Thanks people. Very interesting.
I've just had quite a brash letter form the people who supplied the brevets. He reckons they're the experts & that the brevets are ALL genuine.
In his email he says he found info on all the badges on the net, but even with his help I still can't find the same info. He says look at wikipedia...
I copied and pasted the first paragraph he wrote regarding the NG brevet, and the first part of his paragraph appeared to be copied from wikipedia, but then none of the rest of his info regarding the actual NG brevet is present.
I can't find anything on the net which he describes.
He's an ex-RAF Navigator, so you'd think he'd know the facts...I'm afraid it's a long read, but I'll copy & paste my email & his reply here:
Hello,
Thanks for the recent delivery of RAF brevets.
I've been informed that the following brevets are known as fantasy brevets, basically fakes that the RAF have never used: NG, RAF, MG, W, D, O, FC.
I found this surprising as I believe there is an ex RAF WO working at ****...
Are those brevets mentioned actually genuine, or are they "fantasy badges"?
I must admit I can find no info on the net regarding them.
Not sure what to do about feedback now. ~I realise I have bought the items out of free will, buyer beware etc, but they are advertised as RAF brevets, which in fact, they are not.
P.S. I'm working away from home for quite a while, so my landline phone can't be answered.
....his reply:
Dear Sir
Its a great pity you are uncontactable by phone because i would have enjoyed talking to you about these items and your concerns as it seems in the 5 years since we were licensed to manufacture these items I have had the self same conversations over and over again and over that period have been fairly well armed with the details to counter any "ghost brevet" claims you see.
I would have also loved to know whom the "expert" was whom directed you to these being ghost brevets and not acurate etc etc as i also enjoy talking to these people directly because you see we are actually a licensed MOD contractor / manufacturer and as such we manufacture these items directly from known MOD specifications and details and as such do not get into the realms of manufacturing fakes as so many like to claim and will say that all of the brevets you mentions have sold by the hundreds over the period we have made them to both collectors, living history groups and directly via contract to the MOD themselves not to mention the museums etc etc so as you can see when discussing experts , WE ARE the experts !!!
I can understand how easy it is to get pulled into the questioning of these items because so many are obsolete from so long ago with little reference material available however even the quickest of glances by myself has shown me there is a plethora of details about these items on google and wikipedia easily read by those whom look so wikipedia is your friend sir, please feel free to go and have a look personally as its all out there and you will also find a number of time honoured old companies also selling these brevets so again please feel free to peruse.
The one thing that does puzzle me further on this is that you question brevets that are currently in use as well and currently worn by RAF personnel so the "expert" advice is wayward at best i think you may agree if these experts dont even know what is currently worn within the current RAF set up wouldn't you agree????
Yes there is a former RAF Wo here as well as many other lads whom are all former RAF and as such i am unsure as to why you would mention him personally in a slightly derogatory manner please explain sir???
I am also unsure as to why if you believe these items to be fakes you purchased them initially??? however may i say that along with all the free ones we sent to you as well within the package you received you are more than welcome to send them all back for a full refund as we cannot and will not get into arguments about the validity of brevets when we are manufacturing them from direct MOD spec or are the MOD wrong also ??? you see my point but as i say i find it strange that some of those you question are currently in use but that wasn't know by the expert whom advised you sir hence i would have loved to have discussed this directly with you.
Please let me know if you wish to return them all including the free ones we included towards your collection , I noticed that within the e mail calling them fakes, fantasy and so on there was no mention of our generosity in sending the free ones as well or didn't you realise we had done so , maybe someone else opened the batch ?? however please feel free to send them all back for a full refund if your not fully satisfied with them or i can get them picked up from you as we have a buying office only 6 miles from your location sir who can save you postage costs and discuss it further if you wish .
to help matters i have included here a breakdown with some random and quickly found info online to help with your enquiry sir
A nose gunner or front gunner is a crewman on a Royal Air Force WW2 military aircraft who operates a machine gun turret in the front, or "nose", of the airplane. This position was usually manned by someone who only operated the gun, however, the nose gunner could have a dual role (navigation, bombardier, etc but all of whom would wear a NG Brevett if they were a nose gunner primarily.
Now obsolete and has been since May 1950
A middle gunner is a crewman on a Royal Air Force WW2 military aircraft who operates a machine gun turret or turret ball in the middle, or "waist", of the airplane. This position was usually manned by someone who only operated the gun, however, the middle gunner could have a dual role (navigation, bombardier, etc but all of whom would wear a MG Brevet if they were a Middle Gunner primarily.
Now obsolete and has been since May 1950
A Driver D brevet was used by drivers allocated to senior officers during WW2 , usually these posts were manned by injured airmen no longer able to crew but still able to drive with knowledge and experience of flight operations.
Now obsolete and has been since February 1950 when the post became obsolete.
The Brevet RAF was initially used primarily by rear air crew,dealt with inertial and satellite based automated sensor systems, this brevett was used to cover the changing roles of the Navigator / AEO and this brevett was introduced in April 2003 to cover these changing roles. It will eventually be the only brevett given to back seat crew.
The first issue has a crown on top but the crown was removed to a base brevett in June 2004.
first issued in may 2003 and currently worn.
Check out RAF Cranwell where the Air warfare training centre is based.
The Weapons system operator / officer W revet has been in use with the RAF since April 2003 and is currently used within the RAF formerly known as air electronics operator primarily operating weapons and rescue systems on aircraft such as AWACS, Sea King , ASTOR and others.
Curretly in use within the RAF!!!
Check out wsop.homestead.com/files/wsop.html & en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircrew_brevet
The Observer brevet O is an aircrew member whose job was predominantly recon work , originated with the RFC but the wing was continued by the RAF.
Check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_observer
please feel free to check it on google sir and come back to me if your not 1000% happy now
regards
Former Navigator RAF
It is very confusing. Any ideas???