I am going to Divide my Uniforms Section into two parts. The first will be for RAF uniforms, and at the bottom will be information about the equipment used. I shall put up another post for army uniforms/equipment and a further post for weapons!
- RAF Squadron
Leader
- Pilot Officer (service and battle uniforms)
- Flight Sargeant (Pilot)
- RAF Private (Base Guard)
The next part of my uniforms posts will cover the Army side of reenacting!
- Bren Gunner (Sheffield Hallam and Durham light Infantry)
- RCOS (Royal Corps of Signals) 2nd Lieutenant.
I
shall go through each uniform and show what was included in their uniforms, and what they carried to war with them.
RAF Squadron leader
This
was the first uniform I put together. The officer tunic was the first
thing I found and, Ironically, the hardest to get. Reproductions and originals of
these can go for £100's, however I picked this up for about £30 at an
army surplus in my area. Remember to check that any medals are from
WWII, and if they are, then make sure you know what they are. There is
nothing worse than being asked what you have been awarded for and not
being able to tell them!
Another thing to check is the rank. Lets
be honest a 60 year old isn't going to pass as a young, buck private,
maybe go for an officer or even home guard? RAF and army rank braid is
fairly easy to get hold of from eBay shops as well as dedicated re
enactment sites and army surplus.
There is a feeling that 'if you
didnt earn them, dont wear them'. Personally I dont subscribe to this. I
would also advise that less is sometimes more: going with three lines
of medals is just overkill and you dont want to look silly. Dress for
your age, being 22 year old a serviceman may well have got a DFC (as you
can see on my uniform). Find what looks good, but dont try to overdo
it.
A pair of officers SD trousers will be needed, reproductions
can very from £30 to £80 depending on where you go. Combine this with a
light blue shirt (mine is actually from primark) and a black tie and you're
good to go.
There is a choice of headwear: a full peaked cap,
which is common for officers, or the traditional forage cap (side cap).
Make sure the badge has the kings crown, other re-enactors tend to get a
bit grumpy if you havent got the right monarch!
The same is true
of the buttons, this tunic needs 8; 4 large and 4 small with the RAF
Albatross and a kings crown above it. The buttons should preferably be
brass, though if you can get Staybrite buttons with the right crown on
then go for them, it will save you hours of polishing! The belt and
buckle should be made of the same 'Barrathea' fabric, and a brass
buckle. You will notice that my buckle is a different colour, which is
because its steel as I haven't got round to getting an older one!
When
looking at an RAF officer, most people think of that marvellous 'capt
jack' style greatcoat. If you can find one, then you're quids in! Mine
cost me £80, and considering its a Crombie worth about £700, I think I
did rather well.
Thats pretty much it, you will need a pair of
shoes, black Oxfords are what you need to look for. I found a seller on
eBay who was asking £12 a pair, which considering you will only wear
them for a day at a time is good value!
One thing to note is that wile on the ground, particularly in the early part of the war, all personnel would carry a gas mask bag and a steel helmet incase of gas or raids.
RAF Pilot Officer (SD and BD) - Air Gunner
I have had the good fortune to get hold of an original RAF personal affects trunk. This is a 4' steel box with the airmans name on the top. I decided that I would make a display piece out of it, showcasing all the uniforms and equipment that this Pilot Officer kept with him.
As such, I have a complete officers SD uniform and a complete BD uniform. Parade shoes, spare clothes, socks (flying and plain), roll neck jumper, RAF pattern pullover and service cap.
An airman had to be at least a non comissioned officer to be able to either fly or be part of a crew in the RAF. This in practice means any rank above Sargeant. I have chosen to portray an Air Gunner for this display, as it is an unusual role. It was uncommon, but not impossible for a crewman to be promoted to a full officer, generally the pilot would be promoted first.
If a plane has a high ranking officer as part of its aircrew, but the pilot is a sgt, the sgt is still the total authority in that aircraft, and makes all the decisions for the entire crew. the rank is only in full force when the plane is on the ground
!
