can be referred to as a brevet
No, no, no, that is incorrect. Under QR206 and QRJ727 it has always been a flying badge (and every previous version of KRs and QRs). The King’s and Queen’ Orders have always called them flying badges. Only those in error ever called them ‘brevets’. Have a read of Wg Cdr ‘Jeff’ Jefford’s excellent book and it explains all - a cut down version is here:
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documen...Journal-52.pdf
Turn to page 103. Here is a quick snippet:
The first point that needs to be made is that flying badges are not ‘brevets’. From the mid 19th Century the British Army used the term brevet, to indicate accelerated, but unpaid, promotion in recognition of particularly notable service (as in a captain becoming a brevet major). A ’brevet’ – French for a certificate – was actually the document authorising such an advance. Its use in the context of aviation arose as a result of a number of early British aviators learning to fly at French schools where they gained the certificate – the -‘brevet’ – of the Aero Club de la France.
It became common practice to refer to the equivalent Royal Aero Club Certificate, which all British pilots (including, until mid 1916, all military pilots) were required to obtain, as a brevet. Later, this was evidently (mis)understood by some non-Francophone pilots to refer to a flying badge and they have been getting it wrong ever since. Although ‘brevet’ has long been current within the crew room argot, it has never featured in authoritative documents which, until very recently (page 124 and 126) have always reflected the correct nomenclature, eg King’s and/or Queen’s Regulations, Air Ministry Orders and Defence Council Instructions.
Now the error that had crept into AP1358 Ch 7 by incorrectly referring to the WSO and WSOp Flying Badge as a “Rear Crew Brevet” was also corrected by Her Majesty the Queen in Sep 19, when a new Royal Order correctly termed it the WSO and WSOp Flying Badge - RAF IBN 16/20 was released on 7 Apr 20 that also ensured the correct term ‘flying badge’ is used. Also, the awful and incorrect term ‘Rear Crew’ was dropped (some of whom had sat in front of Pilots in the Canberra and side-by-side in a number of aircraft cockpits) and the new term of ‘Mission Aircrew’ is now used. Finally, AP1358 Ch 7 was updated and any erroneous reference to ‘Rear Crew’ or ‘Brevet’ has now been removed from the AP.