Isn't there somewhere at Cranwell where you can sell/donate used mess kit?

Try your local Air Training Corps Sqns.

Only if you're talking uniformed adult staff; cadets can't wear it.
Used mess kits are very expensive and certainly used to be highly prized at Cranwell.
I once had a very distressed lady visit my squadron (her son had recently left my squadron to start IOT at Cranwell) begging help because he was 'required' to acquire mess kit at short notice and she didn't know what to do because the cost of new kit was out of their reach.
I used to get pi$$ed off with some of my VRT companions because they would put their names down for just about every mess function and 'forget' to sew their VRT badges on their mess kit; I was in it for the cadets not for somebody who 'pretended' to be regular officers; they could always wear 'interim' No 1s if they wanted to do that

I don’t recall mess kit being required at IOT - has it changed?

I don't know about the requirements; all I can say is this lady had had a request from her son for payment for a mess kit and she was trying to see if we could help scrounge.
I'm sure there was (this would have been about 1990 ish) somewhere at Cranwell where you could purchase mess kit which had been 'returned' because the officer cadet had been 'chopped'.
Admittedly I didn't get too many of these from my squadron but this particular guy stayed the course 'cos I met him at Odiham a few years later.(Yeah I know; nobody WANTED to get posted to Odiham)

No s**** Sherlock.

No mess kit at IOT? I don't know....standards!

At my UAS I was appointed senior student in 1972. The Boss congratulated me, handed me custody of the badge of office (a quart tankard*) which was mine for the year, then advised me that I would have to get some mess kit....

So off to Moss Bros where a couple of tailors' assistants just like the "Ooh - suits you, sir" pair from Little Britain found me a jacket from the chest of 'cancelled orders' they had, which fitted just fine. About £30, plus Plt Off braid. The only other item I bought was that awful blue cummerbund. I never bothered with proper mess kit trousers and it lasted for the next 30 years, but seemed to have shrunk a bit and was a bit frayed in places - like me - by the time I retired!

Incidentally, that wonderful source of pre-owned RAF uniform, Ernie Bedford of Newark, is no longer with us and his shop has closed. He was struggling to get sufficient stock in the late '90s as I discovered when I tried to source a blue waistcoat..."I'm very sorry, sir, but the Service is so small now that they're very hard to come by". Such a nice, courteous gentleman in the true meaning of the word. Fortunately I managed to get one from a mate who was off to the airlines!

*I was glad to see that the ULAS Senior Student's tankard was still in use some 40 years later, so claimed it as mine for the evening!

I was fortunate to have acquired [how?] two No. 5 jackets. One for normal beer-throwing nights and one for Balls. Only the good one remains, in a wardrobe along with No. 1 HD, Greatcoat etc. I'm looking at disposal options ... and now I've lost the web-link!

The OH has the same library of time-expired items.

The postage from Jersey would be scary!

That must have been the place that my cadet and my VRT 'companions' went to although I have to add, I did meet a 'nice courteous gentleman' who altered my No 1 but that was when I was still at Farnborough and there was a tailor just down the road on Queens Avenue, Aldershot who was very helpful. That was the year that I was selected to attend HMQ at a Royal Garden Party so he made especially sure everything fitted me OK.

'So off to Moss Bros where a couple of tailors' assistants just like the "Ooh - suits you, sir" pair from Little Britain....'
You mean the Fast Show BEagle.

indeed

"Which side does sir dress?"

Fortunately my father had briefed me,

Answers by PM only.

Ah - sorry! You're both correct!


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0eee18c3d6.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....251f94cb83.png
Those are some shexy uniforms

...an unintended double entendre?

Of course, dressing the "wrong" side can cause splitting headaches!!

Is he wearing Prince William's hat?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....db234084a.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a0f018c81.jpeg
Then there is PO Prune’s famous hat. I think the photos are from either the RAF or RAAF museum site.

Despite there being two clear references to his "cap"?:rolleyes:

Jack

I am sorry did I say something wrong?
Was my use of the word hat a faux pas?
Just curious.