Morning All
I am trying to find some OCdt white rank slides but they appear to be like gold dust! I have phoned around quite a few local military tailors and no one knows anything about them or seen them. I did also speak to my parent unit clothing stores but the person on the phone wasnt that helpful and didnt seem to know.
Does anyone know where I might be able to get some? Or, is it the case of making some up?
Any advice would be great.
All the best.
Find a Pilot Officer and hope they still have theirs!
My Wing Headquarters gave me a few pairs. But I made extras myself! 
I’m guessing that they are the same dimensions as a normal set of NCO rank slides? Are they textured or simply solid white material?
Narrower, I think. They’re not textured, but they are made of quite a large weave.
Thanks MattB.
I will see what I can find.
Wing HQ usually issue these I believe, certainly have in the past in my Wing.
Here’s a nice pic from FB:
These are petersham ribbon ones (probably made from rayon). The type on issue were a more open-weave cotton (they were the variety also on issue to OCdts RAFVRUAS). Looked like flattened wicks from paraffin lamps (this was before the UAS rediscovered ‘VR’ badging)
Interesting that if I’m remembering correctly from what I saw on a poster during a recent Wg trg weekend, that the intended white rank-slide for OCdts RAFAC also has Plt Off ribbon stitched upon it. Which is a somewhat-more logical approach, considering that the acting rank for OCdts outwith RAFAC is meant to be Plt Off.
We could have learned from the regulars regarding the white tabs. As VR(T) officers are Pilot Officers and the rank of Officer Cadet does not exist in the Air Cadets, we should wear the Pilot Officer braid embroidered onto the white tabs. This is what the regular officers do who are under training for example with junior doctors. i.e. your an officer with the rank but your untrained in your role. This would also prevent the salute/don’t salute confusion.
Having to call yourself an Officer Cadet when your a Pilot Officer seems a bit backwards. Especially as Pre SSIC Sgt (ATC) wear their rank and are called Sergeant and are not called Airman/Airwoman until they do their course.
Hopefully fixed with the new RAF Air Cadets Slides.
Sorry but that’s not correct - all OCdts wear the same rank tabs at RAFC, they only change depending on term.
I’m not really sure what the problem is with RAFVR(T) OCdts - I was always officially a Plt Off at RAFC, I was just considered an OCdt and treated that way (no saluting, OCdt tabs, etc). We seem to have made something of a mountain out of a molehill.
Yes at Cranwell all Officer Cadets wear the same white tabs. I’m on about after Cranwell when they move into a hospital for training, they wear Pilot Officer or Flying Officer on white tabs until they have completed that section of their medical training.
The problem with VR(T) Officer Cadets is that they simply don’t exist, there is no such rank in the Air Cadets. Newly Commissioned Officers in the Air Cadets are Pilot Officers but required to wear white tabs, being made to wear white tabs doesn’t make you an Officer Cadet.
Ah, OK I’m with you on the doctor thing.
But my point was that OCdt doesn’t really exist in the RAF either. I wasn’t an OCdt on JPA - I was a Plt Off from the start.