Air Ministry Fire Services Cap badges
 

I hope I have placed this in the correct sub-category.

Does any member know why there are non enamel & enamel Cap badges for both the KC & QC types for these Air Ministry Fire Service?

It may be the enamel ones were issued to Officers and the basic ones to 'other' ranks.

Or, could it be just a case that the basic ones were unfinished enamel types!


I have attached an image of the badges in question which also includes an A.M.F.S patch (I have no reason to believe it is not genuine). The patch is the only one I have seen to date and I have to assume it was worn on something like a boiler suit.

Any comments would be most welcome.

I would think that the plain badges were for the firemen etc and the enamel badges for station officer and above with all ranks receiving enamel badges later when it changed from Air Ministry Fire Service to Fire Service Air Force Dept. with some subtle changes like the central eagle becoming gold coloured .

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ctureid=104748


http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ctureid=104747

The eagle is definitely chrome on the sealed pattern, Jerry, mate.

Thanks for showing the sealed pattern card, phil. If you look at picture 7 it shows a gold coloured eagle.

Air Ministry Fire Service badge
 

I acquired this badge late last year. It is a further addition to those shown in this thread.


'Nobbs' notes Section I/11 sub para 3 mentions this badge (with drawing) but
does not know who it was actually used by. Suggests it may be for a Part-time Fire Officer grade.

Interestingly, she says that ones with crowns: non enamel are for Firemen & the enamelled ones are for Officers.


Graham

Forgive my saying so, but the centre of the badge appears not to be an original component of the star. In other words it does not fit the holes in the star, its been made to fit. Its a "marriage".

Dave.

AFMF non crowned badge
 

Dave,

Unfortunately, having taken on board with what you say I have to agree with your assessment and that the badge has been manually made up of two component parts.

On examination of my badge I am inclined to believe the 'fix' was done quite some time ago. Also, the longer outer spikes are rounded on the edges as the similar 'Fire Service - Air Force Dept' cap badge.

Whether this type of badge actually existed is still in question, and if so, was it properly manufactured or made in-house to meet its purpose.

In a nutshell, I was probably just intent on acquiring the badge without taking due diligence of what was actually being offered.

Thanks for being candid. An expensive mistake, but a valuable lesson learnt.


Graham

Graham,

The construction of the badge does indeed look very old. It may have been put together "in house" and worn like that. You will probably never know unless a photo of it being worn surfaces. Its still an interesting variation which I'd keep in the hope that some confirmation or otherwise comes along. I personally am loath to "ditch" such anomalies just in case they are genuinely worn items. But, there are a number of less than honest individuals on eBay (one fire brigade dealer in particular) who is forever cobbling together spurious fire brigade badges and selling them at quite high prices, so it does pay to look carefully at the construction of the badge before pressing the bid button.

Dave.

CIVILIAN FIREMEN - CAP INSIGNIA
 

Air Ministry regulations of 1934 show: Civilian Firemen being issued with, Stores ref 22H/331 Badge, arm, eagle and crown left (for wear on cap). Later info held at the NA shows that on 29 Oct 1951 the Department of the Director General of Equipment placed an order for: 22H/1097 Badges, cap, Air Ministry Fire Service - Officers - Qty 25 and 22H/1098 Badges, cap, Air Ministry Fire Service - Firemen - Qty 500, additional remarks quote "The badge for officers is to be exactly as per the design, but the badge for firemen will be in plain chromium" unquote