WW2 RAF uniform

Discussion in 'WW2 Militaria' started by 281664, Jul 29, 2018.

  1. 281664

    281664 Active Member

    Hello,

    I mainly collect WW1 militaria but i came across this uniform yesterday that caught my eye for probably obvious reasons.

    A flight Lt signaller with the Aircrew star aswell as the Africa and Italy star. The stange part being the Sabre wings on an RAF aircrew officers uniform?

    Can anyone possibly shed some light on this? uniforms aren't my thing!

    Thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The badge appears to be a New Zealand military badge.....that of the NZSAS.I wonder if the badge is a case of embellishment related to the uniform sale....would be interesting to know who was the military owner in order to validate....cannot make out the manufacturer's label for any advantage,apart from RAF.

    The blouse is "working blue" or field dress.....not part of dress uniform.

    The RAF aircrew designation of Wireless Operator became Signaller with the brevet "S" from January 1944 and continued postwar.The Wireless Operator/Air Gunner designation went through a number of changes during the war with wireless operator duties being designated by the brevet "S". from January 1944.

    However the RCAF,RAAF and RNZAF did not introduce the "S" brevet during the war and maintained the previous RAF Wireless Operator brevets.
     
  3. 281664

    281664 Active Member

    I was put off purchasing on the basis of the SF wings mixed with aircrew plus the fact there was no personal information attached to the item.

    I wouldn't be surprised if it wasnt what it purports to be! but it does raise the interesting topic of RAF personal attached to the SAS and similar units during the war!
     
  4. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    RAF Signaller Half Brevet. S Wing
    [​IMG]
    RAF Signaller Half Brevet. S Wing
    WW2 Royal Air Force Air Crew qualification wings for Signaller
    Awarded to flight crew
    Worn on Battledress clothing
    Issued from 1944
    Worn above left Breast pocket
    This badge was to reward the skills of the new on board Signallers, but it was to confuse enemy intelligence as the actual job was radar and Wireless which was becoming more important on long bombing missions over Europe. Each member of the crew was as important as each other from the Pilot to the Bomber aimer.

    TD
     
  6. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    Hi,

    Medal ribbons aren’t attached correctly. The top 2 - Defence Medal and War Medal should follow the various bars in the bottom row.

    Steve
     
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  7. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Steve,
    I noticed that too but rather discounted it as being significant. I would put it down to sloppiness as only being his battledress and not wanting to unpick all his ribbons to put the 39-45 and air crew europe ribbons on the top row and then reposition the others on the bottom row.

    Tim
     
  8. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    New Zealand military badges etc on this website.

    Badges

    A note regarding navigators,bomb aimers and wireless operators and role development.

    The postwar Lincolns followed the practice introduced by the wartime Pathfinders to accommodate the H2S bombing gear.The role of the bomb aimer was undertaken by a navigator on radar and the navigation undertaken by a second navigator carrying out plotting.The navigators shared the same bench seat facing the port side of the aircraft with the radar man on the right hand side responsible for operating the H2S,Gee or Gee H, (depending on what version was fitted) and the Rebecca/BABS,the homing and landing aid.Eureka being derived from the Rebecca gear.The plotter occupied the left hand side of the bench and was responsible for the navigation of the aircraft.However the navigator plotter,when required, conducted bomb aimer duties from the nose station when visual bombing was desired. This meant leaving his seat and passing the Flight Engineer to go down into the bomb aimers station in the nose of the aircraft.As required the plotter would also man the front gunners station.

    When Bomber Command introduced the V Bomber Force, separate aircrew designations were introduced....Navigator (Plotter)...traditional navigator role and Navigator (Radar) bombing using the later mark of H2S, Mark 9.

    The Signaller would be in charge of external communications by means of his T 1154 and .R1155 and had the Fishpond receiver to facilitate warning of enemy aircraft at the aircraft tail end.His radar expertise would be limited to his role of dealing with the Fishpond apparatus and the control of the IFF gear along with the operation of the ECM jamming apparatus.(For the interference and jamming of German fighter control station frequencies by use of the ABC gear,(No 101 Squadron had the additional dedicated crew member..the ABC operator who would monitor frequencies being used by the ground controller.Jamming followed to each channel they switched to in an effort to break the ground controller/fighter communication.

    The introduction of the "S"brevet to indicate Wireless Operator duties came about as a result of the many changes that the Air Ministry initiated back to the days when a Wireless Operator was burdened with the duties of the Air Gunner and it was seen that as new aircraft were being introduced that the workload was deemed to be excessive and in danger of interfering with aircrew performance.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2018

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