rathbonemuseum

Fran?ois et. al., There is so little information on the badges of the baltics. It is really hard to know what is what. I posted the input about the Latvian badge because it is relatively unknown. I agree that all the pilot pictures show men wearing the badge. Cheers, Tod

Hello, I have this Chilean air force wing but I do not know the exact specialty. Was it ground troops, airfield defence, anti-aircraft? Those seem like the most probable. Any guess on when this wing was regulation? Thanks Tod

Hello Luigi, Thank you for your reply and information. Yes, your illustration is the classic estive jacket. I still do not know what my jacket is. I don't know if it is WWII or later. Are you sure that the hat is for 2nd Lieutenant? The single band has the blue and gold stripes I thought were for a Maresciallo. I thought the 2nd Lt. band was solid gold. Cheers, Tod

Hi, I bought this senior officer's hat on the bay thinking it migh be air force based on the color. But of course it is not. Air force would have had large 'wings' coming off of the main badge. So I think this is a senior officer's hat for the Army but possibly parade dress? I also think this dates from the 1940s. I am looking to sell or trade this hat and I would like to describe it correctly. Do you know what it is?

Hi, It looks pretty good but I would trust the guys on the Finnish forum to tell for sure. Ask them at http://z10.invisionfree.com/Finnish_Awards/index.php? Cheers, Tod

Dear Rodion, Can you look in your book to see if you have an entry for Adjutant Berteaux? Also, can you send me your email? Cheers, Tod

Sure, Here you go: The ribbons are top down, left to right, the Order of the Red Banner of Combat Valor, the Order of Combat Valor, the Order of the Polar Star, the Order of the Polar Star, the Honorary Medal of Combat, the Mongolian "We have conquered" WWII victory medal, the USSR Victory over Japan medal and the medal for 25 years of the MPR.

And here is a great period photo of Mongolian pilots towards the back half of the war. They wear M43 style tunics.

I am so glad you asked!! Here is my 1945 Parade tunic:

Dear Rodion, Thank you for solving this mystery. So he was a real man. How do I go about finding about his service? Are there online archives I can search? Are the reserves more private than active duty or career personnel? I would like to continue but do not know how. Do you have a service number for this man? Does that help? Cheers, Tod

All, Yeah, I know it was messed with. I am ok with that as I had my suspicions at the time. I am now more concerned about restoring what is an authentic tunic to some reasonable form of originality. It won't necessarily be what the owner exactly wore, but at least it woun't be an outright fake. I am interested in restoring it to a senior corporal air force man. No para, that is too rare and probably unlikely. Tod

Here is an interesting find. It was found at a small show. The side cap is as you see it. There was something pinned to the side at one time. It shows good color of a grey-blue cotton. I don't know what period it came from or what rank. The buttons are really interesting. Inside the cap was a beautiful enamel wing pin that was worn on the inside of the cap. I wasn't able to get the pin, Ron Burkey got that first. But I got the cap. IMO, I think the wing pin is not a regulation issue wing. I think it is a good luck device, something like a St. Christopher, as it shows a Hindu god (Vishnu?) sitting in the lotus position holding a propeller. I could be completely offbase, too. Here is the wing from Ron's site: Here is the cap:

Oops, Forgot the board:

And here is the hat that I was sold with the tunic: Nice idea as a senior sgt. beret but I think with some "help". What do you think? I think the ribbon around the edge is completely false. I think the triangle is probably not the right fabric. The eagle device? I have no idea. I think the hat itself is perfectly fine... Now the reverse of the eagle: And the label inside the hat:

OK, Here are pics of the tunic with the tag. Let me start off by saying I started by purchasing this set (hat + tunic) to have an Hungarian NCO flight uniform. Some of the items on the set were fake, some were real but inaccurate. I am trying to restore what I can. I will not what I think is real or not, added or not as I go. Let's start with the overall tunic. A standard NCO tunic in army color ranked to a Sgt. There was a wing on the right pocket but it was an NCO cap badge in silver stitched to make the wings straight vs. curved. The thing is, there was no NCO silver flight badge. There was only one pilot badge, in gold, and both officers and NCOs wore the same wing. Only their curved wing cap badges were gold or silver. Next is the collars. When I bought the tunic, it had one collar device. I have since purchased a pair and sewn them on: Now the ribbons. These came with the tunic. I think they are original to the period but not to the tunic based on the stitching: Here is a shot of the right pocket where I removed the erroneous wing. There are two loops, but for what: One final shot:

Hey, thanks for the info. I will shoot some pix of the tunic. Cheers, Tod

Dear Friends, I am having a dillema with one of my aviation uniforms and need your help. I have an Italian Estiva class uniform for what I believe is a maresciallo grade officer. The problem is, it doesn't seem to have the correct "look". I am using Andrea Viotti's book as a guide. Here is his illustration: Now here is my uniform. You can see there are differences. There are three buttons on the front instead of two. The lapel is much larger and falls wider on the chest. I am wondering if my tunic is for an NCO? Is it more modern? Earlier? Than the 1939 grade Estiva uniform? Thanks for your help. Tod __________________ Tod Rathbone Rathbone Museum of WWII Aviation Uniforms and Insignia http://www.rathbonemuseum.com

Hi, Please take a look at this 1941 dated tailor's tag. Can you tell me any more about what it says? The only other thing I can read is Budapest. Thanks, Tod

Hi, Looks ok to me. That is a typical type of Italian closure. Tod

Hi, Just wanted to let you all know I finished the series on Hungarian officer service dress uniforms on my museum website. Here are the the three main features. 1. Standard Service dress 2. Service dress for parade 3. Service dress for winter Enjoy and thanks for looking. Cheers, Tod

As close as I could get of the pilot badge

Here is the inside

In my relentless pursuit of images and sources for WWII flight insignia from the world, I find that Siam/Thailand continues to be one of the hardest places to research (at least from an online standpoint). Without actually going through government archives, I have only found one image/artifact I know to be from the pre-WWII period. If anyone has anything else they can add, I for one would be most appreciative. Here it is. An identification booklet to an aviation sgt.of the Thai/Siamese forces:

Hi, Just wanted to let you all know I finished the series on Hungarian officer service dress uniforms on my museum website. Here are the the three main features. 1. Standard Service dress 2. Service dress for parade 3. Service dress for winter Enjoy and thanks for looking. Cheers, Tod

Chris, That seems to be the case. If it is the same man then he was a government man of Norther Rhodesia. But where did he do his service? I can't find him. I wish there was a roster... Tod