U.S.A.F. Base Commander Automobile Flag.
This small blue, worn cotton flag, with a machine-sewn silhouette of an American colonel's eagle, is not an item of US Air Force (USAF) issue but rather a "Base Made" interpretation of a Base Commander's flag, or at least how one ought to look. The flag shows evidence of use, but sadly the exact nature of that use, and by whom, has been lost to history.
The 1972 version of the Air Force Regulation 900-3 authorized any USAF Base Commander a distinctive Automobile Plate bearing the insignia of his grade, which was generally the insignia of a full colonel in the United States Air Force.
Air Force automobile plates are authorized for use on government-owned and leased vehicles, not on privately-owned vehicles. An automobile plate indicates the official status or rank of the senior individual occupying the vehicle. The plate will be removed or covered when the individual for whom the plate is issued is not in the vehicle. Automobile plates are locally fabricated.
Although automobile flags are reserved for general officers, some enterprising USAF personnel locally crafted this flag for the commander of their base by copying the appropriate Air Force regulations and instructions which authorize such automobile plates.
The flag was likely used locally to identify the colonel's vehicle and represents the ingenuity of the American airman, to create and utilize field expedient flags as needed or desired.
Provenance:Purchased 2008 on an Internet auction.
Sources:
AFR 900-3 (Department of the Air Force Seal, Organizational Emblems, Use and Display of Flags, Guidons, Streamers, and Automobile and Aircraft Plates), Washington DC, Department of the Air Force, 1972.
AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 34-1201 ,Washington DC, Department of the Air Force, 2006.
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