Two picture
s showing my trunk with an officers personal affects insdie. In the event of a station transfer the box could be picked up easily and moved to the next station.
RAF Flight Sargeant
My RAF Flight sargeants uniform is essentially the same look as an officers uniform, however it is made of wool serge! This is a massive help particularly when flying, as it means you dont have to wear too much extra clothing to keep you warm.
The basic tunic, as seen in the picture is the same for this, and my RAF Corporals uniform seen later on. The trousers are exactly the same, which saves me having to buy a new pair too!
The image rightshows the basic raf uniform, complete with a wool serge side cap, shirt and tie. The below picture shows in better detail the uniform.
In this photo, the wings, sargeant stripes and flt sgt crowns are clearly visable!
Instead of a pistol belt, it was much more common to have a 2" wide wool serge belt, but since I havent got one yet, this is taking it's place
!
RAF Corporal (LAC)
I
put this uniform together after watching some old British Pathe'
footage on YouTube. This is an RAF base guard, as I wanted something
that allowed me to take part in the RAF events but still be a low rank
(its really much more fun!)
Raf ground troops, base guards
especially, wore their Service Dress (shortened to SD) when on duty. It
is the same wool serge fabric as the army battledress (BD) and just as
uncomfortable!
I have put this uniform together as it is an LAC's uniform, wich is the rank and profession of my Grandfather, and it was important for me to have a uniform the same as his.
So with your SD tunic, youll need the appropriate
patches, you will need the basic RAF albatross as seen (just). If its on
black fabric then thats the correct one, however mine isnt and ive
never been brought up on it! Any rank patch should be applied here too.
Headwear is always essential, you can wear a tommy
helmet or maybe opt for a forage cap/peaked cap if you cant
get one or find it uncomfortable. You can hang the helmet on yourgad mask bag (carried by all personnel) , or on the large pack under the cross straps and wear the cap
instead, which is quite nice.
Just like the officer I have a wool
serge RAF enlisted mans greatcoat, not a nice and comfy one, but its what
was used. Mine cost me £38 from an army surplus nearby, and on a cold
day I rarely leave the house without it.
As seen you will need to
wear a shirt and tie for this uniform, the same blue shirt and black tie
from my officers uniform works very well here!
Equipment
There is a lot of equipment used by the RAF that I will be talking about, so I am going to split i into 2 parts:
- Infantry Equipment
- Flying Gear
- Flying Leathers
- Boots and Gloves
- Helmet
- Life Jacket
- Parachute
Infantry Equipment
With
that done its time to move onto the interesing part - the webbing! As
you can see from the pictures, mine is blancoed RAF blue (which seems to
reinforce the blue battledress), it will need to be re done as its
fading, I shall put up post when I do it and the method I will use.
The webbing should have a few standard things:
- 37 pattern webbing belt
- 37 pattern bren pouches (you can swap these out for SMLE ammo pouches if you wish)
- A pair of cross straps
- Bayonet frog (bayonet optional depending on your weapon)
- A water canteen and canteen carrier
I'm tall and
thin so I need a small belt but larger cross straps. The webbing for
this uniform was bought complete from a friend of mine for £65 pre
blancoed. Bear in mind that you will have to blanco webbing RAF colours
as it is pretty much green from wherever you get it!
You will need
a pair of boots and gaiters. The British army used Ammo boots, however
reproductions are expensive and eBay may not have the sizes you need. If
there is no other option then consider DMS boots. These are rubber
soled and dont have hobnails. from a distance they dont look any
different and you can get them for around the £30 mark from most army
surplus shops.
What I have also put together is a belt from a fighter aircraft. There would usually be 8 belts of 300 rounds in British plaes (Spitfire/Hurricane), and to show the public what that looks like, we decided to make one.
What suprises most people is the weight of the belts, as they are around 15 feet long and incredibly heavy.
Flying Equipment
The flying clothing of WWII is not designed for style, it is primarily designed to protect the weasrer from the extreme cold temperatures. An example would be an average bomber in mid summer; At night, at roughtly 200mph at 20,000 feet, the air temperature is about -40 degrees Centigrade (the average temperature of the arctic!). A bomber crew would be expected to fly for around 10-14 hours in this kind of temerature.
