Quick question - RAF officer's cummerbund?
There was a cheapskate(ish) option, which we didn’t know about until after we were commissioned, about kit.(I was at Cerney). The chaps who were chopped at Cerney and Henlow etc had to, apparently, hand in the kit they’d bought with the financial grant, back to stores. This was then available for purchase as ‘partly worn’ and, of course, was virtually brand new.
I bought a ‘spare’ hat and a pair of SD shoes but I can’t for the life of me remember from where I bought them. Cranwell rings a bell but 57 years on my memory isn’t what it ought to be, but the stuff was half price.
I bought a ‘spare’ hat and a pair of SD shoes but I can’t for the life of me remember from where I bought them. Cranwell rings a bell but 57 years on my memory isn’t what it ought to be, but the stuff was half price.
PN
Flt cdrs were not allowed to steer one towards a particular tailor. The redoubtable J R Smith said, "I am not permitted to recommend a tailor but you can ask me who my tailor is". We did ask and it was R E City.
Flt cdrs were not allowed to steer one towards a particular tailor. The redoubtable J R Smith said, "I am not permitted to recommend a tailor but you can ask me who my tailor is". We did ask and it was R E City.
MPN11
Squirrel here.
Regarding the costs, I have in front of me my Linton on Ouse mess bill for December '74.
It was £18.94. My July 74 payslip shows £151.90 gross and £119.44 net.
How cheap was that!
XN593
Squirrel here.
Regarding the costs, I have in front of me my Linton on Ouse mess bill for December '74.
It was £18.94. My July 74 payslip shows £151.90 gross and £119.44 net.
How cheap was that!
XN593
One of the 'privileges' of being Senior Student at ULAS in 1972-3 was that I would be invited to the ULOTC annual dinner. I already had 'interim' mess kit from Flt Cdt days (shirt and bow tie worn with No.1 HD), but hadn't received the full officers' uniform allowance. I couldn't face the shame of turning up in interim kit, so off to Moss Bros for a jacket. They had lots of cancelled orders, so a couple of 'Suits you sir' types soon found one which fitted and I bought it for a good price, plus a cummerbund. I never did buy the trousers as my No1 trousers were 'high cut' and totally adequate.
The ULOTC do was quite fun - some of the students turned up in all sorts of fancy kit looking like Quality Street choccie tin models. But unlike ULAS in those days, they also had a number of rather nice young ladies.
Never bought any more mess kit from a tailor; just a blue waistcoat from a mate who was leaving the mob some 20 years later.
Who remembers the excellent 'Sweater, cashmere with moleskin facings' spoof of around 1980-81?
The ULOTC do was quite fun - some of the students turned up in all sorts of fancy kit looking like Quality Street choccie tin models. But unlike ULAS in those days, they also had a number of rather nice young ladies.
Never bought any more mess kit from a tailor; just a blue waistcoat from a mate who was leaving the mob some 20 years later.
Who remembers the excellent 'Sweater, cashmere with moleskin facings' spoof of around 1980-81?
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Net pay £52/10/0, Mess Bill £54/12/6. I still have the Mess Bill filed somewhere, but sadly lost the matching payslip.!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I never did buy the trousers as my No1 trousers were 'high cut' and totally adequate.
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Sadly the subtlety of high cut seemed to have been missed by many with shirt visible below the waistcoat.
After that, it was down to the tailor at Cranwell for a new No5 uniform, although at the prices that were being charged, and the scarcity of dining in nights later in my career, I calculated that it cost me about £75 each time I wore my No5! The fines would have been cheaper.
