mid 1950's RCAF Sabre BeVo Squadron patches

[zorgon]

During the mid-1950’s and as part of Canada’s NATO commitment, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) set up four Fighter bases in Europe; two in France (1Wing Marville and 2 Wing Grostenquin) and two in Germany (3 Wing at Zweibrücken and 4 Wing Baden-Söllingen). Generally, Squadron shoulder patches were updated in these early years of the Sabre deployment and several variations can be found. One of the less common designs found on embroidered patches of the era was a type which was created by a unique type of loom weave known as BEVO (variously described as bevo or BeVo). This style of patch can be recognized by the reverse thread image of the patch along with the often, long threads as the stitching popped in and out across the weave to create the image on the front of the same thread colour.

I was able to cobble some history together and I stand to be corrected by those who know more than I about the history of weaving. This particular punch-card Jacquard loom was originally designed by Lucas and Ewald Vorsteher from the Wuppertal-Barmen area of Germany who later amalgamated under the new name, Bandfabrik Ewald Vorsteher or BEVO, I believe in the 1930’s.

Collectors of WWII German embroidered insignia will be familiar with this weave style as it was commonly used in the manufacture of the German WWII cuff titles. By some pre-war serendipitous route, one of these remarkable machines must have made its way to Canada and produced the Canadian shoulder title variant illustrated in the first image below (thanks to RCAFMike for supplying these examples).

Of interest to RCAF Squadron patch collectors may be these three designs made by a BeVo loom for the Squadrons, 422, 430 and 444. The first images of each set shows the rough stitching, front and back, before being trimmed and having the outer edge folded over and stitched to the back to provide an area of reinforcement when sewn onto a flight suit or jacket. The 422 example is noteworthy for another reason. It seems that after some wear and presumably occasional washing, this patch variant is often observed to have taken on an oval shape. One might assume that this phenomenon is due to a characteristic of the warp-weft base cotton cloth or the thread itself which had a preference to shrink in one plane.

Whilst the design of these patches is relatively primitive, they remain quite elusive to the handful of fellow collectors who cherish and search out such early variants. What is more remarkable is I was able to trace down some history on the actual individual tailor who made them!

About a decade ago, I purchased some of these from Pierre, who had inherited remnants from a relative. It turns out his grandfather, Paul Lang ran a tailor shop in Grostenquin in the mid 1950’s and as word got around of his skill-set, he did a lot of work for the Canadians on all four RCAF bases. He must have been using his own BeVo loom during this period. Paul was born in Sarreguemines France on the German border and the son of Jean Lang who was also a tailor. Sarreguemines, is about midway between, Grostenquin and Zwei.

Mr. Lang probably remained friends with many Canadians but one in particular was a pilot named Chopin "Chops" Viger who flew jets from the early Sabre era to CF-104’s in the 1960’s in Germany. Pierre recalled Chops and his family traveled back to France in the mid-80s, and again maybe in the 90s. I believe Chopin passed away in 2009.

It is speculation on my part but it’s possible that Mr. Lang replaced his old BeVo loom with a newer loom around 1960. Subsequent images show another rare 444 Squadron patch possibly manufactured by Paul’s new loom and is illustrated below but clearly not a BeVo design. From Pierre, I also obtained newer 430 squadron patches which appear to be of the same design as this later 444 coloured patch. The next photo is this rare patch as worn by F/L Bill Barnes (thanks Darryl).

Tangential to all of the above, I’ll add that my father, John, was part of the initial early Europe NATO base set-up. A photo below is a pic of my dad in 1953 taken at the Zugspitze with an unidentified WO, where if memory serves me correctly (I was only two, geeze) was helping to co-ordinate the future aircraft spare parts that would be required on the NATO bases. Dad later went on to assist in the spares (“screws, nuts and bolts”) assets for the iconic AVRO Arrow program (pic also attached).

It’s funny how sometimes; it can all come together, eh?

Any comments, corrections or additional history or memories would be most welcome.

[RCAF_Mike]

Fantastic info. Nicely done, as usual!