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Outspread wings on a badge or decoration, chiefly marking aviation.
Also known as: Wings on a badge, Winged award motif, Winged device
Wings on a chest badge almost always mark an aviation qualification rather than an award for a deed. The distinction matters: a qualification badge records a course completed and is worn permanently, where a decoration records an event.
A pair of outspread wings, generally flanking a central emblem, worn on the chest to mark a flying or aircrew qualification.
Contexts: History
A qualification badge rather than a decoration: it records a competence held and is worn regardless of rank or of any award, which is a different kind of claim from a medal.
Wings and medals occupy the same area of a uniform and are constantly conflated. A badge says what someone can do; a medal says what they did or where they were.
Also used as a decorative motif on some air-force decorations and commemorative medals, where it identifies the service rather than a qualification.
A pair of feathered wings spread horizontally outward from a small central emblem, worked flat and worn on the chest.
Both records cover the winged aviation badge; this one treats it as an award-adjacent motif.