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#1
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RNAS Cap Badge.....Unusual!
This is definitely not what we are used to seeing in the way of an RNAS officer's cap badge! Any comments?
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MIKE Collecting RCAF Wings Uniforms Badges and Insignia |
#2
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officers private purchase.
regards steve |
#3
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Neat, this photo was taken at the time of his commission. I can honestly say I've never seen one of these privately purchased ones before!
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MIKE Collecting RCAF Wings Uniforms Badges and Insignia |
#4
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Every officer in the Royal Navy had to purchase everything he wore.
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#5
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So does anyone have a hypothesis then as to why this badge looks the way it does? I researched a ton of RNAS officers, and this is the first badge I've found that looks like this!
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MIKE Collecting RCAF Wings Uniforms Badges and Insignia |
#6
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It notes the award of the DFC. This was first issued in June 1918, three months after the formation of the RAF. As such he could not have been awarded it as a member of the RNAS. After the RAF was formed from the RFC and RNAS there was a long period when a variety of uniform combinations were worn, some being a mixture of the two. There is a great cartoon from that era showing two officers talking about a junior officer who is wearing a uniform with a mixture of service badges to highlight the confusion.
This would have been private purchase but probably not following a recognised or authorised pattern. |
#7
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Every RNAS officer would have had to "purchase" his badge along with the rest of his uniform, this is merely an example from a particular manufacturer.
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#8
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May it be a conversion of another badge he had ?
Andy |
#9
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RNAS Cap Badge
AT Whealy was not awarded the DFC until December 1918, I would say that the publication that shows him wearing a RNAS uniform just picked up an old photo of him taken earlier in his career. There are published photos of Whealy wearing the first pattern khaki RAF Officers uniform so it's highly unlikely that he would have still been wearing a RNAS uniform as late as December.
Over the years I have seen a number of variations of the RNAS cap badge, no doubt due to manufacturers not having access to an official pattern in the early days of the RNAS's formation. |
#10
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This photo is from a yearbook. The University of Toronto used the studio portraits of these men they took upon enrollment in the services, that's why he's wearing an RNAS uniform, but is cited as having the DFC as the yearbook was published in 1919 to honour the veterans and the fallen of the first world war that were students of the university. I'm not questioning the dating of the photo vs. the entitlement at all, just the odd design of RNAS cap badge vs. the normal one
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MIKE Collecting RCAF Wings Uniforms Badges and Insignia |
#11
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RNAS unusual cap badge
Hello Mike and all,
Understanding the date of and location of where such a photograph was taken can oftern give the clues as to the oddities in uniforms and insignia. My view is that this likely to be one of the first photos of A T Whealy in his RNAS uniform. Given that he gained his Flying Certificate wings in February 1916 according to his Grandson's website http://whealy.com/grandfather/index.html and was commissioned later that month it could be that the cap badge he is wearing was provide by a tailor in the USA or Canada before arriving in England where standard patterns would have been available. Without the real facts around us all we can do is surmise as to the reasons why his badge did not follow the usual pattern. I'd put my money, albeit not a lot of it on the cap badge in question being made in NA somewhere. It would be interesting to trawl through photos of others who were trained and commissioned at a similar time in the same place as A T Whealy and see if there is a reoccurrence of this unusual pattern of badge. Most interesting indeed, all we need to do now is to find an actual surviving example. Best Wishes See also http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/whealy.php |
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