Pilots and identification coins

[Ilbury Welsh]

Hi Pals,

My wife has just returned from Fairford were she has been a volunteer at this year's RIAT. A subsidary of Boeing were giving out a coin and mentioning a story from The Great War of a RAF pilot who had a coin which, as my wife understands, was not to be given to enemy if he were to be captured as it would be his identification should he be able to get back to his lines.

So, is there any truth in this story? Was the coin something that all pilots had? Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards John

[auchonvillerssomme]

And would it have been given to all aircrew. Pity the bomb aimer, engineer, navigator, gunner!

Mick

[centurion]

RAF pilot who had a coin which was not to be given to enemy if he were to be captured as it would be his identification should he be able to get back to his lines.

As POW were usually (always) searched its difficult to see how he could avoid giving it to the enemy unless he kept it where they wouldn't want to search!

Its a new one to me - I know that all RFC, RNAS and RAF air crew had to divest themselves of all identifying material except dog tags before undertaking any flight that could take them over or across enemy lines. There is a well known photo of airmen in a Brifit equiped squadron emptying their pockets before climbing into their aircraft for take off.

[Greg Bloomfield]

John

As he was from Boeing, was he by any chance American? The Americans are into 'Challenge Coins', a coin with a certain design on it that is supposedly exclusive to a certain group and is to be produced as and when to confirm identity or to act as 'proof' of belonging to a particular gang or sect. All manner of groups and military organisations in the US have them. Possibly this story comes from this source although it doesn't hold much water. What happens when the first 'special coin' is discovered and hoards of Fritz spies use them to come over?

Greg

[per ardua per mare per terram]

As captured WWI officers were often wined, dined and treated in a jolly decent way, and all upper class men together; and when they returned their word as an officer was sufficient to identify them such a coin would superfluous old boy! Please read with tongue in cheek during the previous sentence.

In what way would these coins operate differently from identity tags? I haven’t heard that British Empire aircrew had them in WW2. If these coins were in use in both World Wars, then they are the best kept secret.

[centurion]

As captured WWI officers were often wined, dined and treated in a jolly decent way, and all upper class men together;

I think that this applied mainly to airmen, accounts of infantry caputurees were less pleasant. A.J.Evans recounts having been forced down over Palestine and rather badly treated by the Turks he and two other RAF Pows were whisked off to the mess of a German flying unit, provided with hot baths and wined and dined quite lavishly. The Germans aloso obliged by taking written requests for clothes and other necessaries and dropping them on British airfields. This seems to have been more a 'fellow airmen' than a 'fellow upper class' attitude I can find no account of anything similar for PBI officers (although I'm sure someone will now produce one!)

[James Blonde]

As a regular searcher through Ebay worldwide for military medals and items I have never seen a WW1 item as you described.

All sound a bit Biggles (ish), I think, even if a chap turned up outside the British, American, French, Belgian (so on and so forth) Front lines even with this id coin, he still would be treated with a great deal of suspcion, all the troops in the front lines or their senior NCO's and Officers would have had to have been briefed about the exsistence of such an item on the off chance of a chap turning up.

Would such a coin have any meaning to a low rank member of the frontline Allied Armies who might not be up to speed on the English language?

An escapee wandering through the wolds of Germany on an escape attempt would be risking his chances if the item was found, and if he was in civil attire would run the risk of being shot as a spy, particularly if he had broken his parol with regards not attempting to escape.

Challange coiins are a pure American item, I believe they got very popular around the time of the Vietnam War up to the present day, the way they are offered on ebay, seems we could all be members of numerous "black" outfits and warriors of the night

Connaught Stranger

[zooloo]

Wikipedia has an entry on Challenge Coins

They say...

"Like so many other aspects of military tradition, the origins of the challenge coin are a matter of much debate with little supporting evidence. While many organizations and services claim to have been the originators of the challenge coin, the most commonly held view is that the tradition began in the United States Army Air Service (a forerunner of the current United States Air Force)."

[twinottercaptain]

My understanding, rightly or wrongly that they were used primarily at the mess. If you forgot to produce your own, your were on the hook to buy a round. I beleive that still is the custom.

Anyone care to expand on this some more?

[Ilbury Welsh]

Thanks guys, I think my wife must have miss heard the conversation.....John