Air Crew Europe Star Miniature Medal

The Air Crew Europe Star was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in World War II. Specifically, the medal was awarded to Commonwealth aircrew who participated in operational flights over Europe, from UK bases.

The miniature medal itself is a 6 pointed star with the Crowned Royal Cipher "GRI VI" in the centre, with an inscription of "THE AIR CREW EUROPE STAR" around the cipher. The reverse of the medal is blank as with all World War II stars. The miniature ribbon is a standard width of 16mm and the ribbon has a wide blue centre, representing the sky. It has black on the edges, representing flying at night, and a narrow stripe of yellow seperating the blue and black on each side, representing the enemys searchlights. 

There are 2 miniature bars that can be awarded and worn on the Air Crew Europe Star, the 'France & Germany' and 'Atlantic' bars. The bars represent the relevant WWII Stars and would have been awarded instead of these medals, meaning that the Air Crew Europe Star medal would never be worn alongside the France and Germany Star or Atlantic Star, as the relevant bar would be worn on the ribbon of the Air Crew Europe Star instead. Only one bar can be worn on the medal ribbon, even if both were qualified for.  

To qualify for the medal the recipient needed to have qualified for the 1939-45 Star and served 2 months as Air Crew. Members of the Army could also qualify if they had spent 4 months on Air Crew duties, providing that for 2 months of the 4 they had been employed on operational flying over Europe.

AWARD miniature medals complement the full-size official medals and are normally worn for formal dinner dress occasions.

All official medals are sent loose on the ribbon unless medal mounting is also purchased on the same order.