1 Overseas (Akrotiri) Sqn has ‘1(OS)’ as their Sqn identifier.
Yeh, it’s “1 (Overseas) Squadron, Air Training Corps”.
Their number is “1”.
This was signed off by Dawn many moons ago, they are the only Sqn like this. But pre my time but is was Dep WWO in the wing at the time.
I think the standard is No 2(OS)
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Just saying that this is what they have, and as far as I’m concerned it is clear who they are from that.
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TBF @Leighton73 can help you understand the Jersey badge history.
I think it’s from winning Lees off the top of my head
Then what about 1F in Leicester. Both being known as ‘1’ will cause problems, so 1(OS) makes sense.
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This doesn’t follow the normal rule of the location being in brackets? Surely it would still be (Akrotiri)? The ‘overseas’ is almost past of the number, to differentiate it?
The OS is in brackets to make it clearer to read, and distinguish from 10/20/30 etc.
“overseas” is a location.
Not a very specific one, but it’s a location.
I might petition to start 1 (not from here) squadron for giggles.
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The geographical location doesn’t have to be a specific location.
As per my unit. “Hawker Blackburn” is about as informative as “Overseas”.
And if as @AlexCorbin says the badges with “1 (OS)” etc were authorised then that only reinforces the fact that it’s the “Overseas” bit that should be in brackets and the specific location isn’t actually a part of the name.
Not sure why a unit would be entitled to use “Jersey” because they won the Lees Trophy, but happy for legit clarity to be revealed!
Military history is full of exceptions to rules like that.
Like the Gloucesters having two cap badges or the 2nd Devons having a French medal ribbon on their arms.
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There’s even Sqns out there with Roman numerals on their brassard
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Having dealt with similar requests for unit badges, I can confirm I’ve seen no credible evidence for a unit ever being permitted to use Roman numerals by a suitable authority, or for a suitable rationale.
Normally the same as any unit legend that comes to be.
I’d always heard that it was for F Sqns who were disbanded and subsequently stood back up in the same locality, so say for instance 48F was stood down in Lincoln but another Sqn took the Number in Cardiff, that would be 48 Sqn.
But if the DF or whatever remained of 48F was stood back up into a Sqn they could use XLVIII
No I have no idea where 48F is or was, and my profound apologies to Cardiff for getting your number wrong
I had a similar argument put to me for a badge application regarding Roman numerals, but it was one of those “long lost letters from the late Queen giving permission” etc
It just doesn’t really hang together. They’re just legends that quickly grow legs as they’re retold.
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I only know of one. 19 uses XIX. Possibly something about losing the F then being allowed XIX when they reformed?
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That’s what I heard.
There should have a system for regaining Fs
120 uses CXX no idea where the authorisation came from, been like it for at least 30 years.
As for places like Jersey using the location as opposed to the number there is ample example in RAF history of officers being allowed to have patches for their nation of origin on Battledress etc.
Which is why I have little interest in the Uniform Stasi when it comes to things like this.
Remember Monty’s only uniform rule in 8th army was “no top hats”
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Our original badge looked like this, and when the new PTS scheme came in, it wasn’t possible for a cadet to sew all the badge they might be entitled to, they would actually hang off the bottom, due to the double height of the badge.
Gibraltar had already set the precedence of using their name rather than number. We went through a rigorous process, with Dawn making the final decision, and it had nothing to do with winning the Lees Trophy, as it happened before the inspection.
The Overseas part of our name is often incorrectly bracketed, it should be 7 Overseas (Jersey) Squadron.
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I’d love to know where this is officially recorded, because I get a lot of associated queries and it’s useful to collect the organisational memory if it’s not held anywhere else.
Without the official line, you can’t tell when staff are making stuff up on a whim (and we know it happens all over).
@daws1159 It’s not Uniform Stasi, it’s just caring about getting things right. Cadets spend hours taking pride in the appearance of their uniforms, so it’s only right that we ensure it’s correct.
@AlexCorbin This could probably do with being clarified for the regulations, because whatever the correct answer is, it clearly isn’t the current situation which is inconsistent.
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