I think that the most impressive thing in the airmans inventory is definetly the Irvin flying jacket. Its a world famous design and a wonderful piece of clothing on a cold day. This is the perfect thing for both Fighter and bomber crews; Fighter pilots tended to just got for the jacket, but Irvin also made flying trousers for the aircews. The trousers were bulky, and didnt allow much movement in the legs, which is not helpful when you're hammering a rudder bar in a Spitfire!
Where the trousers come into their own is for the gun turret of a bomber. They are extremely warm. Thick, sheepskin lined and leather clad, they are the best thing to stop the wind! They are designed to fit inside the flying boots, and under the jacket.
Boots and gGoves
Another essential piece of kit are the flying boots. My boots are called 41 pattern.
There were 4 main types of flying boot; the 36 pattern, 40, 41 and 43 pattern boot.
I should explain that the previous pattern to mine, the 40 pattern was found to be rather annoying in the event of bailing out of an aircraft.
The 40 pattern boots are virtually the same as the 41 pattern, but missing the leather strap around the ankle. In the event a crewman bailed out of the plane, he would open his parachute, and be pulled up by the force of the chute opening.
As he stopped falling, his boots had a tendency to come off, as they have no real way of staying on. The resulting leather strap was an attempt by the Air Ministry to stop this happening, but it was not a briliant success!
Shown here are my 41 pattern boots, leather flying helmet, oxygen mask and goggles. Note the leather strap around the ankle. Another drawback to these boots was the possibility of the strap getting caught in the parachute cord when bailing out, leading to some deaths as the crewman was unable to disentangle himself.
I have just bought a reproduction pair of 41 pattern bomber gloves, these are thickly lined with lambswool and have a leather outside. These gloves are actually the outer pair, and a crewman would wear a pair of silk 'inner' gloves as well!
Helmet and Goggles
My flying helmet is one of my pride and joys! The RAF used two main types of flying helmet throughout the war; the B-Type and C-Type. This particular helmet is a modificed C-Type, used extensicely after 1944. The main change is that the wiring loom of the helmet is internal, rather than external. Airmen found that the wires were snagging on parts of the plane, and in 1944 they were issued this type of helmet.
The Goggles are a pair of the world famous MK VIII Halcyon goggles. These goggles are an improvment of the MK IV, which were huge and had a tendency to come loose while in a dogfight (lots of head movment can cause them to come off). These goggles are tinted, and I am looking for a pair of plain glass panes for them, as you can take the lenses out and change them for either tinted or un-tinted.
The Oxygen Mask for my helmet set is a late war G-Type mask. These were used from 1944 onwards and well into the jet age. It is made of rubber, with a suede lining inside. It features an internal microphone that plugs into the headset, and a special valve to prevent condensation freezing at high altitudes!
RAF Irvin 'Seat Type' Parachute
My newest acquisition! This is a '45 dated RAF Seat Type. There are two main types of parachute used by the RAF; this one and the 'Observer Harness. This parachute is exclusively worn by pilots, and all other aircrew would wear the Observer harness set.
The parachute is called the seat type for two reasons:
- It hangs at the 'seat' of the trousers, just about where your bum is!
- You use it as a seat in a cockpit.
There actual parachute is the very base of the pilots seat in an aircraft, on top of this would be a cushion, made out of fabric. If anyone ever goes into a british plane, they will notice that they sit rather low, this is to allow for the height of the chute and chashion on th pilot!
The bayonet
itself is the pattern 1907, it is about 18 inches long, not including
the handle. This is a big difference to the later 'Pig Sticker' bayonet,
which was designed with economy and usefulness in mind.
This
is my date stamped 1941 Bren Mk1 from the Enfield factory. This weapon
is much heavier than the SMLE (22.5lbs as opposed to 10.3lbs unloaded),
and needs a strong arm to move it around.
