We hada swindle in Ascension (oh how the thread twists - but no one wore berets, or any caps come to that).

We used to pay in to it and get coffee, milk etc. Then I noticed aircrew often wanted a can of fizz. NAAFI at Travellers stocked Coke. I then discovered that NAAFI in Georgetown sold a dozen varieties of fizz at lower prices. Game on.

I charged Traveller's prices but offered a wider range of drinks, most not available up the hill. We made a hansom profit, sufficient to sub Sqn Ldr Ops when he 'lunched-out' a departing member of Ops at the Club in George Town. Everyone happy.

I also had to audit the Wives Club at Waddo. I pointed out to OC PMS that the annual turnover in the Wives Club was marginally less than my day's pay and I had to audit them 4 times per year. We stopped the audit.

Had to audit the ATC account at Lossie, nightmare, they were plus or minus a number of kegs of beer every month.

Height's Good, one of our officers phoned someone at Honington when they all needed a "replacement" for a deployment. I think it's only the FJ world now who don't wear one while on deployed flying ops??

How else would everyone know who is normal and who take the the p*ss out of :E

As one who flew in those clattering noisy egg whisks I was rather fond of my beret! Easily stowed in growbag.

Didn't the penchant for aircrew wearing berets stem from the SH world's experiences in NornIrn? General 'tone down / blend in' between aircrew and troops meant no gaudy badges, black rather than white kneepads, cabbage kit jackets and berets? So that it would be far more difficult for a terrorist sniper to identify the aircrew in a group on the ground?

Seems sensible where there's a reason. But generally?

Before the reintroduction of the tw@t hat, there was an article in Air Clues showing the possible alternative - a baseball cap :eek:. I was never sure whether it wasn't just a spoof, as the wearer was also puffing on a huge cigar.

A chap who was holding at Adastral between courses told me that he'd been observing the meeting where various firms offered their chip bag solutions. The first entrant produced something as simple as the USAF style, which could easily be folded over and stuffed into a pocket. Excellent, he thought.

But then came that awful thing with buttons and flaps - and the special version for air officers with a gold wire badge and blue piping. So What The Aircrew Wanted was binned and the cumbersome device was chosen.

Beret wearers would have been amused to witness the apoplexy of some aged shiny VC10 captain when a new Air Eng SNCO turned up one day in flying suit and beret!

Well around 2005, when PR was flush with cash, I got an annual box load of gititz. Gitiz like pens, mouse mats, key fobs and one year 10 RAF Baseball Caps. Someone had found them in store somewhere?

Also an RAF Golfing umbrella the year before it became the ROYAL AIR FORCE. Useful for meeting our Air Cdre after alighting from his hecopleter. The following year, with the new script I got two black collapsible umbrellas with BLACK inscription. Very tone down.

Never did like seeing an officer in a beret, rockapes excepted. At least they could shape them correctly.

Of course as aircraft techies we never trusted junior ranks who wore chip bags or stable belts either.

Chip bags on SNCO's were acceptable as, for reasons unknown, so many of them seemed to lose the ability to wear a beret correctly after getting their third.

Anything like this one, PN?

I was sent a box of them by the RAF Sports Board, for use by Inter-Service shooting teams.

Nothing wrong with the beret, its all down to the user molding and styling it to suit ones bonce.
Shape Your Beret

1. Dunk your beret in warm water—do not use hot or boiling water, as this can cause the wool to shrink.
2. Once your beret is damp and pliable (if it is dripping wet, gently wring out excess water), place the damp beret on your head. Adjust it to proper fit.
3. Pull the cardboard stiffener so it is centered over your left eye and smooth the material over your head. Fold the extra material over to the right forward side of your head, pulling it down towards your right ear. It should just touch your ear or go just below that. Bend the cardboard badge backer over at the top to achieve a smooth fold to the material forming the slope down to the right ear.
4. Once you've got it all set, wear the beret for a while until it has begun to dry.
5. Carefully take off the beret and set it aside to finish drying. You may need to shape it a few times to get it right.

But surely 1. above suggests hot water is desirable to reduce the massive volume of the initial product?

I did hear that of all the pieces of RAF Uniform that the field service cap was the one that the general public recognised as RAF the most.

Only old Chiefies knew how to wear a beret. Pulled over the back of the head with the badge in the middle of the forehead

MPN11 (#49),

I like that ! Very snazzy ! Ought to be service Issue (bin all berets).

Or...
 

...if all else fails, the OP could try approaching the problem from a different angle and boil his head to fit the beret?

Nope, I would agree with warm water but would dry the shaped item on a warm radiator to get the desired shrinkage. I would also remove the ribbon and lining before I started.

MPN, slightly different shape and in colour too IIRC with the sexy new typeface.

We may have to differ on that aspect ;)

MPN, I didn't mean I thought it was sexy, just some PR bod thought the new A was. They must have paid buckets for someone to design a new font, and not even 26 letters. I got the same effect with italic :)

JAVELINBOY

Same instructions the drill corporal gave us at Swinderby after we got our kit:ok:

I was quite impressed by your italic A ;)

I really don't know why it was deemed necessary, or how much it cost the RAF to get some long-haired hippy agency to do it. But it strikes me as classic MoD money-squandering, possibly initiated by a VSO trying to make his/her mark.