ChrisB

A group shot in front of his station I think.

I have a few photos from my dads time in the Police force so thought I would show a few here. Fist up is my dad beside the radio car (somewhere I have is licence/permit to drive the radio car but I couldn?t find it at the moment).

Thought there might be some interest in these items. I'm not a collector of Police items but these mean quite a lot to me as they were my Dads. He joined the Police not long after leaving the merchant navy in 1947 and stayed till he left the UK for New Zealand in 1959. He would have quite happily joined the NZ police but they wanted him to go back to Police College for awhile and he was not prepared to leave my mother all alone in a new country. Just a little group of his items including two of his Essex helmet plates (Kings crown), his cap badge, his number from his epilates (PC 601), police buttons, two awards he received as a member of the police tug of war team (1955,1956), his police athletic championship blazer badge (queens crown) and what I thought was his whistle chain but looking at the photos might just be a watch chain. Anyway I hope you have enjoyed and if you want a closer photo of anything I will do my best to do it. Cheers Chris

Thanks very much for the info John. By looking at the example you provided you can definitely see the difference in the thickness of the letters. On the basis of the photo you provided my cuff title looks like it will remain in the reproduction box. Thanks again for taking the time to provide some info. Cheers Chris

Hello Laurence I?ll start this off with the caveat that I am no expert when it comes to these wings. But I believe the type of wing shown in post 15 & 16 are reproductions. I believe this for two reasons. 1) the construction is not like any of the original WW2 badges I have seen in the flesh. Both the WAG and Observers badges were replaced by other badges before the end of the war (the Observers in 1942) and they would not have been used post war. There would have been no reason to still make these badges post war and yet these two badges have exactly the same type of construction as the other two so I believe all four of mine are duff repros. 2) The other reason is that I have seen a few of this type of wing (with the black fabric backing) but none have ever shown any sign of ever having been worn. Not a great sign of being fake I agree but I think it?s unusual to find so many mint examples of this type of badge. Your RO badge I think it?s safe to say is an original but may date post war. Again these are just my opinions and I don?t mind if someone can prove me wrong. Cheers Chris

Hoping someone can help verify this for me once and for all. At the moment this cuff title is sitting in my re-production box as I am not convinced of its originality but as my reference material on Luftwaffe items is scarce I thought I would put it here for some more knowledgeable people to look at. Sorry the scans aren't great but hope you can make out the important details. The construction of the title is quite nice and the materials used are quite fine but something about it has me worried. The thing that has me stumped is that this cuff title seems to be a bit of a blend of both the officers and other ranks titles. The thread used for the Gen Goring is silver-grey cotton as per enlisted men?s but it has the silver border braid of the officers. Is this a fantasy piece or were there examples made like this for NCO?s for example. Any comments appreciated and if you have an example of the real thing, or another like mine I would be interested in seeing it. Cheers Chris

The backs of the 80's half wings.

These ones I brought in the mid 80?s. These are now in my re-pro box as they are definitely not war time production (may have been officially worn post war though). Cheers Chris

Another one of my Navigator half wings. The chap who sold me this one said this type of wing was issued post war in the 1950?s he didn?t have any evidence to back this up though only his word. The back looks a bit similar to your RO wing. Bit hard to make out in the photo but does your one have a black fabric backing that the wing is sewn through? Cheers Chris

Engineers in pacific.

Hello Dan, Have found a few shots of kiwis wearing this type of head gear. The top one is of course RNZAF the second shot is of an engineer section in the pacific. This chap looks like he has had a go at camouflaging his one. I believe these are American in manufacture and I have seen one for sale here that had an US manufactures stamp inside. Have seen photos of the US marine one as well and it does look a lot like it. Cheers Chris

"Incidentally as regards the Death Penalty, Courts Martial passed 3,080 such sentences on British, Colonial and Dominion Soldiers between the outbreak of War and 31 March 1920, the date Active Service actually ceased. Only 346 were actually carried out. ANZAC soldiers and I believe Canadians were protected by the direct intervention of their respective Governments from the Death penalty." Barney, when you write ANZAC soldiers I take it you mean Australian soldiers. While Australia had the "1903 Australian Defence Act" which required the death penalty to be confirmed by the Australian Governor General (no death sentence was ever endorsed), New Zealand had no such arrangement and five NZEF soldiers were executed (nowhere near as many as the Brits had but they should not be forgotten). All five Kiwis have subsequently been pardoned. http://www.shotatdawncampaignirl.org/Pardons%20Bill%20NZ.htm Cheers Chris

Hi Dan, It does look as though my pith did have insignia of some sort on. It?s not all that clear but if you look at the first photo you can see a little tear in the fabric covering just a little bit above where the brim begins. The cut goes right through so a cap badge may have been worn on the front. The only thing is that normally the lugs on the back of a RNZAF cap badge are side to side not top and bottom as would fit in this case so I am not sure what would have been worn on the front of this one. Looking through photos of kiwis wearing this type of headgear they all appear to have been worn without insignia but I guess it was up to the individual as to if he bothered putting a badge on it. I would like to find a little bit more about the original owner and wrote to our Ministry of Defence here in NZ when I first got it, but they wrote back saying as they had not received any notification of his death they were unable to provide me with any info because of privacy laws. Cheers Chris

Sorry I cant be of much help here. I take it you have already checked out these sites:- http://www.ww2wings.com/main.shtml http://www.rathbonemuseum.com/DIRECTORY/directory.html Does seem to be a bit of a trick to identifying the age of these wings but as yet I have not been initiated in the ways yet. Anyway here are my ones. Cheers Chris

Name

Heres my beaten up one. Not quite the same but it did belong to a airforce corporal and an antipodean one as well though this one is RNZAF not RAAF. Believe the pith hat itself is American. Kiwis in the pacific used a bit of American gear so is not that unusual. Can make out most of what is written on the brim it says ?NZ408783, Cpl D Fenwick, RNZAF, Espiritu Santo?. Espiritu Santo is in the Vanuatu chain of islands in the pacific and was first used as a base for bombers then fighters by the RNZAF

Hope this is of some help. Name SMITH, MAX WINDUSS Service Royal Australian Air Force Service Number 12713 Date of Birth 2 Mar 1914 Place of Birth LAUNCESTON, TAS Date of Enlistment 24 Jan 1941 Locality on Enlistment HAWTHORNE Place of Enlistment MELBOURNE, VIC Next of Kin SMITH, MRS Date of Discharge 30 Nov 1945 Rank Corporal Posting at Discharge 1 Reserve Personnel Pool WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display Prisoner of War No Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2002. Info from the great aussie web site:- http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/ Cheers Chris