R.N.A.S. Armoured Car badge

[Neil Pearce]

I'd be interested to learn more about the quote from RCN

" An oval metal badge, ensigned by a crown, depicting a Talbot armoured car; officer's collar badges of the Talbot car are known, as are slightly larger variants, in bronze & gilt, depicting a Lanchester armoured car. It is thought that officers on armoured car duty may have worn a bronze version of the standard cap badge"

This description seems to fit a badge I have of a bronze Talbot car on it's own. I have often wondered about this. Unfortunatle, I can't post pictures at the moment.

I also have a much smaller bladed version of the standard RND officers badge, which I can't attribute. It is the same as the last photo posted, To my mind, it's a cap badge (due to the blades), but was this worn by RNAS officers? Does anyone have any pictures?
Cheers, Neil

[Neil Pearce]

Here are the pics of KK1158 side by side to give a size comparison, plus a rear shot of the mystery "smaller" version.

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Cheers, Neil

[RCN]

Getting back to where I started --here is an example of a repro RN Armoured Car badge from ebay & described as such.

pretty obvious tho.....

Vendor has sent me a photo of reverse, its pretty out of focus, but you can make out that it has pin attachment lugs as for a cap badge.

Bryan

[daverpol]

Just to confuse things a little, the badge below was worn by officers of the former River Tyne Police.

[bobbluesboy]

Hi Bryan.Sorry have not got back to you sooner but have been away.The dummy at the Museum at RNAS Yeovilton had the badge on the cap.The WW1 Trio to the CPO Mechanic is a lovely medal group,getting rarer by the year and very collectable.The RND Armoured Car Section were all P.O.,s and C.P.O,s and officers.The Armoured cars were tried in France and Belgium but not much use due to trench warfare,as the MEF and Eastern fronts were more fluid they were eventually used there.Photo,s and references to the RND are pretty rare,looking through a history of Nelson Battalion RND I notice a picture of an officer wearing the Bronze officers badge as above.As the war went on and the casualty rates among officers and senior rates increased badges were probably rarely worn in the front line as everyone tried to look like an ordinairy soldier and especially with tin helmets.The photo,s cover the periods of Antwerp 1914,Gallipoli 1915 and France 1916.Ratings are wearing cap tallies with just "Nelson","RND" and "R.N. (crown)V.R.".One shows the Nelson Cap badge worn in the centre of the Royal Blue Navy Cap.Photo images after 1916 appear to be fairly rare. Hope this is of interest,Bob

[RCN]

Thats very interesting information, & thanks very much for posting Bob,

Bryan

[Hoolyboy]

Originally Posted by bobbluesboy

The WW1 Royal Navy Armoured Car Section mainly consisted of RNAS ratings who were usually Petty Officer and Chief Petty officer Mechanics with RND officers in command.If I was lookng for a "sleeper" medal group to the RND Armoured Car Section I would be looking for CPO and PO mechanic rates in the RNAS.When I used to pick up service records to the RND from the museum at RNAS Yeovilton they had a WW1 Armoured Car in the Museum and an RND officer dummy with the Armoured Car badge on,the curator said these were never issued,and looking back I think she meant as a cap badge,obviously there is a photograph of the collar badge.The Armoured Cars section served in some pretty out of the way places including the Eastern Front and I wonder if the badge was actually issued during WW1 or very near the end / peacetime before disbandment of the RND.A standard badge would be the standard RN officers bronze cap badge as worn by the RND officers in the trenches .
The RNAS pre WW2 suffered very heavily from being back of the Queue in budgets and also with quality of aircraft.This resulted in the use of Aircraft such as Skua,s,Swordfish,etc, which were designed for the flightdecks of the carriers then in service,these aircraft were hoplessly outclassed and it was only the skill of the aircrews which achieved results.Only later in the war with new carriers and better and longer flightdecks was it possible to bring potent aircraft into the air such as later mark Spitfires,etc.Bob

Hi

Sorry to come into the thread a bit late nad thanks for the info. I just picked up a 14/15 Star to an F. 1947 J W Sanson P.O.M R.N.A.S with what looks like a pukka collar RNAS Amoured Car Section collar badge. Car facing left with lugs on the back. It looks good but I doubted it as all the prevoius ones I've see looked 'wrong-uns'.

I've collected for over 20 years and never seen a good one of these. Has anybody seen a right facing car?

[Neil Pearce]

If you mean the armoured car on it's own, here is the picture of mine - right facing. To be frank, I am not convinced by it, but did obtain it from a reputable source.

Out of interest, I also have a smaller version of the Anson Badge marked Gaunt. Another mystery..... I am confident with this one however

Size for the RNAS is 30x17mm approx and Anson 27x30.5 high

Cheers, Neil

[cossack]

I don't know if this will be any help or just throw another spanner in the works but many years ago I had a WWI helmet shell with a RNAS badge sweated onto it! If i can find an old picture of it I'll add it on here!
Andy

[Faugh-A-Ballagh]

Here's a link which I found a while ago about this unit. My Great Grandfather's cousin served in it until it was disbanded in 1917, then re-enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. I have seen a photo with the blue Royal Navy tunic with RNAS badges on the collars. Not the most practical for in the field, so from these photos it looks like khaki was the order of the day.
Interesting to see what the medal inscription reads. My relative's medal card only has the war and victory medal marked RGA. A set I would love to own, but long lost.

John

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland...ar/rnacd.shtml