Looking for Year of uniform please

Hi there,

I have posted a picture of this uniform, of which I have only minor information, on the medals section because I was after identifying two of the 4 ribbons.

This has now been solved, what I am now looking for is a year that the uniform belongs to.

The information I have is all in the pictures.

I am buying it at the moment via ebay but all I have been told is that the Cap is of 1968, the uniform was bought at action and been in storage since. I can tell by the style that it is post 1946 as in 1947 (From research so please correct if wrong) they changed the button count to 3, from 4.

Any help would be seriously appreciated, thank you.

Here are the pictures.

 

I think this is the site you want;

Royal Air Force Uniforms

and for their RAF home page for the details;

RAF Badges and Insignia

I think the jacket is the 1960-63 pattern, but you may decide differently

P.S. i think by just adding a lower button it is near as anything the same as 1941 pattern

Hope this helps

 

Fancy bumping into you again

Thank you for the site, will have a look. The cap is definitely 1968, as it's printed inside, and I can add the button and shall be doing. It was the pattern I was most concerned about.

To be honest I'm just happy that it shall soon be in my possession.

I went to join the RAF, and Navy. Once each, but failed the medical on both occasions

 

I'm surprised the army didn't force you to join! They love that sort of recommendation

 

I like the statement, made me laugh
I didn't really feel the Army was my place. I was a member of the ATC and have always loved flying, plus I'm only 5ft 2 so submarines felt ideal, but I was underweight

I know this is going to sound really odd...but.. does the unifrom I am about to get look reversed? Shouldn't it button the other way?

Also looking at the first site you linked I am more than convinced it's of the same era as the cap, so 1960's.

 

I hadn't spotted that buttoning wrong way thing - I think you're right - i believe that would make it a WRAF jacket, but the photos i could find show only the men's buttoning on WRAFs wearing similar style jackets - the reverse way i only found on the jacket with the cutaway lower front or some dubious reproductions.

I'll keep looking, possibly sometime in the sixties they made some silly decision like all the women should wear the same jacket as the men, but still it should button the other way. Can't find any references to that though, but that's the sort of things civil servants do from time to time

Definitely can't find reference to it in RAF/WRAF, so maybe RCAF was more gender neutral in their uniforms? again can't find any references, sorry. Maybe you have a unique item

 

Well there's no cutaway that I can see on the photos, and it's possible that the camera has reversed the image, or there 35mm pictures scanned in??

Or as you say a reproduction, although the seller has said otherwise... umm, your really making me think now...

I've just emailed the seller to find out more.

I certainly couldn't wear it like that

Thank you for the info.

 

The medals are on the correct side - so think isn't a reverse photo

also looks authentic enough to me from photos - maybe a maverick transgender confused RAF man/woman got it made specially to prove a point?

P.S. i doubt if anyone would notice and certainly i'd be surprised if anyone claimed to know for certain it never happened

 

Whoa!!! Now that's the most hilarious, not to mention controversial back story I've ever heard

 

Just wait - probably the original owner will come on this forum and tell his/her story

 

You know, after reading through various posts and seeing some rather bizarre things I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest

 

Just been looking at pictures of WRAF No. 1 Dress and I cant find a single picture of the mans tunic with the buttons reversed. Only normal man's tunic or the female tunic with cutaway and no top pockets...

I'm starting to think you right about the dubious reproduction....

At least I know lol, should of known ebay wouldn't be the best place...

 

seems an odd mistake to make if it is a copy - I still think it might have been a short lived experiment - then maybe surviving ones got passed to the ATC.

Maybe you should speak to a tailor and find the price of getting the buttonholes reversed - I wouldn't think it's much - depends if it is a good price for the jacket if it's worth it, but also it may have been 'women's shape' tailored as well so might be an odd fit?

Just a thought, maybe the medals are on the wrong side, so someone thought to reverse the photo so they looked right?

 

Well so far I'm getting the whole uniform, Tunic - Trousers - Cap plus all attached parts for under £50 but it did take me the best part of 3 hrs to find it as it's not listed per normal militaria.

My mothers a seamstress so it can be altered, but not by Thursday's Dance social So it looks like a trip to the tailors.
Not to much of a problem if it is a woman's fit as im short and slight anyway lol so that could work to my advantage. Not saying I have breasts and curves, but still

 

I believe you can get them easily enough these days if you need to 'expand' into the uniform

but not by thursday i expect in this country.

 

I just laughed so hard when I read that... Thank you for the intel but I think on this occasion... I'll pass

 

Wouldn't that mean the belts on upside down?

*EDIT* Here's a flipped picture

 

the belt should be separate anyway - it gets confusing doesn't it

 

I thought I read somewhere along my interweb travels that the belt was attached by a few stitches to the back of the tunic??

Gosh this really is confusing

 

that is quite possibly true. In service i suspect at least some of the belts would have been separated as you would need to remove it to wear other types of belt for certain formal occasions.