Editing Airman basic (section)

==History==
When the U.S. Air Force was split from the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] on July 26, 1947, it inherited the U.S. Army's enlisted ranks; the lowest U.S. Air Force enlisted rank became "private" (falling immediately below private, E-2), which wore no rank insignia.<ref name="chevrons">{{cite web
| last           = [[Technical Sergeant|TSgt]] Spink
| first          = Barry L.
| title          = A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force
| pages          = 22
| publisher      = Air Force Historical Research Agency
| date           = 1992-02-19
| url            = https://www.scribd.com/doc/1423612/US-Air-Force-chevrons
| format         = [[Scribd]]
| access-date     = 2008-08-02
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121108003641/https://www.scribd.com/doc/1423612/US-Air-Force-chevrons| archive-date= 8 November 2012
| url-status= dead
}}</ref>

In March 1952, the [[Air Council]] and [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force|United States Air Force Chief of Staff]] General [[Hoyt Vandenberg]] adopted a number of changes to the U.S. Air Force enlisted rank structure that had been recommended by studies made in 1950 and 1951.  On April 24, 1952, Air Force Regulation 39-36 was published, changing the name of the lowest enlisted U.S. Air Force rank to "basic airman"—whose holders still bore no insignia—immediately below the new "airman third class".<ref name="chevrons" />

On February 5, 1959, the new Air Force regulation governing the titles of enlisted ranks was released; the only change being direction that the title for E-1 was changed from "basic airman" to "airman basic".<ref name="chevrons" />