Didn't the penchant for aircrew wearing berets stem from the SH world's experiences in NornIrn? General 'tone down / blend in' between aircrew and troops meant no gaudy badges, black rather than white kneepads, cabbage kit jackets and berets? So that it would be far more difficult for a terrorist sniper to identify the aircrew in a group on the ground?
Seems sensible where there's a reason. But generally?
Before the reintroduction of the tw@t hat, there was an article in
Air Clues showing the possible alternative - a baseball cap
. I was never sure whether it wasn't just a spoof, as the wearer was also puffing on a huge cigar.
A chap who was holding at Adastral between courses told me that he'd been observing the meeting where various firms offered their chip bag solutions. The first entrant produced something as simple as the USAF style, which could easily be folded over and stuffed into a pocket. Excellent, he thought.
But then came that awful thing with buttons and flaps - and the special version for air officers with a gold wire badge and blue piping. So What The Aircrew Wanted was binned and the cumbersome device was chosen.
Beret wearers would have been amused to witness the apoplexy of some aged shiny VC10 captain when a new Air Eng SNCO turned up one day in flying suit and beret!