I have brought an officers side cap, can I take the officer cap badge out and replace with SNCO cap badge. Will it fit and be the right size?
So long as the officersā cap is for Wg Cmdr and below (no blue piping) I think it will be OK. I have nothing local to compare it with though.
Thanks, yes Iāve made sure I havenāt purchased the blue seam variant! I canāt find anywhere online to purchase the airmanās forage cap!
You might find some ire from the Uniform afcianadoes, with you wanting to go all individual!!!
Personally I think that all ATC officers who wear forage caps do not wear them properly, so they look silly!! But that is my opinion and does not mean you canāt wear one if you want!!
An Officerās/WOās forage cap and an ORās forage cap are different designs/shapes, and made from different materials.
Honestly.
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Do you know where I can purchase an ORs forage cap?
I think it comes free with a sarcasm implantā¦
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I thought you got one upon successfully completing the Blue Peter Bog Roll and Cereal Box Tracey Islandā¦
No such thing, theyāre all the same now. Except Gp Cpt and above.
Is this the look you are after??
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I think the bloke at top right has got something in in his bottom. Possibly the bloke at top leftā¦
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So to be clear on thisā¦are you saying that ORs are now wearing the same style of forage caps as was worn only by officers/WOs?
Bearing in mind that the two are definitely a different shapeā¦and a different material/colourā¦?
Yeah, pretty much!
The difference in those two are mainly tailor dependant! As thereās no real pattern to follow as Iām aware of, thereās just one style. And as there are no official suppliers anymore it depends where you buy them from.
My new one looks like the one you have there with the ORs cap badge on and was sold as an officersā one!
I think the problem Wilf is that they arenāt issued anymore. When ORs were issued them they were made out of cheaper materials, (Serge) now they can only be private purchase, they are just whatever the tailor has.
The closest to classic OR was the tailor at St Mawgan, sadly no longer operating.
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Are they not still issued to aircrew? Mine is an issue one from a pilot who didnāt want it, although it was a few years ago.
Historically, RAF ORs forage caps have tended to possess a āpeakedā front. Originally. And a taller upstand behind the button-flaps. This always gave them a distinctly-different front & backā¦
Conversely, RAF Officersā forage caps have originally tended to the same shape when front compared to back, downswept with no peaked front, and a shortened upstandā¦
So now all ranks just wear Offr pattern ones?
With silk inside? Because OR ones were traditionally either unlined or just part-lined in melton. This is weirdā¦
There isnāt really a distinction anymore. Brize only sold one pattern when I went there, silk lined Barathea. The St Mawgan ones were made of no.1 material, but you could purchase personalised linings. Iāve seen shocking pink, silk map and a Cornish flag
How does this kind of uniform variation just occur over time, without authority?
It makes no sense to me that what were defined differences between Offr and OR pattern caps now no longer exist (note: Iām making an observation, not a direct criticism).
Surely (whether an optional item of clothing or not) decisions on this type of change should be getting made by the RAF DPC?
If forage caps are regulated in AP1358 to the extent as to what orders of dress they can or canāt be worn in (including the current curious prohibition on them being worn in No3 dress, unless ranked something like 2* and above) and stipulations regarding the āminerva blueā piping, who was it that just arbritarily decided that it was ok for the ORs pattern forage cap to vanish?
I fully-understand that suppliers/military tailors will make and sell only only that which they canā¦sell and make, but: this is an odd effectā¦the covert change of uniform regulations via incremental adoption.
At this rate the recently-proposed change for male WOsā peak caps (ie becoming cloth-peaked, effectively just using Offr pattern, thus bringing them into line with female RAF WO pattern, and equivalency with Army style) may just happen one day via an RAF WO deciding to wear an Offr peak cap, and then waiting for others to follow suit.
Arguably something similar happened with side caps in No3. The old CAS kept doing it and they eventually gave up and rewrote the regs to make it legal!
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Same with wearing a short sleeved shirt with a tie under jumpers and the cloth VRT Badges on No5 both of those have come in mainly by everyone just doing it anyway!