UK Space Command - 1 April 2021

[RAFEngO74to09]

UK Space "Wings" - or "Non-Flying Badge" given the pages devoted on PPRuNe to this type of thing !

RAF Space 🛰 on Twitter: "#UKSpaceWings have arrived! Over the last few years many @RoyalAirForce have been approved to wear the @SpaceForceDoD wings, but the UK Space badge will replace that & will be rolled out to all qualified personnel. #WearWithPride #PerArduaAdAstra #UKSpaceWings" / Twitter (https://twitter.com/RAF_Space/status/1376091228064858112)

[NutLoose]

Why is it a wing at all, it’s not a flying trade? What happens if you’re aircrew joining the new command, do you start stacking the badges on your uniform?


..

[Pegasus107]

Oh dear https://twitter.com/UkSpaceCommand has been suspended :cool:

[DuncanDoenitz]

I strongly suspect "this is the thread of the Mysterons".

[Willard Whyte]

Oh dear https://twitter.com/UkSpaceCommand has been suspended :cool:

One wonders which rule(s) it broke, perhaps something to do with beards?

[RAFEngO74to09]

Banter from one wag already !
(1) Michael John Lovell on Twitter: "@RAF_Space @RoyalAirForce @SpaceForceDoD RAF Senior Leadership: “Quick! We need yet another cringeworthy embarrassment to detract attention away from RAF Regt Mortars news”..." / Twitter (https://twitter.com/LovellMachine/status/1376151744258977797)

One wonders which rule(s) it broke, perhaps something to do with beards?
I suspect it was a pardody account - note the incorrect capitalization "Uk".
The verified account is the one I posted.

At least the uniforms will be cheap - the RAF No 2 Home Dress 1972 Pattern - AKA "Thunderbirds" jacket - to which "'wings" may be attached - available New on eBay for GBP 19.99 !

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RAF-Uniform-Original-Military-British-Royal-Air-Force-1972-Pattern-Work-Jacket/162511162775?hash=item25d66b8d97:g:MzwAAOSwi7RZEzLr

[NutLoose]

Cringe.........

[Corporal Clott]

It replaces this, which is the USAF badge as the RAF didn’t have one. They’ve been wearing these for many a year at RAF Fylingdales, Vandenberg AFB and the Space Ops Centre (SpOC) at RAF High Wycombe.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1555x330/4b034027_33a7_4b51_aa3b_9983dd5ae2b3_9b5e170978c3598be4e6f3e e5d6aec74598f6ad4.jpeg
Here is a Corporal receiving one having completed the Space Operators Course in the USA.
https://www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/raf-corporal-qualifies-with-u-s-space-command/
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1360x972/image_ee7f3e825b3e4b2e5ade8cb4e53cc195fab2fbd3.jpeg


So really this is fine. The normal rules in QRs applies, in that you wear the badge for which you are qualified for, if you’re in staff then you take your pick which one you want to wear if you qualified for it. It’s not a flying badge either, so if you are flying then it will subservient to any flying badge. Times move on and it was about time we stopped wearing USAF badges.

[STN Ramp Rat]

I believe it’s getting it’s own cadet force .... the space cadets.

[Timelord]

I trust that the new OC Space Command will be leading from the front by replacing his (so last century) pilot’s wings with one of those.

That was tongue in cheek but this is a genuine question: Why do Space Operators qualify for a badge that does look a lot like a flying badge but Air Battlespace Managers ( is that the correct term?) or indeed Air Traffic Controllers do not?

[Lima Juliet]

I trust that the new OC Space Command will be leading from the front by replacing his (so last century) pilot’s wings with one of those.

That was tongue in cheek but this is a genuine question: Why do Space Operators qualify for a badge that does look a lot like a flying badge but Air Battlespace Managers ( is that the correct term?) or indeed Air Traffic Controllers do not?

They did on the Shackleton, they do on the E3D Sentry and they will on the E7 Wedgetail :ok:

[Thaihawk]

I strongly suspect "this is the thread of the Mysterons".

We know you can hear us,

I am Wing Commander Black.

[Timelord]

They did on the Shackleton, they do on the E3D Sentry and they will on the E7 Wedgetail :ok:
Yes, but they were / are doing their job whilst airborne. Their ground based colleagues didn’t get the badge. That’s my point.

[tartare]

Well the motto does end with `...Ad Astra' doesn't it!

