Design
In conjunction with the Army Institute of Heraldry, the medal was designed by Susan Gamble, a professional artist and Master Designer for the U.S. Mint. Her husband, Mike Gamble, is an Air Force colonel, and she was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "It was just a real pleasure to give this back to the Air Force that's been part of my life." She based the medal on an insignia painted on an aircraft piloted in World War I by General Billy Mitchell, generally known as the father of the Air Force.
A laurel wreath surrounds an eagle emblem executed in a simple, linear Art Deco style. The eagle faces right, over the right talon clutching arrows, to reflect that this is a combat medal. The left talon clutches an olive branch. The ribbon's diagonal stripe at first could not be manufactured in the United States; but military medals cannot be manufactured outside the U.S. This design problem was resolved when a mill in Bally, Pennsylvania, Bally Ribbon Mills, bought a new loom specifically to weave the diagonal stripe. A Rhode Island firm, Ira Green Inc. in Providence, made the metal parts.
The medal is the only Federal award of the United States military to have a diagonally patterned ribbon, much like various British awards (such as the Distinguished Flying Cross).
Read more about this topic: Air Force Combat Action Medal
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“You can make as good a design out of an American turkey as a Japanese out of his native stork.”
—For the State of Illinois, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)