Danny has to Smarten Up a Bit.
There was a Parade for some reason; my old Indian SD cap came in for disparaging comment. I had to admit that it had seen better days. I had to buy a new one. I must, unusually, have been flush with cash for I ordered a No.1 SD and a dinner jacket from Monty's in Doncaster while I was about it. I'd picked a bad time to buy a new SD.
The Service Dress jacket pattern had changed from the pre-war style. This was the story as I heard it. Pre-war, there had been a Mess Kit for RAF officers: a very natty short pale blue "Eton" jacket and waistcoat, and a gold stripe down the side of the "trews". The war had put all these into mothballs "for the duration", and in the austere post-war years it had continued to be thought inappropriate (and too expensive) to revive their use. For dinners and functions in Mess, your No. 1 uniform was quite good enough.
But there were mutterings among some older and senior officers (who had kept their Mess kits and were still able to get into them) that this was "letting the side down" and amounted to a lapse in standards. There was a Committee somewhere in Air Ministry which busied itself with these matters. Some bright spark came up with a compromise. Why not have a SD jacket which could double as a Mess kit top ? People now wore battledress all the time on duty: off duty you always wore mufti. The only time your SD came out of the wardrobe was for parades and Mess functions - when you wore it with a white shirt and a black bow.
It seemed that King George VI took a keen interest in these proceedings - after all, he had been an RAF officer as Duke of York in the twenties. He had the last word in any change in the Sealed Pattern of any Service uniform. He approved this idea of a dual-purpose SD jacket. Now to design one to his liking.
I can only report that the Committee and its royal patron took leave of their collective senses. What they came up with was an incredible thing. The back centre seam of the jacket was replaced by a double "syce cut" (like an old policeman's tunic). The lower patch pockets came off. The fourth (bottom) button below the buckle came off, replaced by a small, flat button to go under it. To cap it all, the wings were in gold lace !
This ludicrous garment was promulgated in A.M.O.s. There was no question of its being put out to Service trial first. This was it - like it or lump it. Officers must replace their old jackets with this thing and no other. All the Service tailors had to fall into line, of course. Protest arose on all sides, but the Air Ministry set its face against it like flint. The A.M.O. was re-issued some months later, it was quite emphatic, there was no going back, the new pattern was here to stay.
Trust me ! I was one who fell for it. Monty's duly made me one. And then guess what ? Another A.M.O. - complete volteface ! All change again. To rub salt in the wound, they went right back to the old wartime pattern, but merely to save face kept a single (pointless) trace of their mistake. The three-button front, with a hidden button under the buckle, was retained. As I've mentioned earlier, it was the work of a moment to "convert" your old WW2 jacket into a passable copy of this (new) new one.
I got rid of the dreadful thing I'd bought - can't remember how. I can't recall ever seeing anyone weaing one. But I and others ended well out of pocket, for it did not occur to the Air Ministry to offer any compensation.
I got on quite well with the GATCO. But the Exercise was winding down. "Would you like to have a look at one of our Stations ?"......"Sounds like a good idea".........."How about Binbrook ?".........The parcel was on its way again.
Cheerio, everybody,
Danny42C.
"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy"