Opinions on Para Wing please.

[Harry Katyn]

Hi

I would appreciate members thoughts and views on this para wing.

Thanking you in anticipation.

[rhodesianmilitaria]

I think this one is Ghanaian but not sure. Appears to be the same structure as yours.
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[Harry Katyn]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for that – that was a line I hadn’t thought of. I had always assumed the wings were WWII British/Empire related. When I bought them they were purported to be from a 44th Indian Airborne Division unit and I purchased them as they were of identical construction to another pair of wings I had (pictured below), which I believed were British from the WWII period.
I have since seen similar wings to these in Pittaway and Fourie’s SAS Rhodesia – top wing on page 155 – in the Federation Section 1961-63. I am not knowledgeable enough to know how accurate the chronology of the insignia pictured in the book is although I know British surplus/purchased badges were being used by the Rhodesian military even after UDI.
Any thoughts?
Dean

[rhodesianmilitaria]

Originally Posted by Harry Katyn

I have since seen similar wings to these in Pittaway and Fourie’s SAS Rhodesia – top wing on page 155 – in the Federation Section 1961-63.
Dean

The wing in Pittaway and Fourie’s SAS Rhodesia – top wing on page 155 is British made. It was however worn in Rhodesia most definitely in the 50's and the early 60's. It was not a Rhodesian wing as such but was worn there.
There were a number of British servicemen who left the UK and went to live in Rhodesia and joined the army. Some of these were already para trained and so they would have worn this wing. Understand that there were no parachute training facilities in Rhodesia until 1961 and only the SAS were para trained there at this stage.

Originally Posted by Harry Katyn

I know British surplus/purchased badges were being used by the Rhodesian military even after UDI.
Dean

I'll try and answer this simply. Let's stick to para wings instead of including badges as well because that is a bit of a minefield and there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation about that.
Some British made wings including AD & PJI brevets were worn until probably 1970 when Rhodesia became a republic.
There are some exceptions to this.
Maj Gen Derry McIntyre wore a Brit made dress wing on his Greens (number one uniform for the army).
An officer in the RLI (Rhodesian Light Infantry) Commando wore a British made bullion dress wing on his mess dress jacket.
How do I know these were British wings? Because the RLI and army never had mess dress wings or a bullion wing.
Only the SAS had bullion para wings.
These were senior officers so I guess wearing a non-issue wing went with the territory.

[Harry Katyn]

Many thanks again for the information Peter - I knew you would be a good man to resolve any possible Rhodesian connection.

I have carried out a quick search of my reference material and, as you suggested, Ghana seems to be the only country with British style para wings in these colours. It appears that in 1961 Ghana sent a small contingent to Britain to train as PJIs and on their return, in the same year, were accompanied by British instructors to assist in opening an Airborne Training School. Initially a Parachute Coy was formed which by 1965 had expanded to battalion size. (Bragg & Turner Book 1)

If my standard coloured wings are from the 1950/60’s, and not from WWII as I initially believed, given Britain’s connection to Ghana and the para training it seems feasible that Ghana may have had their early wings manufactured during the early 60’s by a British para wing maker which would explain the similarity in construction.

Mystery solved????

[rhodesianmilitaria]

The was a Ghanaian PJI brevet that was British made as well.