Mystery British Rank Stripes

[sapper533]

Hi folks,

Here are some stripes which have bothered me for ages, they were sold to me many years ago as being worn by the Aden Protectorate Levies, but in all my years I have never seen a photo of them being worn, as most photos have them in KD.

The picture I have uploaded isn't great I know but they have the look of RAF stripes but on very dark navy or black and the edges of the white chevrons are green.

Can any one put me out of my misery?
Cheers
Sean

[sapper533]

No ideas anyone?

[Toby Purcell]

Early RAF herringbone pattern stripes I believe. The RAF did sponsor some Levies, especially in Iraq.

[dragon166]

Hi Sean
I also have a set of these stripes (L/Cpl, Cpl and Sgt) and bought them with the same description as yours. Having searched for pics I can only find them wearing the white tape stripes for KD. The only difference was in a Pathe Newsreel which showed the Camel Corps element. They were wearing the ceremonial white uniform and the leader appears to be wearing dark coloured stripes. Unfortunately the definition was not good enough to discern any detail. I have attached a lightened pic so the green of the tape can be seen to help anyone who can answer your question.

[sapper533]

Perfect picture, I thats exactly what they are like, and it always felt they had an RAF look about them but they are definitely not any shade of blue. Could they have been made for Battledress for the victory parade or a coronation contingent of the APL or Iraq Levies?
Cheers
Sean

[dragon166]

From the pics I've seen I would have thought they were more likely to be for the Iraq Levies as they wore battle dress on a regular basis.
Dave

[Toby Purcell]

I can see from the bigger picture that they are not RAF now and agree that the shade of green is peculiar. I can’t really comment beyond the Iraq Levies suggestion.

[sapper533]

Might they be Rhodesian?