Sas

[Spencer]

I have this badge in my collection but did the SAS ever wear metal badges ? I have only ever seen them wear cloth .

[tynesideirish]

The only metal capbadge the British SAS has worn [other than the ones L Detatchment had made in Egypt] was the Officers Blues dress cap, but that is Silver.
There was a batch made for 21 SAS in the 50's but it is presumed these where not worn.

However, There are various SAS regiments who have worn non cloth badges on a regular basis throughout their history.

Australian SASR.Metal on a Blue Shield. Older ones as above.

The Rhodesian SAS, examples seen in Colin Owen's book Military Badges & insignia of Southern Africa.

The Belgian 1st Parachute Bn Para -Commando Regiment still wears the metal SAS badge. The older ones resemble the one shown. Modern ones have paperclip type fittings on the back.

[David Tremain]

I've seen photos of David Sterling and Paddy Mayne wearing metal badges on their khaki SD caps taken during the war. I assume they must have been brass.

[Unknownsoldier]

Hi,

These are the main ones seen:

Brass, Bi-metal, Anodised

Along with an Australian modern issue one for comparisson and the most common WW2 Woven beret type.

BTW, with regards to the 1950's issue, were they not made for the coronation and worn only on that occasion????

ATB,
Tom :-)

[David Tremain]

I seem to recall reading that somewhere too about the Coronation. James Shortt's book on the SAS (Osprey) shows an officer wearing the blue dress uniform. Can't imagine anyone in the SAS being able to wear that any more. I think there might have been one come up on eBay a couple of years ago, but I could be wrong.

[Unknownsoldier]

You're correct, there have only to my knowledge been two caps on public sale in the past 5-6 years (don't know about private stuff), one on ebay and one from a company called Battle Orders (however I had feelings it was a re-rigged guard cap :-( ).

ATB,
Tom

[Chrisr]

Originally Posted by tynesideirish

Australian SASR.Metal on a Blue Shield. Older ones as above.

Just to clarify, the Australian SAS Regiment was formed in Sep 1964 from the SAS Company, The Royal Australian Regiment. At that time the unit wore the Red Beret with the brass RAR badge. In early 1965 they were issued with the sandy beret and SAS badge worn on a blue cloth shield.

When 1 SAS Sqn deployed to Borneo in Feb 1965 they wore the red beret and RAR badge. On arriving in country they acquired the sandy beret and cloth SAS badge from the 22 SAS Sqn serving there, all ranks wearing the OR cloth badge. When they returned to Australia the rest of the Regiment were wearing the sandy beret with the a/a badge and they changed accordingly.

None of the members serving in 1964/65 I have spoken with can recall it being a brass SAS badge as shown above, rather it was the a/a badge that was worn from the beginning; which they remember because they didn't have to polish it like the old brass RAR badge and one could bend them to suit the shape of the beret. I can recall seeing the a/a badge being worn in 1966 and I was issued with an a/a badge in 1967.

That being said, a mate and I wore the brass badge shown above for a short period in the early 1980's; they were not issue badges but a couple he had acquired in the UK. Having to polish the damn things ensured they were not on our berets for long.


Regards
Chris

[tynesideirish]

Originally Posted by David Tremain

I seem to recall reading that somewhere too about the Coronation. James Shortt's book on the SAS (Osprey) shows an officer wearing the blue dress uniform. Can't imagine anyone in the SAS being able to wear that any more. I think there might have been one come up on eBay a couple of years ago, but I could be wrong.

david, There certainly was. It was me who sold it. Wish I hadn't now...

[Spencer]

Is the such thing as a Saybright SAS badge as I seem to have one

[dragonz18]

Spencer,
Staybright is same as a/a (anodised aluminium) mentioned by Chisr above.
'Staybright' seems to be the UK equivolent of a/a, commonly used by Oz & NZ.
NZSAS possibly wore a/a badges at some stage also.Would expect that it probably followed a similar time period as Australia here. Will ask my cousin(ex SAS) ,next time I see him or some of the knowledgable collectors here. Maroon berets still being worn here around 1980.
Cheers !
Steve
PS: When my son was in the NZ Army, he worked on Photo Recon, attached to SAS & wore the sandy beret with the Intelligence Corps badge on. Would be confusing to Uniform collectors in future?

[Unknownsoldier]

Look at post #4 and picture 3 that is an A/A cap badge for the SAS (I have two different styles and am unsure which is pukka). The SASR one is the second to last one in the line.

ATB,
Tom

[Jibba Jabba]

Ive always assumed the die struck all brass SAS badge with slider is a fantasy item.

Those that see in the pictures during WW2 are of totally different style and arent even die struck.

[tynesideirish]

NZ SAS only switched from Maroon to sand in 1987.

[Unknownsoldier]

Here is the selection of SAS badges not included in my above posts: just for your entertainment (I have also included a NZ SAS BERET in Maroon :-) ):

Supposed Rhodesian? SAS Badge, guessing dud?





Fantasy Gulf War SAS badges (friend with connections to the regiment confirmed they had no knowledge of them):





Tom

[Unknownsoldier]

Laughable Northern Ireland/Combat blackened SAS badge:



Modern SAS badge:



1950s beret badge:



WW2/1950s officer's badge:



Tom