Guynemer's Aiguilette Help Please!

[MicroSculpt]

Greetings!

I'm up against a deadline on producing a color guide for a figure of Georges Guynemer. I'm stumped as to the color of his aiguilette (the braided cords going from his front button hole to his epaulette)! Any ideas??

Knowledgeable help would be greatly appreciated! I don't want to get this wrong.

Thanks!

Tom

[gregoire]

Not knowing what picture you are refering to I tend to believe you are talking of his "fourrager" of the "croix de guerre", it should be in the color of the croix de guerre (green and red)

[MicroSculpt]

Gregoire:

Thanks for responding. I can always count on learning something new on the forum. OK. So it is actually refered to as a "fourrager"? And it is associated with his Croix de Guerre? I had no idea.

The colors are red and green. Would I be safe in assuming (always dangerous) that the main cords that it is woven of are different colors? Or, are both cords a weave of both colors?

Was I correct that it goes from the button of his tunic front to his epaulet? It is a little late now, as the figure is sculpted and cast— but I am still curious.

Thanks!

Tom

[Cliff]

Microsculpt
In one of your previous threads, member 'dan' included a pic of a French uniform with aiguilette. (14 Feb 05).
It attaches to the uniform button, up the chest and under the epaulette, under the arm-pit and back to the button.
The colour would be usually based on the regiment's lace colour. In the pic it looks very dark, maybe gold??

Cliff

[gregoire]

here are a couple of picture

[gilles]

Hello MicroSculpt

Yes the "croix de guerre" fourragère is green with red dashes (all cords).
The fourragère (modern name for aiguillette) is not an individual but a unit decoration (see here)

There is no guesswork about Guynemer uniform as a genuine one is displayed at the Musée des Armées and was on the cover of ICARE 92.
Note the bluish shade of the green (photo? faded?). It looks light because the fabric is shiny.
Hope it helps.

gilles

[MicroSculpt]

Wow, thanks everyone!

Well, it seems I didn't quite get the track of the cords right on the figure. But it wouldn't be an insurmountable problem to fix. Still, I think most will be pleased with the result. I'll post some pics this weekend to show what it looks like.

I think because of the realative size (this is a 120mm figure) of the woven colors, I will recommend that the fourrager be painted olive green (a visual blend of red and green) with hints of red and green throughout. I would be madening to try to paint the woven pattern even at this scale!

Again, thank you all. The collective expertise of this group is incredible!

Tom

[gregoire]

Originally Posted by gilles

Hello MicroSculpt

Yes the "croix de guerre" fourragère is green with red dashes (all cords).
The fourragère (modern name for aiguillette) is not an individual but a unit decoration (see here)

There is no guesswork about Guynemer uniform as a genuine one is displayed at the Musée des Armées and was on the cover of ICARE 92.
Note the bluish shade of the green (photo? faded?). It looks light because the fabric is shiny.
Hope it helps.

gilles

Gilles Sadly the 14-18 section of the Musee des armees has been clmosed for years now

The fourragere is not the same think as an aiguilette. The first one is for a certain number of mention in dispatch (the fourragere change with the number) the second is for certain unit or personal (aide de camp for exemple) to denote a certain status in theory you can wear both. then a fourragere is not the same think than a decoration for a unit an unit can get a medal and a fourragere. It is not because the falg got the legion of honor than the soldier will wear the fouragere

[MicroSculpt]

OK, let's see if I have this straight. Guynemer is wearing a fourrager for being mention in dispatches (more than three times). It is mot directly related to his Croix de Guerre. It is braided from cords that have green and red interwoven threads. Correct?

Tom

[gilles]

Hello MicroSculpt,

In a few words:

Guynemer's fourragère is (from original picture on Icare cover) light bluish green with red dashes (approx. 1.5cm long x 0.5cm wide). The overall shade is what you see on Ebay picture (light greenish pink? or pinkish green? if that can exist! ). The metallic end is yellow gold/copper.

Hello gregoire,

You are right, aiguillette is just a part of uniform for HQ staff (or Gendarme, Garde republicaine...) whereas fourragère is a decoration. For my defense , when I was a draftee, I used to wear a red fourragère (fusiliers marins, and i can assure you that I and my comrades were far from heroic) but i was much closer to mud than to HQ so I've never seen or heard of "aiguillette".

However from what I read , fourragère is an unit decoration. At first, it was institued in April 1916 to reward infantry units of the Verdun battle. The color, as you say, depends only on the numbers of "citations à l'ordre de l'armée" (despatchies at army level?) but of the unit and not on the nature of decoration awarded individually or to the unit.

So IMO , Guynemer's fourragère is a escadrille 3 decoration for 2 or 3 despatchies. And I dare to say that despite being conspicuous, it's the less impressive of Guynemer's decoration (the red fourragère I sported represented 6 to 8 despatchies!! )

Gilles Sadly the 14-18 section of the Musee des armees has been clmosed for years now

Do you mean my spring 1980 Icare magazine is outdated?

gilles