The Air Force blue belt is worn with the male and female Service Dress Uniforms (Class A) and Blue Service Uniforms (Class B), as well as with the enlisted semi-formal dress uniform. Regulation specify that the belt may be made of cotton web or elastic, woven or solid, with a chrome-finished tip and buckle. When properly worn, the silver tip extends beyond the buckle to the wearer’s left, but no blue fabric between the tip and buckle may be visible.
General officers have the option of wearing a buckle emblazoned with the “wing and star” design, a stylized rendering of the symbol of the Army Air Forces, familiarly known as “Hap Arnold Wings” because it was the brainchild of General Henry “Hap Arnold.” Arnold combined the Army Air Corps Insignia of a circle placed over the center of a five-pointed star with uplifted wings that he claimed were inspired by Winston Churchill’s famous “V for Victory” hand gesture. Hap Arnold Wings also served as the basis of the United States Air Force symbol introduced in 2004, but that symbol is considerably more angled and futuristic than the design used on the optional buckle for the blue belt.