Patches / Badges
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Patches / Badges
My dad flew Valettas from Changi in 1954 and Beverleys from Abingdon in 1960.
I remember he flew in Light Blue flight suits (growbags) on both types, but I am pretty sure that he did not have any patches/badges on those flight suits - perhaps with the exception of wings.
Nowadays all Air Arms (from US to Russian, from Australian to British etc etc) have aircrew in Flight Suits with badges on them - either fixed or velcroed. Squadron badges, name badges, hours badges etc etc.
My question is - when did flight suits first have these badges/ patches and which Air Arm started the practice?
BD
I remember he flew in Light Blue flight suits (growbags) on both types, but I am pretty sure that he did not have any patches/badges on those flight suits - perhaps with the exception of wings.
Nowadays all Air Arms (from US to Russian, from Australian to British etc etc) have aircrew in Flight Suits with badges on them - either fixed or velcroed. Squadron badges, name badges, hours badges etc etc.
My question is - when did flight suits first have these badges/ patches and which Air Arm started the practice?
BD
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
It was a long time ago, but when I was flying in the military we had flying suits with badges for "morale and bravado", but another one without anything except rank for "going to war".
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IIRC ... in the 70's ... Royal Navy aircrew had the habit of backing their Squadron/Unit badges with the garish day glow orange vinyl material used for Flight Safety Equipment. Talk about looking like Christmas Trees 
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A bit of googling & I found a picture of a Vampire pilot from 1951 with a great big sqn badge on his left breast.
Lack the technical skills to post it though....
Lack the technical skills to post it though....
Last edited by Ken Scott; 14th Jul 2013 at 21:31.
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On 230 Sqn the Sqn crest on the right shoulder meant you were 'Combat Ready' which changed over the years to a pentagon on the left shoulder. Either way, a CR crewmember would have both badges.
These days it is more likely to be five years holding or 1000 hours MTV.
The jet mates tended to have badges reflecting hours on type.
These days it is more likely to be five years holding or 1000 hours MTV.
The jet mates tended to have badges reflecting hours on type.
The current squadron badges would be on the right shoulder, all others would be added as thought appropriate. The best I saw was one of our USN exchange drivers who had his oversize "Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club' badge across the back of his leather jacket
(GoTYC was for those who ditched after action in VN and used their rubber boats before being rescued)
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In the 70s it was op badge on the right arm, informal sqn badge on the left and fill the remaining gaps as required. The velcro was so we could be anonymous if captured. Funny that those anonymous badges were RAF crest shaped!
fill the remaining gaps as required
Some individuals had more badges than a cub scout!
Many of my era thought that the proliferation of badges was undesirable. Like medals for crossing the Atlantic and rifle shooting - yet another American influence on the good old RAF tradition of minimum bull****.
One particular abhorrence was the “hours flown on type badge”, showing off that the aircrew in question had so many thousand hrs on a particular type.
My suggestion at the time - sadly not followed up - was that each aircrew member would wear a smart badge in which the number of hours shown could be increased after each flight. Hence, for example, Fg Off Farnes-Barnes (469 hrs on type) could lord it over Plt Off Prune with only 397 hrs.
I still think it’s a good idea.
One particular abhorrence was the “hours flown on type badge”, showing off that the aircrew in question had so many thousand hrs on a particular type.
My suggestion at the time - sadly not followed up - was that each aircrew member would wear a smart badge in which the number of hours shown could be increased after each flight. Hence, for example, Fg Off Farnes-Barnes (469 hrs on type) could lord it over Plt Off Prune with only 397 hrs.
I still think it’s a good idea.
Gentleman Aviator
ISTR 72 took the p*** out of N-number of hours badges with their (IIRC) 16 000 000 rotor revs in NI badge.
It equated to about 1100 hours, depending how often you'd over-revved!
It equated to about 1100 hours, depending how often you'd over-revved!
With regard to the "1000 Hrs on xxxx" badges, in the days of RAF Stanley, a video player was modern technology and videos hard to come by. One particular Herc crew had a "1000 hrs Life of Brian" badge made.
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Think you may find it was actually the " World Famous Wimp Det" that had the 1000 hrs Life of Brian patches. 1312 crews brought their own favourite videos to supplement the SSVC brown boxes.
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Always carrying a 'competitor' squadron's patch on away trips was a tactic utilised to divert less favourable (sub-par, uncrisp, 'less than ideal' sub-optimal) reporting of said trip by PMC/Staish/SWO of visited establishment to another squadron.
