The Naval Flight Officer insignia is a breast insignia of the United States military which is awarded to those aviators of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard who have qualified as Naval Flight Officers (NFO) based on successful completion of flight training. The insignia is similar in design to the Naval Aviator insignia, consisting of a pair of golden wings, a shield, and crossed anchors.
The Naval Flight Officer insignia is identical for both branches and is awarded in a single degree. To qualify for the NFO insignia, a service member must have completed officer aviation training and be qualified as a systems operator on board a Naval aircraft. Such qualifications include weapons system operations, airborne tactical data system operations, electronic warfare, and airborne navigation.
The insignia originated in the 1930s and evolved from the Naval Aviation Observer insignia. The main reason for creating the NFO insignia in 1965-1966 was to recognize the higher degree of training required for naval flight officers, compared to other airborne support personnel.
In the modern space age, the insignia is also upgradeable to a variation of the Naval Aviator Astronaut insignia. Known as the Naval Flight Officer Astronaut insignia, the decoration is a standard NFO insignia upon which is centered a golden astronaut "shooting star" logo. The badge is issued for those Naval Flight Officers who have completed astronaut training at NASA and have subsequently participated in a space flight more than 50 miles above the Earth.
The United States Coast Guard equivalent of the Naval Flight Officer insignia is known as the Coast Guard Flight Officer Badge and while identical to NFO wings, is no longer issued.
Famous quotes containing the words naval, flight and/or officer:
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941Ma date that will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“When we are high and airy hundreds say
That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,
While those same hundreds mock another day
Because we have made our art of common things ...”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)