Please don’t unless you have served…
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Yeah that one is a step too far IMO!
I would hazard a guess (although not an authority!) that whilst the RAF “own” the design of the staple belt, they don’t of the tie and it’s just recognised as such. As opposed to regiments where the regiment may have an official supplier for their ties?
Only one left in stock though
I’m a RAFA member and wear their tie.
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Interesting, does anyone know why the stripes on the RAF tie are red, white, blue, whereas we wear the stable belt in Blue, White, Red?
There is only one correct sequence, when the RAF Tricolour is worn (or depicted) because of what the three colours represent
This is a fundamental part of RAF heritage, and it astounds and saddens me that it is not more widely understood.
The colour which is first (looked at from left-to-right, or at the top, from top-to-bottom) is ALWAYS navy blue, because this colour represents the Royal Naval Air Service (ie the co-founding air element of the senior service).
The colour which is last (again, when looked at from left-to-right, or underpinning at the base, from top to bottom) is ALWAYS crimson, because this colour represents the Royal Flying Corps (ie the co-founding air element of the Army: scarlet/red/crimson frequently denotes British Army formations, and the specific crimson used in the RAF tricolour is that which was used as edging on the walking-out/patrols dark-blue uniform of the RFC)
The colour which is inevitably in the middle is ALWAYS wedgewood/sky blue, the thin line representing the emerging junior service of the Royal Air Force from 1918 into the present day, created from the best, boldest & brightest of the two parent services.
This has always been the intended sequence and significance of the RAF’s three colours/ tricolour (irrespective of whether it is shown on stable-belts, TRFs, DZ patches, ties, watch-straps, pugree patches or aircraft)
(nb notwithstanding tie fabric manufacturing limitations, or port/starboard sides of aircraft tail-fins etc…although, these on fins post-WW2 tended towards the same standard Red/White/Blue design colours used for roundels, and normally dropped the white used in these symbols for RAF aircraft use probably in the late 1970s IIRC)
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I’ve always wondered why this happens…is thrte a known answer?
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Basically it’s a subdued marking. Seems to be the only answer I’ve heard.
(Also costs less having two shades of paint not three).
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On aircraft national identity symbols? Absolutely: it’s for reduced tactical conspicuity.
Whilst many people seem to think that the first time the RAF started toning-down their roundels was during WW2, in the Far East, it had actually a much-longer history than that. Have a read of The History of the RAF Roundel
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But back on-topic:
Amen: this, in the modern day, is vitally important. Way back in earlier eras, there would’ve been protocols that would have frowned upon such a thing.
That was when the Air Force was a vast organisation, and the differentials between all the component parts of the RAF family were rigidly-maintained.
Nowadays, the wagons have been circled, and there is much more of a ‘total force’ corporate concept being applied, in many ways bonding single-service regulars/reserves & cadets by name, badge & stripe.
Wear that tie: be proud of what you are (or were) a part of: honour the dead, help support the living, and tell your/their story to a world that all-too-often struggles to either care or understand.
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