Male or female?

Loss of uniform, as distinct from civilian, hat, was a real problem for me when I 'went civvy'. I've always had a poor memory, so I used to write reminder notes and fit them inside my hat - hence constant reminders. Ground instructing with BA and Virgin was non-uniform thus occasional chaos - such as turning up at Sussex House and our lovely Lxxxx asking why I wasn't at the Heathrow sim !!!:eek:
Crawley to Cranebank was quite speedy !! :=

Aargh, those wretched hats! We had to wear them at RAFC whilst Flt Cdts. Compulsory in town in Lincoln, Grantham and Sleaford too - but not Newark!

The sight of a number of shaven-headed Junior Entry marching down to the Cadets' garage hangar to brush it out on Saturday morning was...unusual. Pale blue tracksuits....and hats various.

On being commissioned as APOs, we had a mass hat fire on the JMPG!

BEagle. Funnily enough, I was just remembering the banality of marching smartly in blue tracksuit with trilby or similar on the way up to rugby training, and the thrill of trying to make it back to the Junior Mess in darkness whilst risking being hatless. Always failed - the hat-sensing SNCOs could spot a bare head at half a mile, even in fog! I can still remember overhearing a local in Sleaford saying to his mate "Yer, there goes one of them Nit-hats!" Summed it up very succinctly.

Remember one time he was nav on a VIP trip in Norn Iron.

VIP was a keen golfer; as the aircraft flew over one of NI's many golf courses he remarked:

VIP: "Apparently down there (pointing) is the best hole in Northern Ireland!"

MG: "I beg to differ Sir.........."

Funny what you remember about headwear, in my case it was a fellow OUT being loudly torn off a strip for wearing his cap in the Senior Gunroom at HMP Dartmouth rather than for not wearing a hat 'ashore'. Following the lecture on dress I expected a reprimand for wearing a suit which was clearly too light a shade of grey, it never happened, I was obviously too conservative in my rule breaking. How going everywhere in dark suits, shiny shoes and very short hair stopped the IRA realising we were in 'government service' I never knew.

As to today's standards - they'll be permitting officers to carry their purchases and males to wear black tie in mixed company next.

and brown in town of course

Great dits about the good old days of hats, gentlemen. Keep 'em coming.
I remember clearly when doing the Pre-assessment course at Hornchurch in 1955, the only bloke who wore a trilby was the "snoop" !
My "ratter" , when it was raining, was just about accepted. The deerstalker was definitely out.
The sneaky didn't make many friends I recall.........

What about suede shoes? On Joint Service tour I had an RN Cdr taking a dim view of mine. I thought they were quite natty with sports jacket and flannels.

Not to mention button-down shirts!

I still rue my close encounter with the early zip flies.

A mistake nobody ever makes twice, unless tired and emotional.

40 years ago as an officer candidate in the "unified" Canadian Armed Forces we all had to wear the same green uniform. OK, if you were a Professional Pedestrian but not so great for someone like me who had joined Canada's Navy. The uniform was topped off with a particularly hideous tall green peak cap. In an effort to give it a bit of flair I sewed the sides of the top down to give it a pleasing curl and that "old salt" look. All was well until I was pulled up short by the Base Chief. To say he was not best pleased with me would be a considerable understatement, Oh well I guess I hadn't really wanted weekend leave for the nest month......

Pah ... I was told to get rid of my 30-yo SD Cap by a 3*. Or was he a 4*? Whichever, I seemed to forget due to emotional stress.

Oddly enough I recently bought in a sale a pair of Hacketts finest cords at about quarter price. I think it's the first pair of button flies I've owned since I was an Officer Cadet in hairy mary's in '61/62 !

Ah, buttons! That dates us! In the TV Room at OCTU, remembering that WRAF battledress tops fasten on the other side … nice lass, got married to a Pilot (of course) within a few months of her first posting!

On arrival at a new (fixed wing) posting I was summoned to the Station Commander's office, for a welcome chat. As it was a formal invitation I wore my SD hat (which to be fair had done some tours on Support Helicopters) and smartly saluted the said Group Captain.

First thing he said was that next time I was invited to his office I was to wear my best SD hat. I apologised and truthfully said "But this IS my best hat, Sir!"

"Not any more it isn't!" said he....

Five years after leaving the RAF and joining an airline I gave my SD cap to a neighbour's future Son in Law, who was in RAF and did have a smart enough lid to get married in!

Does anyone remember when the way to give an SD hat that 'curly' look was to leave it overnight in a flying boot - that was in the days when said boots had a top bit that was wide enough to be able to tuck your flying suit leg into it easily....

airsound

I was once on a course with Director Special Projects, a Brigadier, who later became a General. He had been Commanding Officer of the Black Watch RHR as a Lt Col. My background meant I was ’paired’ with him at the formal dinner. I realised the host was going to wind him up.

He was asked about the proposal, at the time, that all Highland regiments should give up their No. 1s (kilt, purse, hose, tabs, etc.) to save money. He spluttered into his pudding. He knew better than anyone that one of the prime reasons why this was always resisted was because of the Queen Mum’s brother. Host nudged me and asked my opinion.

‘Anyone who prepares his head gear by plucking a dead chicken, dying the feathers, and steaming them upside down in an egg cup, should be allowed to do what he wants, as he’s plainly mad’.

General Irwin poured me a large malt.

After 1982, my small, personal rebellion was to wear the top button of my tunic undone (in true WW2 fashion). It was noticed by senior officers on a number of occasions but after a quick glance at my medal ribbons, never remarked upon.

A certain CO of 72 squadron used to have apoplexy if anyone wore flying boots with uniform. He was involved in the development of the “summer” flying boot, which was produced in BROWN leather to remedy the problem (allegedly).

Mog