SAS wing on tank regiment battledress - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Tonomachi · #1 07-02-12, 07:19 PM

I saw this for sale on Ebay and thought it was strange for an SAS wing to be on a tank regiment battle dress. The SAS wing is different and a little beat up but there are 3 bids so far so some feel it is real. Was a real theater made SAS wing put on this uniform or is it a total fake?

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fougasse1940 · #2 07-02-12, 09:49 PM

Consider the possibility of the chap transferring from the SAS to the RTR, taking his chest wing with him.

Rgds,

Thomas.

HamandJam · #3 08-02-12, 07:31 AM

Hi Tonomachi,
I have never seen this pattern but on the looks of it appears original and looks old may be ww2. There are many variations. Why it is on RTR BD I can not explain. Cheers, JB

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonomachi

I saw this for sale on Ebay and thought it was strange for an SAS wing to be on a tank regiment battle dress. The SAS wing is different and a little beat up but there are 3 bids so far so some feel it is real. Was a real theater made SAS wing put on this uniform or is it a total fake?

Attachment 58262

Attachment 58263

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johanwiegman · #4 08-02-12, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HamandJam

Hi Tonomachi,
I have never seen this pattern but on the looks of it appears original and looks old may be ww2. There are many variations. Why it is on RTR BD I can not explain. Cheers, JB

Friends,

I have not seen that wing pattern either, but could be OK. The only logical explanation is a SAS member going to the RTR.

Have you looked at the ribbons? Africa Star, but what is the one on the right?
Is it a faded Italy Star?

I am not totally happy about the medal ribbons. There should be more campaign medals if the man served through WW2. Maybe he was KIA earlier.

Cheers,

Johan

SAS1 · #5 08-02-12, 03:32 PM

The only British medal the third one resembles is the Coast Guard long service medal, but I dont think its that. It may be a commonwealth medal if the bloke was South African, Rhodesian, New Zealand, Aussie etc, or possibly French or Belgian. It may be something else too, like a civilian award if the BD was worn later by a cadet officer for example. I have also had a medal bar which had a couple of British medals and an Italian one!

The wing looks right to me, and would have to be an early SAS member if they are worn correctly, as the wing was moved to the arm later in the war. Also, SAS members wore RTR badges and insignia during the Rhine crossing, confirmed in a letter to me from a relative who was L-Detachment and was involved in the crossing. Even down to their Pay Books were they RTR. Perhaps its connected with that? The wing put up later while the owner still had RTR battledress and in a safe area?

As for the amount of medals, most were awarded after WW2, so the absence of more ribbons is not really indicative of anything.

Tonomachi · #6 09-02-12, 04:00 AM

Thanks for everyone's input.

Old Smelly · #7 11-02-12, 01:01 PM

Well that was a surprise, I didn't think it would go for much more than the sum of it's parts without any provenance.
I thought that it might be more logical for it to have an LRDG connection, the wearer being re-attached to an armoured unit in BAOR whilst awaiting demob. Lee

Luc · #8 13-02-12, 07:45 PM

I think you should keep en eye on Jack's website Lee.

jdr · #9 13-02-12, 09:04 PM

Keep looking on my website for a million years and it still won't be on there...wrong end of the stick, Luc. It was far too much money for me to do anything with.

Staffsyeoman · #10 14-02-12, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAS1

The only British medal the third one resembles is the Coast Guard long service medal, but I dont think its that. It may be a commonwealth medal if the bloke was South African, Rhodesian, New Zealand, Aussie etc, or possibly French or Belgian. It may be something else too, like a civilian award if the BD was worn later by a cadet officer for example. I have also had a medal bar which had a couple of British medals and an Italian one!

It's actually an extremely faded Italy Star. Something about this jacket sends alarm bells ringing. It looks like a composite to me.

jdr · #11 14-02-12, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Staffsyeoman

It's actually an extremely faded Italy Star. Something about this jacket sends alarm bells ringing. It looks like a composite to me.

Ok the BD is in my hands now. Ribbon just looks like an Italy star. All badges including the wings seem to be original to the blouse (I'll post some pictures this week). In any event if I was going to stick a nice set of early locally made SAS wings on a BD I wouldn't choose to stick them on a 31st Armoured Brigade BD which was a unit only formed at the end of WW2. I'm sure it might even be possible to locate this soldier if we could somehow work out what SAS soldiers went to armoured units.

Luc · #12 14-02-12, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdr

It was far too much money for me to do anything with.

I was wondering how you were going to make a profit...

johanwiegman · #13 14-02-12, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdr

Ok the BD is in my hands now. Ribbon just looks like an Italy star. All badges including the wings seem to be original to the blouse (I'll post some pictures this week). In any event if I was going to stick a nice set of early locally made SAS wings on a BD I wouldn't choose to stick them on a 31st Armoured Brigade BD which was a unit only formed at the end of WW2. I'm sure it might even be possible to locate this soldier if we could somehow work out what SAS soldiers went to armoured units.

hi Jack,

Well done on the BD!

I think it would be difficult to find out what SAS troopers went to RTR. Could look in my files.

Is there a name or Army number or something in the BD?

Cheers,

Johan