U.S. Army Brigadier General Air Corps Flag.

A U.S. Army Air Corps Brigadier General Automobile flag.
This ultramarine-blue woolen flag with a single, white five-pointed star over the insignia of the US Army's Air Corps was made to identify the vehicle of a brigadier general on the staff of that corps. All general officers of the corps staff were authorized a field and boat flag as well as a car flag, and this is an example of the later. The Philadelphia Quartermaster depot made it in 1939.

Prior to June 1941, the U.S. Army designated its air arm the United States Army Air Corps. During WWII it was re-designated the US Army Air Force, the name it used until the USAAF was established as an independent service in 1947; under the name, which it is still known as - the U.S. Air Force. All aviation units and all support units, maintenance, logistics, training, operations, and base security which were aviation-oriented, were a part of this corps. Its branch insignia was the winged propeller.

First authorized in 1931, these flags were branch specific and differed from flags for general officers which were adopted in 1903 and had replaced an earlier system that was used in both the American Civil War and the Spanish American War (in which the command echelon of an officer was indicated rather than his grade). The new system employed was simple: using a plain red rectangular field, the general's rank insignia was applied in white in the center, with a single star representing a brigadier-general, two stars representing a major-general, three stars representing a lieutenant-general, and so on.

Also in 1931, additional flags were authorized for officers of the general staff. Each had the primary branch color as the field or ground for the flag and the insignia of the branch in the secondary branch color. As in the general officer flags adopted in 1903, the number white five-pointed stars on the flag indicated the grade of the officer.

ZFC Significant Flag

Provenance: Acquired in 2010 at auction, Heritage Auctions Inc, Dallas, Texas.

Sources:

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US Army Regulations No. 260-10, Flags, colors, standards, and Guidons: Descriptions and Use, Washington, DC. War Department, 1931.

Army - Air Corps (U.S.), Flags of the World, 1 December 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us%5Earac.html

Colors & Flags for Individuals, 1923-31 Regulations, UNITED STATES ARMY HISTORICAL FLAGS & COLORS, War Flags Through the Ages & Around the World, , 1 December 2011, from: http://tmg110.tripod.com/usarmyh7.htm

Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006.

General Officer Flags, The Institute of Heraldry, 1 December 2011, from: http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/UniformedServices/Flags/Gen_Officer_Flags.aspx

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
Heritage Auctions, Inc.