18-Wheeler
25th Aug 2003, 22:57
I've been told - and have seen a supposed copy of the official decree saying that F/E's have to wear the thin purple stripes - F/E's wear the three stripes & two purple stripes to honour the memory of the Engineers that stayed at their stations on the Titanic as it went down.
But a guy that really knows his naval history says otherwise -
" the reason that aircraft engineers wear purple stripes is that in the Royal Navy engineering branch officers wore a purple strip to show they were engineers. The when the RAF was formed the majority of its pilots and engineers came from a Navy background, the Purple strip is a carry over from those days."
So which is right?
Was the decree thingy that I saw a fake? I tried to get a copy off the English F/E, but for some reason I didn't get one.
But a guy that really knows his naval history says otherwise -
" the reason that aircraft engineers wear purple stripes is that in the Royal Navy engineering branch officers wore a purple strip to show they were engineers. The when the RAF was formed the majority of its pilots and engineers came from a Navy background, the Purple strip is a carry over from those days."
So which is right?
Was the decree thingy that I saw a fake? I tried to get a copy off the English F/E, but for some reason I didn't get one.