So, after 12, 18 or 24 weeks of intensive training, what were the rewards of the new graduate bombardier?  For one, he received a commission as a Second Lieutenant or a warrant as Flight Officer and he received some silver wings to pin on his uniform.  The evolution of this insignia has a long but sometimes unclear history.  The early Signal Corps pilots seemed to be the first airmen to wear an authorized badge, gold, that had embossed on a bar: MILITARY AVIATOR.  Authorization date was 29 September 1913. 

On 28 March 1913 Brigadier General George P. Scriven, Chief Signal Officer, wrote to the Chief of Staff: "As Congress during the last session officially recognized the hazardous risks taken Military Aviators, by granting them increased pay while engaged on this duty, the War Department, following the above precedent, might most fittingly give them a certificate and badge in appreciation of the duty."  And further:  "It is believed that about 25 badges will be sufficient for some time to come."

The first badge specifically acknowledging the specialty of the bombardier unfortunately has no recorded authorization date but possibly was a WW I design. It consisted of a wreathed Maltese Cross below which was suspended rectangular bars bearing the name the specialty. "AERIAL BOMBER" was one of these specialties. The whole looked much like the marksmanship badge worn by those qualified in the use of firearms.

When Congress in 1914 authorized expansion of the old Aeronautical Division to the Aviation Section - still in the Army Signal Corps - many and varied types air crew personnel were created and along with each new specialty came a new type of badge. For the bombardier, whose specialty seems in the WW I days to be interchangeable with "Observer", there appeared a half wing to the left of a shield on which appeared the gold letters "U.S.". This was made of fabric and was intended to be sewed to the tunic. Authorization date was 17 October 1917, but it has been noted that this "observer" badge so-called was identical to that authorized for pilots an 15 August 1917. Did all air crewmen wear the same badge at this time? That seems unlikely. My guess is that the pilots of the time would not have favored it.

Perhaps the authorization of the same badge to pilots and observers was simply an embarrassing mistake, for on 29 December 1917 the Army authorized a new badge specifically for "Observers" which replaced the shield of the half wing with a Gothic letter O (for OBSERVER). This fabric insignia was one and three-quarters inch in its half wing span (including the [enter 0). The airmen of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France, in all their diplomacy, immediately attached a vividly descriptive and derogatory name to this attempted recognition by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Section: Among the AEF airmen it became "The Flying A_ _ hole." Many minor variants of this half wing appeared, apparently each designed by its owner.

Perhaps stimulated by this attention to their insignia, the bombardiers of the time began to agitate for their own specific badge to illustrate and proudly proclaim their specialty. There appeared (apparently in 1918) an unauthorized badge full wings with a centered vertical bomb with fins, on which there appeared the small gold letters "U.S." near the nose end of the bomb. The man who wore this badge was referenced in publications of the time as a "Bombing Military Aviator." No mention of this badge has ever been found in any regulations of changes thereof or in any Bulletin or Order. Group photos taken in 1918 showed some men who were bombing and gun­nery graduates wearing these unauthorized wings, some wearing the authorized half wing "O" badge, and others without insignia. Al least variants of this "bombardier badge" are known. It appears that around this time a gunnery or bombardier (observer) graduate would wear whatever he fancied without taking the regulations too seriously. Or perhaps he was confused about what was or was not authorized.

In December 1918 the Amy authorized a new badge, this time metal rather than fabric, silver, a half wing with the letter "O" at its root, with the letters "U.S." in relief within the letter "O." About a month later (25 January 1919) the wing shape was changed slightly and horizontal lines were authorized within the letter "O." This design was a little more pleasing to the bombardier/observer. The following year on 20 November some pilots who were no longer physically fit to pilot an airplane were granted "observer" status to keep them on the flying roster. But these ex-pilots refused to wear the observer half wings so had designed for them a new observer badge with full wings; essentially the old observer badge but now with two wings. A hue and cry arose from the bombardier/observers who lamented the pilots usurping of "their" badge and adding to it. 

The problem was solved when it was decided to allow the full wing badge for both specialties and simply remove the letters "U.S." from the center "O" for the bombardiers. Navigators wore the same wings. These bombardiers and navigators were now renamed "AIRPLANE OBSERVERS."

For the pilots, the letters "U.S." were replaced by a large letter "T" in the background and they were now called "TECHNICAL OBSERVERS." The date for all these changes is unclear but likely was late in 1920.

This state of badge affairs lasted through the 1920's and '30s to 1942 when in that year (one source places the date as early as November 1941) the War Department authorized seven (non-pilot) aircrew specialty wings including the silver bombardier's wings with the centered vertical bomb that became the authorized standard worn by the officer bombardier throughout the remainder of the war years. An early photograph dated 4 July 1942 shows these wings being worn by Lt. Col. John P. "Paddy" Ryan, then Director of Bombardier Training at Albuquerque Air Base (later Kirtland Field); he may have been the first to do so. This badge was worn until sometime in the early 1950s when it was replaced by a badge for "AIRCRAFT OBSERVER. BOMBARDMENT" (AOB) worn by bombardiers, navigators. and radar operators. The new AOB badge had a U.S. Air Force shield centered on full wings. This rating was upgraded on the basis of flying time and years of rated service as follows [Air Force REG 60-13, 30 June 1986]: Senior Navigator - at least 7 years rated navigator and at least 2,000 hours as navigator or observer (senior rating will be awarded at 1,300 flying hours as a navigator provided I,000 of these are jet time); Master Navigator - At least I5 years rated navigator time and at least 3,000 total hours as navigator or navigator-observer (master rating will be awarded at the 2,300 hour level provided at least 2,000 hours are jet time).