Briish Army skill at arms badges & trade badges

[leigh kitchen]

Ah, you've broken cover - I did'nt want to out you - still the only decent work on the subject I've got.

[david grumpy]

I assume you have the 2005 reprint with added info? Denis did it on his own, he 'thought Langley was dead!'

[leigh kitchen]

No, I was unaware of that one - a little bit of faulty research there by the sound of it, but then it's a fairly remote & desolate place out there in the flat badlands of Lincolnshire, easy to lose track of people ..... some say that on dark nights you can see Will o' the Wisp lights twinkling & hear disembodied voices shrieking.....I think that's just the pubs in Stamford though.

[david grumpy]

The reprint is fine if you want to be up-to-date, but suffers fate of many a reprint : degradation of picture quality. Churchill's collar dogs is a prime example of this problem.

[leigh kitchen]

I've updated post no. 69 with the full photo of this "London Types : The Recruiting Sergeant" postcard, published by "W.H.S. & S. Lnd.", printed in England.

I had thought that ths card showed the "PPR" cypher on the cuffs, but I was mistaken:

[leigh kitchen]

I thought I'd sneak these in - not army, but Royal Air Force Regiment Ground Gunner, the khaki backed one for wear with army-style Battledress:

[leigh kitchen]

Cigarette cards from a set "Army Badges of Rank", issued by Churchman's in 1916:

Infantry Pioneer,

Assistant Instructor Signalling.

There are a few more in post no. 99 of the thread on WOI's badges ("Badges For Some Scary People" http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=38875&st=80&gopid=382336& ), but I did'nt want to start posting the same cards in 2 or 3 different threads.

[Jspencer_72]

I have photos of my Grandfather taken in 1941 when he was in the RAOC, with drivers badge on his arm and a star above it. The star is 6 pointed. What does the star mean?

[Mervyn Mitton]

Jspencer - welcome to GMIC. Please post the photos of your Grandfather - always of interest. Mervyn

[Jspencer_72]

Thanks Mervyn. I apologies before if this is in the wrong place. Here is a shot of a negative of my grandfather showing two trade patches on the lower arm (the image needs to be reversed).

The bigger one is a drivers patch/badge, the upper one a 6 pointed star. I have only found 5 pointed stars on the net and would like to have info on the six pointed star. Another negative shows them n the upper arm below the shoulder (same arm, both on a BD jacket but I am not sure if its the same BD jacket.

I,ll post other pictures in a more appropriate place.

[Mervyn Mitton]

JS - Thankyou. I hope that members will be able to work out the significance of the 6 pointed star. I'm not sure if we can reverse the

negative - you may have to get it printed. Mervyn

[Dixie]

Good, I'll have one please - last book I bought from him was some years ago, a history of one of the WWI NF battalions which was surplus to his requirements.

The WWI Infantry Bombers badge,

Army Order 403/1915 refers, a Skill at Arms badge worn on the upper right arm.

"Brtish Proficiency Badges" notes that the Liverpool Scottish & possibly other regiments had their own distinctive Infantry Bomber' sbadge made of brass, a grenade similar to theat of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers wbearing the Liverpool's white horse & the regimental title on a scroll above the horse.

The Bombing Officer's badge had white flames, the Trench Mortar Gunner's badge was an all blue grenade, the Trench Mortar Officer's was blue with white flames, the blue cloth grenade was sometimes represented by a blue painted grenade metal collar badge.

To resurect an old thread, does anyone know when this badge was first issued?

Thanks

[CeleretAudax]

On 07/05/2013 at 15:09, Jspencer_72 said:

Thanks Mervyn. I apologies before if this is in the wrong place. Here is a shot of a negative of my grandfather showing two trade patches on the lower arm (the image needs to be reversed).

The bigger one is a drivers patch/badge, the upper one a 6 pointed star. I have only found 5 pointed stars on the net and would like to have info on the six pointed star. Another negative shows them n the upper arm below the shoulder (same arm, both on a BD jacket but I am not sure if its the same BD jacket.

I,ll post other pictures in a more appropriate place.

Image duly reversed.

Mark

[madmart2908]

can anyone please tell me if british  WW2  ARMY OFFICERS ever wore trade badges on their uniforms ? ( - example sniper, bomb disposal,  driver etc ? )  and did a officer change cap badges on their uniform to general service officers cap badge & dog collar badges  whilst awaiting re-posting of a command from one regiment unit to another or was the officers general service cap badge just for NEWLY commissioned officers out of officer training school who was awaiting assignment to a regiment ? 

[peter monahan]

Not a British uniform expert, despite my moderator status - I'm a Canuck- but I'm pretty sure trade badges were confined to Other Ranks.  It was presumed that officers knew all about everything or, more to the point, were not going to expose the gaps in their training by letting the rankers see which badges they didn't have!

An officer transferred to a new unit permanently - Taken of Strength rthe Ox & Bucks and Taken On Strenth No. 10 Commando, for example - would/should have changed his badges.  If he were on training or in waiting he might revert to GS badges or not, depending on whom he was attached to and, i suspect, how keen he and or his superiors were.  By that I mean, the regs may have specified that he revert to GS but if he were only a few weeks in limbo/transit and the Adjutant at wherever he wound up wsn't a tartar he may not have bothered, as carrying and wearing multiple sets would have been a nuisance.  Just my tuppence worth though.

 [I'm not supposed to blow other people's horns for them, but the British Badge Forum has the real pros on insignia. ]

[david grumpy]

On 7/6/2016 at 22:06, madmart2908 said:

can anyone please tell me if british  WW2  ARMY OFFICERS ever wore trade badges on their uniforms ? ( - example sniper, bomb disposal,  driver etc ? )  and did a officer change cap badges on their uniform to general service officers cap badge & dog collar badges  whilst awaiting re-posting of a command from one regiment unit to another or was the officers general service cap badge just for NEWLY commissioned officers out of officer training school who was awaiting assignment to a regiment ? 

Most certainly some badges worn by qualified officers:

SAS, para operational, para qualified, commando qualified, bomb disposal, pilot, glider pilot, 

In the Great War we can add trench mortar, bombing officer, scout officer also

The above list is off the top of my head and is not complete.

[theironduke1]

Hi 

You might like to look at my Badges section on Uniformology.  Just about all of the badges worn by the British Army from 1968 to 1993 are shown there http://www.uniformology.com/BADGE00.html

Bruce

[david grumpy]

Nice, thank you. Please have a look at Good Conduct Badge qualifying periods: in fact

2 ½ yrs, 5, 10, 15 etc etc from 1961. There was also a 4-bar issued.

 

Also, your No 2 Foot Guards CQMS is in fact an RQMS, Ft Gds corporal is a lance-corporal, and you are missing the small Royal Arms for a WO I not being an RSM [eg Superintending Clerk

Edited July 13, 2016 by david grumpy
addenda

[david grumpy]

I will hold back on the other problems until I see a reply.