Parachute Regiment battledress tunic

[DougSA]

I acquired this BD tunic in the mid-1980s, from a branch of the Parachute Regiment & Airborne Forces Association, who were selling items from veterans as a means of fundraising.

The BD tunic itself is South African made and looks to be dated 1945.

I would particularly appreciate members views on the insignia. At the time that I acquired it, I certainly did not question authenticity, given the source. Also, wonderful resources like this forum were not yet available to check on what to look for. The tunic has been in storage for some years while I was living overseas and is now 'seeing the light of day' once more.

The shoulder titles are of the early 'Parachute' variety, so would actually pre-date the tunic. However, one can see the remnants of previous stitching, which would be consistent with having been removed from one BD tunic and transferred onto this one. I think that South African made BD was preferable to British made BD (as was Canadian and US made BD) and I could imagine a soldier transferring insignia across on acquiring a much nicer BD tunic.

What is raising questions for me are the Pegasus patches. These are printed, but are not exactly the same as others that I know to be genuine. For example, the detail of Bellerophon's helmet - with the individual dots rather than less well defined 'line'.

Anyway, it would be great to get some insights!

[JerryBB]

Sorry to say that I don't think the pegasus patches are real, not a fan of the wings, nor the para titles but I am not so familiar with them so I could be wrong.

[Arnhemjim]

Hello Doug,
Not being an expert, am certainly not in a position to render definitive judgement. However on the Pegasus formation badges please observe the direction of the weave (diagonally down from right to left). Don't know exactly why but believe the "convention" is diagonally down from left to right.You may want to glance at the following two articles from my blog page which may prove helpful. See; http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2017/1...aria-wwii.html
and http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2016/0...-regiment.html.
Best regards,
Arnhem Jim
Arizona Territory

[DougSA]

Thank you for your insights! I would rather know what the 'issues' are and to learn from these.

I will take a closer look at the BD and insignia, to see if anything more is revealed.

Unfortunately, even if there are issues, I cannot go back to the seller, as I acquired it more than 30 years ago!

[tcrown]

Doug, you are right about non british BD tunics being preferred for walking out uniforms. Canadian made BD blouses were particularly popular amongst British soldiers.

I'm afraid Jerry is correct about the insignia not being genuine: it is quite obvious for the Pegasus patches as you suspected. You can find numerous examples of originals on this forum (https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...ad.php?t=64777)
As for the titles, they look suspicious. The correct version is more curved and the font usually thicker (see photos).
Hard to form an opinion on the wings as they have been whitened (popular arrangement for a best BD). I don't like the L/Cpl chevron which should be more brownish in my view.

Sorry about the bad news.
Cheers
Pierre

[DougSA]

Thank you for the additional insights and opinions Pierre!

I am fully convinced that the Pegasus patches are repro.

They were apparently sewn onto the BD tunic at the same time as the shoulder titles, as the same stitching was used. Although the titles do have residual machine(?) stitching in a different colour, presumably from wherever the titles were used before. It would be interesting to see the back of them.

Regarding the wings and chevrons, I think that they may well be genuine. Again, whitening was applied to the chevrons, as well as the parachute on the wings.

Anyway, I shall now have to decide what to do with the lot. Certainly, I would not want to either throw it in the bin or to off it load someone else as a genuine BD for Parachute Regiment. Currently considering removing insignia and selling the South African BD.