WW2 British Airborne insignia

[force136]

Thin Airb Strip Lettering

Thanks for posting this for me. As Soon as I dig out that smock shot will let you know. This is a photo from the Canadian Archives showing an Officer of the 1CPB just after D-Day. He was a reinforcement officer to the unit. I have seen others wearing this thin lettered strip as well, 2 FOU guys 1CPB and the odd Para Regt guy. I have yet to actually see one up close. I need a photo for the book.

Ken

Posting this for Ken.

[force136]

Thinner

I checked that with other sleeve photos I have and they are clearly thinner and seem to appear taller. This may be because the marroon spaces between the blue lettering are larger. I have seen others like this. I think in the Militaire or some other French or UK made magazine there is a layout of formation badges and airborne strips and I think there is one there as well.

Ken

IMO side on view makes it look much thinner?

[SHEARING-CROSS]

HI KEN , with respect ,are you sure its printed ? the bottom edge appears to show much shadow ,thickness , like i would expect to see on a woven badge ?
this may well turn out to be a very rare badge indeed ,thanks big time for showing .
Michael.

[force136]

embroider'd ?

Hi Michael

No its printed for sure. When you see the whole picture it is clear. Also 1CPB were not allowed to wear embroidered formation badges. I always thought this was odd. It seems to me that Browning had different dress regs for 1st and 6th AD. He was a real tight ass when it came to dress. I have many of his orders regarding wearing of insignia. Because 1CPB wanted to impress their British bosses, they were sticklers for following Brit dress regs, "printed only". The only reason they wore the embroidered airborne canada title was due to troubles perfecting and getting supply of the printed 1CPB titles. These were actually ordered shortly after the Battalion arrived in the UK. It took almost seven months for them to get them.

Ken

HI KEN , with respect ,are you sure its printed ? the bottom edge appears to show much shadow ,thickness , like i would expect to see on a woven badge ?
this may well turn out to be a very rare badge indeed ,thanks big time for showing .
Michael.

[Guy]

Hi Chaps,


Here is the Air Ministry denison worn by Major (Later Lt General) Philip Tower at Arnhem. Most of you have seen this before but I thought It fitted with this thread.

Yours, Guy.

[Guy]

Hi Des,

You weren't raining on my parade . I agree those titles are pretty certainly post war but they came from a nice source with a good story so I kept a pair.
Re the gliders, I agree Jacko . I think the Air Landing was likely to be far worse for your health than the Paras.

Perhaps now we should start a section on GPR and Air Landing insignia to keep the thread going. Below is a fantastic BD I sold a couple of years ago to kick things off. I will photograph my Air Landing insignia when the camera has re-charged.

Yours, Guy.

[Guy]

2

[Guy]

3

[Kevan]

Guy, I'll never forgive you for letting that GPR BD go to some one else.........

Teddy is out the pram again!

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

It's ok Kevan, you can buy mine from me

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

More.

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

Thin type AIRBORNE strips

I'm not saying they don't exist, except I've never seen real ones like this. My pic shows some variations but not the thin letter type.

He was a real tight ass when it came to dress. I have many of his orders regarding wearing of insignia.

Ok, regulations! We all know they existed and we all know they were not followed for at least some of the time. Despite you saying "he was a real tight ass when it came to dress", there are plenty of examples when regulations weren't followed with regards to dress.

[Kevan]

Nice BD Jack, but Guy's BD had added sentimental value.

It was tailored in Glasgow!

[force136]

Thin Airborne

Ok Jack just check the "N" in yours against the "N" in the scan. It is very clear that it is different. So I guess they do exist.

As per regulations. I agree they were broken. However with 1CPB they were not broken on duty or on operation as far as tunics are concerned. I think by this stage in my research this is something I can say to all is confirmed without a doubt. They only wore printed formation badges. It was all they were ever issued. ( officers wore printed or embroidered Pegasus on their service dress only, embroidered had to be purchased. ) The only occurance of them not doing this is breaking regulations in having another BD for walking out. These are the multitude of the BD you see with embroidered badges. Trust me everyone I have seen, thats about three dozen now, all from vets, including the collection at Petawawa confirm this. Some guys acquired another BD to spiff up for a wedding or like the majority, were made up out of their second BD when they got back to England in May-June 1945. By this time no one cared what they wore off duty. In fact the embroidered shoudler titles ( single layer ) were manufactured for this purpose, so were the embriodered film and photo unit titles etc etc , this I have in docs. With 1CPB there was a true distinction between issue and walking out from May 1944-May1945.

Ken

I'm not saying they don't exist, except I've never seen real ones like this. My pic shows some variations but not the thin letter type.



Ok, regulations! We all know they existed and we all know they were not followed for at least some of the time. Despite you saying "he was a real tight ass when it came to dress", there are plenty of examples when regulations weren't followed with regards to dress.

[ccj]

I want those BDs.

Guy, Jack, I am so much more important than anyone else. If anyone gets one it'll be me.

Serious, those are two very nice BDs. I hope to have one that nice someday.

Ok Jack just check the "N" in yours against the "N" in the scan. It is very clear that it is different. So I guess they do exist.

As per regulations. I agree they were broken. However with 1CPB they were not broken on duty or on operation as far as tunics are concerned. I think by this stage in my research this is something I can say to all is confirmed without a doubt. They only wore printed formation badges. It was all they were ever issued. ( officers wore printed or embroidered Pegasus on their service dress only, embroidered had to be purchased. ) The only occurance of them not doing this is breaking regulations in having another BD for walking out. These are the multitude of the BD you see with embroidered badges. Trust me everyone I have seen, thats about three dozen now, all from vets, including the collection at Petawawa confirm this. Some guys acquired another BD to spiff up for a wedding or like the majority, were made up out of their second BD when they got back to England in May-June 1945. By this time no one cared what they wore off duty. In fact the embroidered shoudler titles ( single layer ) were manufactured for this purpose, so were the embriodered film and photo unit titles etc etc , this I have in docs. With 1CPB there was a true distinction between issue and walking out from May 1944-May1945.

Ken