Emblem on Gagarin's Sturmanskie

[Karamazov]

Recently I've started small research on the meaning behind Gagarin's Sturmanskie logo (as usual a mind blowing photo from ill-phil's priceless collection):

I know this is a rather simple (yet quite nice in my opinion) representation of Soviet Air Force navigator wings (insignia). I started my research from one of the military forums, where I found these scans presenting post WW2 insignia of Soviet Army (kudos for CABAL for posting it):
Soviet Armed Forces / Soviet Army (1946-1991)
As you can see there are two types of wings presented there, the one with the bomb and number 1 (1st class distinction) are Navigator insignia, similar to the one on Gagarin's watch and identical to "new" Sturmanskie logo. Gagarin graduated from 1st Orenburg Military Aviation College for Pilots in 1957 and was given the famous watch upon graduation.
But why Navigator wings since Gagarin was MiG-15 pilot before he endured his cosmonaut career? I believe (this is my opinion, I found the source but it's in Russian which I don't speak unfortunately) that it has something to do with first years of Orenburg College. In late 1928:
"The "Advanced Military School for Pilot-Observers" was transferred from Leningrad to Orenburg and was combined with the former Serpukhovsk school to make a joint Pilots and Observers (Navigators) school" [1]
Around 1941 the school was divided between Pilots and separate school for Navigators. But I believe that the insignia were kept unchanged in both colleges, probably to honor the tradition of original school.
The more information can be probably found in [2] but it's in Russian so I invite native speakers to maybe explain more details behind the Gagarin's military school and maybe watch itself.

Peace Comrades!
Tov. Karamazov.

References:
[1] Orenburg Military Pilots School - OnAirpower.org
[2] ÷ïåîîáñ ìéôåòáôõòá --[ ÷ÏÅÎÎÁÑ ÉÓÔÏÒÉÑ ]-- ëÏÐÙÌÏ× é. ó. É ÄÒÕÇÉÅ. ïÒÅÎÂÕÒÇÓËÏÅ ÌÅÔÎÏÅ

[polmax3133]

Hello Karamazov, I always believed that the insignia on the Gagarin watch was that of the soviet bomber divisions. The source for that information would be Juri Levenberg's numerous Russian watch catalogues. It seems that there are also three classes of bombardier wings as well. Possibly a bombardier/navigator insignia was chosen for the watch because a similar high level of skill was necessary to navigate the spacecraft.

[rothko]

I concur that it is the Bomber Division insignia according to the Levenberg book. Also according to the book (pg. 22-23), Gagarin wore a Rodina 22j watch on the Vostok 1 mission. Can this be true?

[polmax3133]

I think the auction was selling legitimate items, however, JL's decription regarding the Rodina differs from the one in the Sotherby's catalogue. The catalogue states: "The watch presented to Yuri Gagarin upon his completion of the Vostok I mission."

You can view the catalogue in this thread: Russian Space History, Sotheby's 1993 and 1996

[rothko]

Thanks for the link and explanation Polemax. That makes a lot more sense!

[Karamazov]

Hi polmax!
Thanks for the info, having respect to JL's watchmaking skills and vast knowlede on horology, I wonder where did he take this information from? I personally believe that insignia can date back to WWI aviation where first bombers required navigator to hand drop the thing out of the plane. But I'd like to find the source why graduant pilots were actually branded "navigators" since post WW2 insignia clearly distinguish between "letchik" and "shturman".

Peace Comrades!

[Chascomm]

I concur that it is the Bomber Division insignia according to the Levenberg book. Also according to the book (pg. 22-23), Gagarin wore a Rodina 22j watch on the Vostok 1 mission. Can this be true?

Rothko, anything written by Juri Levenberg needs to be verefied against other sources. His book is notorious for its inaccuracies. You don't need to be an expert in Russian watches to see that as there are many internal inconsistencies within the book. Great pictures though.


Karamazov, thanks for sharing that information on the history of the 'winged bomb'.