WWII era fundraising badge/button - 'Penny-a-plane' - Squadron Leader

The 'Penny-a-Plane"' stamp and donation drive was officially launched by the Australian Comforts Fund in August 1942. This coincided with a time when public anxiety about enemy air raids was at its peak following the historical bombing of Darwin earlier that year. It encouraged citizens to buy a penny stamp for every reported Japanese aircraft shot down, helping fund comforts and support for the fighting forces.

The height of the fundraising drive took place during the school holidays and Christmas period in December 1942, when schools, retail department stores, and local picture theatres heavily promoted the stamp.
It gradually wound down by mid-1943 as the threat of direct air attacks on the Australian mainland diminished and the fund shifted to other patriotic appeals.

For every Japanese plane shot down, card-holders bought a 1d stamp. A rank and badge were awarded for every 100 stamps bought. Completing successive cards advanced the holder through simulated Royal Australian Air Force (R.A.A.F.) officer and pilot ranks.

According to the Australian War Memorial, during the 1942 World War Two Penny-a-Plane fundraising campaign, the Australian Comforts Fund (A.C.F.) structured its promotion rewards around a sequential 5-tier simulated hierarchy based on the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
Participants started as raw recruits and climbed the ranks by completely filling individual collector cards with 100 one-penny (1d) 'enemy plane destroyed' stamps. Each completed card level unlocked a physical, coloured enamel promotion badge manufactured by Melbourne's K.G. Luke or local distributors, allowing the participant to advance to the next card.

There were comparable appeals in each state with different award badges issued for reaching certain fundraising goals.

By January 1943, 633 Japanese planes had been shot down, and followers of the campaign in NSW since its inception had passed through the ranks of Flight-Sergeant (100 stamps), Fighter-Pilot (200), Bombing Officer (300), Squadron Officer (400), Golden Eagle (500), and Kittyhawk Ace (600). At this point, they would each have contributed £2. 13s 1d. A seventh category was proposed and was to be called ACF Beaufort, but it is not known if these were ever issued.

In Victoria, the tiers and rank badges were slightly different, starting with Sergeant Pilot (100 stamps), Flying Officer (200 cumulative stamps), Flight Lieutenant (300), Wing Commander (400), and Golden Eagle / Kittyhawk Ace (500).

Western Australian merit badges were completely different in format, having winged brevets rather than circular pins for each rank.

Three of the rank pins/buttons are held in the collection - Flight Sergeant, Bomber Pilot and Squadron Leader - and two different versions of the metal 'Wing Commander' badges.

A partly completed 'Flight Sergeant' fundraising card with 12 stamps affixed is also held in the collection.