RAF Malcolm Clubs cap/beret badges

[SAS1]

Thinking of the recent thread on the Special Duties cap badges, does anyone have information on the uniform and ranks (?) of the RAF Malcolm Clubs? In particular the difference between the bullion and silk woven cap badges?

Thanks

[badjez]

Here is a copy of a piece I did for the Mil Heraldry Society Formation Sign.

RAF Malcolm Clubs

The clubs are named after RAF Wing Commander HUGH MALCOLM who lost his life aged 25. His was the first RAF VC to be won in North Africa in WWII.
A Malcolm Club was operated ’for the airmen’, to further the well being of RAF Other Ranks.

Lord Tedder explained the Club’s origins to The House of Lords:
It all began in Algiers in May 1943. A Mediterranean seaport is not a very savoury place at any time, and at that time it was crowded with British and American troops. The Americans had very early on taken over a large building in the middle of Algiers and turned it into a first-class welfare centre and club 727 for their men, run by the American Red Cross ladies. At first it was open to both British and Americans, but when the numbers got too big it had, for supply reasons, to be limited to Americans. I and a number of my fellow senior officers were worried about the position as regards our own men, the complete lack of any amenities. I went and saw the senior British administrative officer at the Allied headquarters and asked him to see whether he could get the N.A.A.F.I. to open a club in the town. He said: "The N.A.A.F.I. cannot do anything like that. That is not their job, and in any case there are plenty of canteens on all the camps."

General Eisenhower was also worried about this problem, and got into touch with the lady who is now my wife, IN ho was working at the time for the Americans, and asked her whether she could not do something about it. That something proved to be the opening of the first Malcolm Club. It comprised only one room, which had been a café, and two basement rooms. Being so small, of course we could open it only to the Royal Air Force. The name, that of a gallant young Wing Commander who had been awarded a posthumous V.C. for operations over Tunis, was suggested by the then Secretary of State, Sir Archibald Sinclair (as he then was), during a visit to Algiers. When I opened it I said to the troops, "This is your club: keep it going". That chance phrase set the pattern for the future. When we got to Tunis the airmen came along and said, "Hey! Where is our club?" and so the second club was born and so on. That is how it happened.

The story of the spreading of those clubs from those three rooms all over the world with the Royal Air Force is, I think, a very remarkable one—they have spread to over one hundred places in different parts of the world. The very names of the countries through which they have passed is an outline of the history of the Air Force during the war: North Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Ceylon, Burma, Malaya and Japan. Then through Italy, up the East coast into Austria, up to Vienna, to a little club there at Schwechat, where there was a handful of men working an aerodrome isolated in the middle of the Russian 728 Zone. We kept that club going for over two years. Then, in Normandy, there was the first British club on the Continent on D +51 at Crevilly; and then to Belgium, Holland, Germany, and up to Gatow, in Berlin. At one time in Germany there were twenty-two clubs. Now with the Air Force coming back and concentrating near the Rhine, there are eleven.

[Quote from Hansard HL Deb 22 January 1959 vol 213 cc725-86]

No idea about the badges, I would venture to suggest most were locally made.

Stephen.

[fairlie63]

Fascinating Stephen, never heard of them before.
Cheers, Keith

[SAS1]

Stephen, many thanks for that, helps a lot with the background and formation.

I've done a bit more digging and found a few more photos. It seems the badge was worn both on the cap and tunic shoulder, and that at least two types of uniform were worn - a battledress type and longer tunic type, both worn with skirt. I'd love to know if the buttons of the latter were monogrammed!

The lady sitting is Lady Tedder, seen after visiting a Malcolm Club in North Africa during the war and she is wearing a beret. The other photo I think was taken during the war in one of the European Clubs, with the lady to the right also wearing a "Great Britain' title.

The photo of Lady Tedder seems to show the silk woven badge of my first post (with the main in pale blue, rather than the bullion type) on both shoulder and beret, but I'm wondering now if the silk woven type (as shown in my original post) was the shoulder badge and the bullion type the cap badge. What do others think?

Of the three badges shown in my original post, the silk woven one is the type I've usually seen sold individually. The other two are both on caps, one a beret (made by Lock & Co, London) in the same style as Lady Tedder's, and the other a side cap made by Cicely Kader of London.

[SAS1]

A better quality shot of Lady Tedder. She also seems to be wearing a shoulder title (Great Britain?). Interesting that the epaulettes face outwards and are in a different colour to the uniform.

Can't quite make out if the shoulder and cap badges are the same or if one is bullion the other silk...

[stef]

Here a small contribution.
Lot from a Belgian soldier serving in the BAAPS 2 (Belgian auxiliary air police service units ) that was attached to the 2nd tactical air force of the British liberation army.
This unit existed only from April 1945 - September 1946.

- Malcolm club wing
- 2 Christmas cards 1945 from the Malcolm club
- 2 British Christmas cards and RAF police note book

[Wooffy]

The attached isn't mine, but is currently listed on ebay, nevertheless, I thought it fitting to add to this thread - first one of these I have seen

[engr9266]

Originally Posted by Wooffy

The attached isn't mine, but is currently listed on ebay, nevertheless, I thought it fitting to add to this thread - first one of these I have seen

Mine now Wooffy, brought it off eBay thanks to your heads up.

Jerry

[Wooffy]

My pleasure - glad it's gone to a good home....