Please can anyone identify this WWI Regiment/Corps

[Karen1234]

Hi everyone,

I'm really hoping someone can please help with identification of the cap and sleeve badge in these photos from WWI. Also does anyone know the significance of the crossed mallets/axes on the sleeve?

[ebro]

It looks like a Royal Flying Corps cap.
Eddie

[Karen1234]

Thanks ebro - I'd always thought it said RB? but can see now that it's RFC - do you have any idea of the meaning of the sleeve badge? This was my grandfather's uniform and he was a carpenter by trade if that helps at all. From the little of what I can remember my mother telling me I think he was ground staff and don't think he was ever an airman or flew at all and was luckily never posted out of the country on active service.

[dragon166]

The badge is a Royal Naval Air Service badge for an airframe mechanic. The airframes in those days were predominantly wood and canvas, which would have needed his carpentry skills. Why an army RFC man would wear a RN trade badge is a mystery!

[TWGB]

There's a clue, perhaps, in this Daily Telegraph Obituary of Henry Allingham:

"He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 following the death of his mother and, after completing his training, he was drafted to the RNAS Air Station at Great Yarmouth as an aircraft mechanic.

In May 1916, he was ordered aboard HMT Kingfisher as it set out to join the British Battle Fleet to help launch a Sopwith Schneider seaplane to look for the German Battle Fleet.

It was night-time when the Kingfisher met up with the fleet and Mr Allingham witnessed the ensuing Battle of Jutland. The following year he was sent to France with 12 Squadron RNAS to support the Royal Flying Corps.

His job as a mechanic was to service the aircraft and recover parts from downed planes. Pilots would often ask their mechanics to fly with them, and Mr Allingham would sit behind his pilot and drop bombs or operate the Lewis machine gun.

He saw service in Flanders at the Somme and Ypres with No 12 Sqn until November, and then moved to the Aircraft Depot at Dunkirk where he stayed until the end of the war.

On April 1 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps merged to form the RAF, and Mr Allingham was transferred to the newly-formed RAF as Rigger Aero, Aircraft Mechanic Second Class."

I suppose it all depends on the definition of "support", though...

Best regards,

Tim

[GriffMJ]

Hope this helps...

[ebro]

Griff,
your photo technology is amazing, thanks.
Eddie

[GriffMJ]

The truth is often hidden in plain view

* Note: Always take a scan in a high resolution.... 600 dpi or higher, this will give far more detail than a normal 300dpi scan. The difference will be like looking at a Poster..... and not a stamp.

Dots per inch (DPI) is a measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch (2.54 cm).

The higher the DPI the greater the output detail.

[Karen1234]

Hi everyone thankyou for the replies. Interesting article TWGB and Griff I'm amazed at your technical wizardry! Special thanks though to dragon166 for identifying the Royal Naval Air Service badge. I'd never have guessed that but after you mentioned it I played with google and they have the exact same badge on the Imperial War Museum website.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30076832

It says it's is a trade badge for an air mechanic. I would also assume that you're definitely right - that as a master cabinet maker/carpenter grandad was needed to make/maintain the wooden aspects of the planes as I don't think he was mechanically minded as such. Thanks for solving the mystery of the badge!