Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Rice
I don't think these were as early as 1925/26 as they were still using ZALM in the title then as far as I know. Probably pre-WWII and the when the mass production of badges for hostilities dropped standards. The are a lot of variations of SAAF cap badges but this is the nicest.
Cheers,
Alex
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Hi Alex,
Yes the cross over from Z to S is still under debate. Some say as early as 1923. I used 25/26 as a date as I know in 1912 when UDF formed they used a Z and with the reform of UDF in 1922 they were still using a Z. I have a portion of the 1924 Dress Regs and here the units are all spelled with a S, so assumed badges were starting to come from manufacturers with an S soon after that.
Of course if you were issued originally with a Z badge you continued to wear that and I have even seen evidence of Z badges been worn during WWII.
Any new recruits would have received an S badge as soon as stocks were available.
It would be nice to find info from the actual manufacturers as to when new dies were produced with the S or when the UDF placed orders for the changeover. I am convinced the information is out there somewhere.
Regards
Steven