Early 1950s Bullion RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) Full Dress Observer Wing

[seaeagle25]

Hi there guys

This wing is for sale on ebay for US$70. I thought that the observer brevet was replace by the navigator around 1942 and those observers who did not go on and do the navigation change over course retained their observer wings. This wing has a QC on it meaning that this wing is post 1953 - would observers still been in the RCAF then and would the RCAF be producing these in gold wire for full dress wear. If this is true, $70 seem very cheap. Too good to be true?

[Bill A]

Hi seaeagle, could you post a link to the auction?

[seaeagle25]

Hi Bill

Not sure how to do that - a google of the above title brings it up. I will give it a go. Back soon.

Regards

Doug

[seaeagle25]

Hope this work Bill

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Early-1950s-...-/261371058074

It is 3 inches (75mm wide). Looks like mess dress to me but the size of 3 inches says full size.

Regards

Doug

[Bill A]

Thanks Doug. It looks like full dress tunic.

[seaeagle25]

Hi there Bill

Would Observers still allowed to wear this wing in the 1950s? With the RAAF, no QC brevets for Observer were ever produced. If they were still in the RAAF after WWII, and most were demobbed after WWII, they would have kept wearing the old observer brevet w/o crown. By 1953, 8 years after the end of the war, very few would have existed. I would have thought the same was happening with the RCAF and if it was, this RCAF QC Observer is very rare and certainly worth more than $70 - not that I am in the market!

Is it genuine or a figment of someone's imagination in the 1950s. It certainly looks old but is it an official RCAF brevet?

Kind regards

Doug

[Bill A]

Hello Doug, I am not an expert on RCAF insignia. In Dress Orders for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Sect 3.15 - Obsolete Badges says: Officers or airmen who qualified for flying badges which are now obsolete shall wear the most closely corresponding of the obsolete badges or if still active as aircrew the appropriate current badge. (1966 edition).

[SAS1]

This pattern of wing was introduced in 1946 or so, but its curious to see it with a Queens crown because all RCAF half wings were abolished in 1947 in favour of double wing brevets with a motif in the middle rather than lettering (a globe for navigator for example).

The photo shows five Canadian Dambusters who were still serving in 1955, in London for the Premiere of 'The Dam Busters' feature film. The gent in the centre was a wireless operator and the two to the right pilots but both those on the left were Observers. As can be seen, the man second left (Squadron Leader Don MacLean) still retains his WW2 Observer wing which, because it was obsolete, had not been replaced by a double wing brevet.

After 1942 when the Observer trade was abolished in favour of either navigator or bomb aimer those who had qualified for the O wing were asked to chose one of the new ones, generally relating to the trade they were then flying, although most refused, arguing that they had earned the O wing and in many cases had flown on operations with it. Both MacLean and the man extreme left (Squadron Leader Danny Walker) flew as navigators, and whilst MacLean retained his O wing, after the war Walker changed his for the double navigator wing with the globe centre (I have a head and shoulders studio shot of him wearing it).

I would think that the Queens Crown O wing was produced for a dress uniform for those like MacLean still serving after 1953, as no double wing had been designed to replace it. MacLean retired from the RCAF in 1955, and Walker in 1967.

The wing is being sold by Flying Tiger Antiques, whose prices are generally off the scale and five or six times the norm. For this to be $70.00 from them is an absolute steal!

[seaeagle25]

Thanks for the post and photo SAS1.
I agree with you on the price - if genuine it seems like a bargain. It certainly looks old and does not seem to be a modern production. Its background would be most interesting.
Regards
Doug

[seaeagle25]

With that photo from 1955, the personnel are still wearing KC hat badges, Looks like these took a time to be replaced.

[SAS1]

As in the UK it took time for supplies to come in. But I think many vets preferred the insignia they had worn operationally, shows they had been there. Also, no great hurry to replace perfectly good uniform or insignia!