Unknown para wing and engineer flash
 

Hi,
I bought a bag of items recently, most of which were South African and Rhodesian. Among the items were these two items that I need identification on.

1. Appears to be an Engineer Corps flash but not certain whether helmet, slouch hat or uniform. It is woven and wrapped over a piece of stiff hessian type cloth.

2. An embroidered wing in red on white cotton with a white parachute in centre of wing. The backing has remains of a synthetic material typically seen on some SA badges from the 1970's or 1980's

Any help appreciated

Regards
Steven

Hi Steven, interesting lot, loving the 'bat' wing, possible 'Recce'? Regards Mark

Thanks Mark,
I have trawled through all the SA and Rhodesian insignia books and cannot find a similar wing, but it is unusual and i'm sure someone will recognize it.

Could the "bat wings" have an Israeli connection ?
"Shayetet 13 (Hebrew: שייטת 13‎, lit. Flotilla 13) is a unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary sayeret (reconnaissance) units of the Israel Defense Forces."

Their badge has similar 'wings' but a different emblem.

As I recall the central design of the Israeli badge is a shield with sword or torch?
Bat wing type para badges are or were worn by Ethiopians, Tunisians, I think Russians and no doubt others.

The style of manufacture looks similar to other SA made badges, so it may be a sample or even a non-military jump wing. It is rather thread bare like a badge that has been through the laundry a few to many times.