I recently had occasion to contact Bates in order to purchase what would probably be my last service cap and had a lengthy discussion with a long standing member of staff there.
During the conversation it was disclosed that Bates have actually never made the RAF officers cap in the 35yrs the member of staff had been there and in fact, they are and always were, produced by Patey, who happen to be just around the corner.
I contacted Pateys to place an order and they confirmed this had always the case. They labelled them as Bates and then Bates in turn added their cut on top.
So the secrets out!!
And you can still order them!