York and Chicago, established in July 1925. He died in February 1926 at age 32 near Montpelier, Ohio; he was two miles off-course when he crashed into a grove of trees while flying east. After Charles Ames, he was the second overnight mail service pilot to die on duty.^[1]

[Paul R]

Very interesting piece of aviation history! You are lucky to have been able to acquire it.

[Gunjinantiques]

Very interesting piece of aviation history! You are lucky to have been able to acquire it.

I feel very lucky. It's borderline, "to good to be true." Not to cast a shadow of doubt on the authenticity, it's just such a rare piece.

[Gunjinantiques]

Here's the back. This badge is big, measuring 3-1/8 inches from top to bottom.

I think this is why Art didn't get this badge, just found it on the net, "Although Art's Japanese tour was scheduled to last four months, a landing accident in Sapporo brought it to an abrupt end. Art suffered a broken leg, and his plane was badly damaged. Art returned to the United States but promised to go back to Japan the following year to fulfill his contracts." He probably got one just like it, but his would be dated 1917. It seems to make sense.

Edited March 9, 2009 by Gunjinantiques

[Tim B]

Hey John!

First time I seen you here; welcome to the forum!

Tim :cheers:

[Gunjinantiques]

Hey John!

First time I seen you here; welcome to the forum!

Tim

Thanks Tim. It's great to find a place where others share the same interests. If I had the time I could be reading and posting all day long! Dumb life, always getting in the way of my fun...

John