[SwitchMonkey]

A badge that very much looks like an aircrew badge but isn’t.

A move to rebrand Airmen as Aviators.

From the BBC - “Cultural appropriation is when a tradition, such as clothing or a hairstyle, is taken from a culture and used in a different way.

It can offend people when people do this without making it clear where the traditions come from, or when they don't acknowledge how important they are to certain cultures.

This can make some people feel as if their culture is not being respected.”

Am I allowed to be offended or are aircrew not allowed to take offence?

[esscee]

Any statement that has April 1st should be taken "with a pinch of salt".

[Timelord]

Any statement that has April 1st should be taken "with a pinch of salt".

Follow Project Astra; Every day is April Fools Day.

I suppose that if everyone is an aviator, it follows that everyone gets a flying badge !

[BEagle]

The February 1954 edition of Royal Air Force Flying Review (price 1/-) includes an article 'In the Year 2004' all about 'RAF space bomber No.17' launching from Launch Site No. 61 in Cornwall, then landing at Port Albany in Canada after an exercise hunting a 'submersible carrier' of the Royal Canadian Navy.

Total bolleaux, but interesting to know what the writer thought the RAF of the future would be like.

Readers were invited to submit a letter about the RAF of 50 years ahead - and half a guinea was promised for each letter published!

[Mil-26Man]

Any statement that has April 1st should be taken "with a pinch of salt".

Is what many in the British Army and Royal Navy were saying in 1918, no doubt.

[HAS59]

I wish them well, in fact, I hope they all Live long and Prosper

[Training Risky]

Have I missed something? Is this for scopies and other forms of '3rd man in the cockpit'?!

[DuncanDoenitz]

One more sleep till launch. The anticipation is killing me.

[Crromwellman]

Any statement that has April 1st should be taken "with a pinch of salt".

But I believe that the RAF was founded on 1st April 1918. Should I take thee RAF with a pinch of salt?, or the whole salt mine? Well, I only arsked.

[Flugplatz]

What's really needed is some 'space' combat medals to go with those wings...

[Herod]

1st April 1965. My commissioning date. Always in good company.

[FantomZorbin]

When will the first press conference be held by the PM with Sir Hubert Guest and Professor Peabody?

[Flugplatz]

And hopefully with a celebratory fly-by by "Anastasia"

[ORAC]

https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2021/05/14/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities/

Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities

[NutLoose]

Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities

Social distancing? ;)

[Timelord]

I see that the first “Space Operators” non flying badges have been presented, so it wasn’t an April fool. Congratulations to all those who have achieved the standard but now we have Squadron numbers for all sorts of non flying units, and flying badges for non flying personnel. Oh dear! I know that moving with the times is important, but so are tradition and ethos.

[ORAC]

Oh dear! I know that moving with the times is important, but so are tradition and ethos.
Per Ardua Ad Astra….

[ICM]

The new badge can be seen via this BBC report - scroll down as required:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58029083

[dctyke]

Who will be the first to get a Ultraviolet or Infrared endorsement? Of course we still have (I think) the Space Drome at Spadeadam, just needs a bit of a clean up to get it up and running.

[Stitchbitch]

Well done RAF, moving forwards and creating new badges, traditions, units, culture and customs whilst still giving a nod to the past with the single wing design.

[brakedwell]

When are this lot going into orbit then!


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/976x549/_119664377_mediaitem119664376_cb3e13e5b572549e7dd9aa6226d28a 28089a044f.jpg

[Bob Viking]

I’m confused.

Why did you post a picture of a slightly aging Austin Powers with a bunch of senior officers?

BV

[Timelord]

Well done RAF, moving forwards and creating new badges, traditions, units, culture and customs whilst still giving a nod to the past with the single wing design.

An entirely reasonable view, but my point is this: If the Space Operations specialisation is so different to, say ATC or ABM as to warrant a badge on the left breast, a space TRADITIONALLY reserved for flying badges, then I wish they had designed an entirely new badge. In my view the use of the single wing for a non flying trade devalues those awarded to flyers over the last 102 years.

I wonder if the senior RAF officers in the picture would be smiling so broadly if the Space Ops people had been awarded pilot’s wings with the space ops symbol in the middle?

