Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_vee
So , a bit of "Mike's lateral thinking" , is it possible that the A.C's ideas were being formented at the time the new uniforn was being introduced and that there was mention of the "Spitfire" badge ?
When the photo was being set up perhaps a bit of 'artistic licence' was employed and a 'generic' badge was used for purely 'illustrative' purposes?
|
A response from me that relates to the above points: in the months following the publication of the above photograph with the mystery badge, the formation known as the "Royal Observer Corps
Club" was wound-up.
What if the mystery badge happened to be a key emblem of the ROC Club, bearing in mind that the vast majority of the membership of that club were about to be going into these specific proper uniforms? (as opposed to just zebra armbands, berets & steel helmets).
I have now asked trustworthy contacts within the ROC Heritage Team to check & see if they have any information about the ROC Club's emblems.
My theory might genuinely explain why the badge exists only in this one known photograph....
But: I've another related variation on this theory; however, this forum is well-placed to reject it out of hand.
In my recent unstructured research attempts to solve the mystery of this badge (and becoming reminded about the previously-existing ROC Club) I'm struck by how evangelically and wide-ranging the aircraft recognition skill was being taught by the ROC Club across the whole public spectrum of Home Defence.
I'm maybe gleaning this impression totally without basis in fact (so British Badge Forum, please feel free to shoot me down) but what if the mystery badge was in fact a ROC Club-awarded aircraft recognition Master grade badge, awarded to Observers >and others< as a symbol of their capabilities?
If I'm right, this proto-Spitfire badge would've been emphatically NOT approved of by the Air Ministry (they were reportedly desperate to shut-down the ROC Clubs, and did so in the months following this picture) and may have been a short-lived calico printed rarity 1941-1942.
Which was then replaced by the regulated silhouette-style /RAF pattern Spitfire badge we are all so much more familiar with?
And before anyone tells me all this guesswork is a total impossibility, I refer you to the singular photograph that kicked all this off.....that badge is unlikely to have been a fantasy mockup, nor a propitious prediction. Maybe it was a forgotten 'War Economy' badge of pride, that disappeared in the blue-grey uniformed conformality that became the 'new' ROC.
I do intend to get to the bottom of this: regardless.