Originally Posted by
allan907
....and yer didn't iron the hairy blues - yer hammered them! And to get the creases to stay in one put soap on the insides to glue them together! 'Twas a bugger in the rain.
CS 95??? Fit for woozes only
Hairy blue battledress was never going to look smart - especially when tall (6 ft 4 ins) and thin (12 stone) like me. Wearing best blue was a suitable alternative although frowned upon by the hierarchy because it created "excessive wear". When I left the RAF in 1973 there were rumours of a revolutionary development - in future we were to be issued with collar-attached shirts, no more collar studs.
As for working with the army - I spent about 3 years attached to 24 Brigade as part of an FAC team. The RAF issued me with 1939 pattern webbing - the army told me to keep it in the back of my locker and gave me 1959 pattern webbing. The RAF issued me with a pair of CWW (cold, wet weather) boots that weighed a ton - the army told me to keep them in my locker too and gave me proper DMS boots. My finest hour during my time with 24 Bde was during a winter exercise in Northern Germany - cold, wet, muddy and living in 2-man bivouacs. The AOC decided to visit but it appears someone did not give him or his ADC a proper briefing because he turned up in his very best number 1 Home Dress complete with greatcoat and shoes (no sword though) - watching him tippy-toeing around the duckboards trying not to slip flat on his back was a delight! The army thought it hilarious and just another of the RAF's eccentric customs.