I seem to recall that the lightweight tan coloured boots first appeared in around 1974 when the Bulldog entered service, as the baby Bloggs' hoofs couldn't cope with the rudder pedals in the normal boots.
Moving on a decade, we once had a Sqn Boss who ordered us not to wear brown boots in the VC10K (yes, you Jim
!!). Sitting in the sun at Akrotiri nattering to some staff mate who'd escaped the Box to see how things were for the Chaps (no Chapess aircrew back then on 101). He asked why on earth we were wearing hot black boots in the Cyprus sun. When I explained, he was furious - "Compliments to your Sqn Cdr, but we don't spend time and money procuring hot weather kit just to have it rejected for spurious sartorial reasons. Next time he tries to stop you, give me a call at the Ministry!".
So I mentioned this to the Boss - and I don't recall the issue of boot colour being raised again...
Harrier pilots, sorry, Bona Mates had little flaps over their laces. This was because they have such very small willies that when using the heads, they often dripped wee on their laces, which subsequently rotted. Hence their boots often came off in the not-too-infrequent Harrier ejections....