20th Century British Airborne Cloth Insignia from WWII

[irish]

A grouping of period cloth insignia related to the British Airborne forces of WW2..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[irish]

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[irish]

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[irish]

Reverese

 

[teamski]

Nice patches! I really wished I could have gotten a printed version, but that never happened. Here is my rig.....

 

-Ski

[PaulR]

Are any of them attributed? It would be awesome to have a set from a Market Garden veteran.

[Allan H.]

I thought I might add a few images...

First is a set of formation signs and shoulder titles for the Parachute Regiment. The signs are WWII vintage. The titles, embroidered in Cambridge blue on maroon are immediate post WWII. Note the specialty rate for Light Machine Gun also executed in Cambridge blue on maroon.

[Allan H.]

Here is a set of wartime printed insignia for the Parachute Regiment with a matched pair of shoulder titles and a matched pair of printed formation signs.

 

[Allan H.]

Here is some insignia worn by members of the Glider Pilot Regiment. Wartime insignia would include the AAC cap badge. After the war, the Glider Pilot Regiment received their own cap badge, complete with King's crown, but they are definitely not wartime.

 

[Allan H.]

Ham and jam, ham and jam! Up the Ox and Bucks! The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire regiment supplied a battalion as part of the air landing brigade. It was the OXF & BUCKS that assaulted the Orne River Bridge on D-Day.

 

[Allan H.]

The South Staffordshire Regiment is unique in that one battalion served as part of the Air Landing Brigade in Europe and the second battalion served with Orde Wingate's Chindits in Burma.

 

You will find cap badges for other Air Landing units here to include the King's Own Scottish Borderers, The Border Regiment, The Oxf & Bucks, The Royal Ulster Rifles and others.

[Allan H.]

These aren't the prettiest, but they are real. Insignia of the Border Regiment.

[irish]

Allan, great looking insignia. Particularly the blue on maroon para regiment titles which are not as often seen. I was told by a British collector that the larger version of the glider pilot wing (lion and crown type) is a post WW2 issue. The smaller version being WW2 era. Have you ever heard this before ?. I have both versions in my collection also.

Jack

[teamski]

Nice patches Allen!

 

-Ski

[Allan H.]

Jack,

 

My larger Glider Pilot wing is a gorgeous piece It is thickly padded and is just a work of art. The piece actually came to me from a WWII American Glider Pilot veteran. Additionally, a mutual friend of ours has other large GP wings from some Ladbroke veterans. I believe your British friend to be mistaken.

 

On the blue on maroon Parachute titles, I was told that these colors were first worn for the Victory parade in London, and that they were not worn for very long before subsequent changes occurred.

 

Allan

[Gunslinger]

I was told by a British collector that the larger version of the glider pilot wing (lion and crown type) is a post WW2 issue. The smaller version being WW2 era. Have you ever heard this before ?

 

Jack,

 

Allan is partial correct, the Larger size are most definitely WWII issue and there was a smaller version displaying the same embroidery practice as the larger size, these were used for Dress (at least that has been my understanding for many years). The WWII era smaller brevet shouldn't be confused with the Post 1950's era brevet, the difference is always in the details.

 

CDub

[Gunslinger]

Allan,

 

Very nice selection of Airborne insignia.

 

 

CDub

[irish]

I will need to go back in and look at mine. I had my larger version in with the Post WW2 (pre 1952) era pieces

[Eric Queen]

Some really super insignia here. Something I have always been interested in but have never really known enough about it to take the plunge. The only Pegasus set I have is on a BD which came directly from the veteran.

 

Lt. Josef "Jos" Ghys joined the Belgian Independent Parachute Company in May of 1942 which later became the 5th SAS. He took part in two jumps behind enemy lines (operation Chaucer and operation Caliban)

 

I have signed letter from him which was sent with the BD and loose insignia.

[Eric Queen]

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[Eric Queen]

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[Eric Queen]

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[Eric Queen]

I do though have some original portraits of the insignia being worn. Here is one of L. Lams

[Gunslinger]

Here are some printed example made Calico Printers

 

 

 

 

CDub

[Gunslinger]

Here are some higher quality embroidered examples

 

 

 

 

CDub