Aircrew brevet

An aircrew brevet (officially known as an aircrew badge) is the badge worn on the left breast, above any medal ribbons, by qualified aircrew in the Royal Air Force, British Army, Indian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, South African Air Force and Sri Lanka Air Force.

In the RAF, aircrew 'wings' are awarded upon the completion of a significant stage of flying training. Aircrew first undertake Elementary Flying Training, and are then streamed to either fast jet, helicopter or multi-engine pipelines. The award of wings usually occurs upon completion of the secondary phase of training; for example, in the fast jet stream, wings are awarded upon completion of the Basic Fast Jet Course (BJFT), currently at RAF Linton-on-Ouse; for helicopter pilots, wings are awarded after they complete helicopter training at RAF Shawbury pre-OCU, and for multi-engine aircrew, wings are awarded upon completion of their Multi-Engine Advanced Flying Training (MEAFT) training at RAF Cranwell. Aircrew therefore are posted to their Operational Conversion Units having gained their wings, but they still have a good deal of training and type familiarisation to complete before they are considered operational or front-line aircrew.

Pilots wear the letters "RAF" in a brown wreath, surmounted by a crown, with a swift's wing on each side. UAV pilots have similar wings except with a light blue wreath. From April 2003, weapons systems officers/operators are awarded a similar brevet with a single wing. Other aircrew wear a letter or letters (denoting speciality) in a wreath, with a single wing. The only other brevets currently worn are "E" (air engineer), "AT" (airborne technician), "IA" (imagery analyst) and "FC" (fighter controller). Parachute Jumping Instructors (PJIs) wear an open parachute instead of a letter. "AS" (air steward) was replaced with a brevet with "CC" (cabin crew); this brevet is unusual for aircrew as it is worn on the right sleeve in the same location as parachute qualification, has two up turned wings (similar to Royal Navy ratings' aircrewman badges) and has cream stitching for the wings, lettering and laurels (other brevets have bronze or blue laurels).

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Wikipedia