UK Space Command - 1 April 2021
One more sleep till launch. The anticipation is killing me.
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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.
Last edited by Timelord; 30th Jul 2021 at 12:58.
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.
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?
Last edited by Timelord; 31st Jul 2021 at 12:09.
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 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?
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?
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?
- 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.
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!!
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).