[Ninthace]

An entirely reasonable view, but my point is this: If the Space Operations specialisation is so different to, say ATC or ABM as to warrant a badge on the left breast, a space TRADITIONALLY reserved for flying badges, then I wish they had designed an entirely new badge. In my view the use of the single wing for a non flying trade devalues those awarded to flyers.

I wonder if the senior RAF officers in the picture would be smiling so broadly if the Space Ops people had been awarded pilot’s wings with the space ops symbol in the middle?
I presume the badge is worn on the left breast to make it easy to tap when you need to talk to the bridge. The single wing is superfluous, in space you don't need no wings! If they resurrect a replacement to the shuttle programme in the future. a set of glider wings should suffice.

[Lima Juliet]

An entirely reasonable view, but my point is this: If the Space Operations specialisation is so different to, say ATC or ABM as to warrant a badge on the left breast, a space TRADITIONALLY reserved for flying badges, then I wish they had designed an entirely new badge. In my view the use of the single wing for a non flying trade devalues those awarded to flyers over the last 102 years.

I wonder if the senior RAF officers in the picture would be smiling so broadly if the Space Ops people had been awarded pilot’s wings with the space ops symbol in the middle?

It’s not for a non-flying trade - Aircrew can qualify for it and wear it, should they wish. Also, non-flying branches and trades have had their own flying badges since 1982:

Fighter Control “FC” single wing for Air Ops and Non Commissioned Controllers on Shacks and Sentry.
Airborne Technician “AT” single wing for TG1 engineers on Sentry and Rivet Joint.
Airborne Imagery Analyst “IA” single wing for TG11 Int Analysts on Sentinel.
Airborne Specialist “RAF” single wing for the above 3, which are now obsolete, and the Mission Intelligence Coordinators (MICs) of TG11 that operate parts of the MQ9 Reaper, and very recently TG19 AGS who are Cabin Crew on Voyager and BAe 146.

The Space Operators Badge has a silver wing, compared to all RAF Flying Badges have an ecru-colour drab silk wing (or they should have). So side by side, they are different. As for wearing badges on the breast, the space operators were already doing that with the USAF’s version - which horror of horrors has 2 ‘wings’!

As a single wing flying badge wearer I really can’t get too stuffy about this (2 kinds as well!). The Space Ops Badge looks different enough to both of my flying badges that I am entitled to wear, so I really don’t give 2 hoots. In fact, for anyone that qualifies for the Space Ops Badge, all I can say is - well done!

As for wings in space. Here are the US military’s Astronaut badges - it doesn’t seem to worry them!!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1679x948/45c19565_fdd1_4612_8703_bc1eec44cf4b_cafd49a44d30bd283cc522f 3b01b1856c511fa8f.jpeg

[Friedlander]

I have to say that I am really worried about the Space Command pseudo brevet (or whatever we're calling it) as that's a whole load more people at Air Command who will be unable to remove their wooly pullovers whatever the temperature. Maybe that's why their boss has directed them to come to work in their combat PJs (or maybe it's so they can pretend to be 'Joint', where 'Joint' = Army).

[chopper2004]

When attending DSEi back in September I popped along to the Space Command Booth

https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/414112626_10161789404406490_5282153396615865725_n.jpg?stp=cp 6_dst-jpg&_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=VrukJJJ2GwkAX8-2lzF&_nc_oc=AQnSSShctFkav4H3SrItWl0DaW39OpkFIHULaR6gzg2c_j-5FYscFXg410kAPDV6aQU&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AfCdx76ym2Y6qNhpiAFRatpqxcusNCB5Fjb9YDZ1nGR22g&oe=658FBD02

https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/414461516_10161789403701490_5519951651404437755_n.jpg?stp=cp 6_dst-jpg&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=ypBuWN8iKRcAX-c4IYG&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AfC7yTv9uvaFD4now-CiAbS4If07FTdLnMxqjbhGcalw7Q&oe=6590F729

Saw Space Command's AVm Paul Godfrey at the desk, did not get a chance to chat with him, but instead chatted to female naval lt commander (she was aircrew observer) on the stand and another royal navy commander who was air engineering....

Picked up a couple of booklets and went away;

cheers

[chopper2004]

Looks like Cawdor BArracks (formerly RAF Brawdy) could be home of an another US Space Force deep space tracking facility

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65031917

And a return of US personnel back to this abse as its been 3 decades since SOSUS facility had couple of hundred USN sailors and officers there.

cheers