Guest Ian Topham Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Can any one help? From photographs certain members of the Royal Flying Corps wore a style of jacket that crossed over at the front: 1) When was this authorised? 2) Was it only worn by RFC personnel, ( of all ranks )? 3) I have also noticed in photgraphs that RFC individuals wore badges of other regiments (presumably their regiment before transfere to the RFC) was this authorised or unofficial. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian, They were called maternity jackets and worn only by the RFC, both officers & ORs, I am not sure when they were authorised but the date 1912 sticks in my mind. Ian B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Warren Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian I've suspected for sometime that the style of the jacket may have been influenced by those worn by some of the Russian military with an evolving design history going back many many years. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian's correct with the date 1912 for the "maternity jacket" for OR's. However, the officer's version was only adopted in 1914. Officers seconded to the RFC continued to wear their original service dress from their origin unit complete with all badges (this was "official" as they were still counted as being on the strength of their original units). The only difference being their qualification badges such as pilots wings,etc. many photos can be encountered of RFC officers wearing both the 1902 pattern (closed to the neck collars) and 1908 (open collar) tunics with RFC wings between 1912 and 1914. The practice of wearing originator unit badges continued throughout the war. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 The maternity jackets do look Russian - never thought of it before Also worth noting that the RAF issued a standard single breasted uniform to the ORs. However the issue did not happen over night (ie 1 April 1918) and many RAF airman who had been RFC still wore the maternity jacket much later. I have a piccie of my grandfather wearing his in September 1918 at Bettencourt Airfield. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian T, The ORs Service Dress jacket (maternity) for the RFC was first authorized by RACD 7660/1912 on 16 Aug 1912. Its pattern was further "improved" with RACD 7737/1912 on 6 Dec 1912. Pre-war many items of RFC Service Dress went through introduction and quick modification. Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david murdoch Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian. I have a photo of my grandfather serving in Mesopotamia, with an armoured car unit. In it he is the only one wearing a button over style tunic. There are no visable unit - MGC(M) or rank badges. I have several photos, and this is the only one where he or anyone else is wearing this type of tunic. I know he was seconded to the RFC for a short time when in France, and flew as a gunner/observer with an RE8. squadron, so maybe the tunic originated from there. Does anyone know if the Machine gun service or MGC ever issued this type of tunic to it´s motorcyclists or gunners? He is seated second from left in the photo. David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 4 July , 2003 Share Posted 4 July , 2003 Ian I've suspected for sometime that the style of the jacket may have been influenced by those worn by some of the Russian military with an evolving design history going back many many years. David To be honest, I don't think that it was influenced by anything other than practicality (the "wrap-over design being used for wind protection). There is a "look" of certain Imperial Russian tunics in the 1912 tunic,granted, but then again , it also resembles several tunics worn by (especially cavalry) units of the Armies of several countries (including Britain) over the centuries (look at the Ulanka tunic worn by German (and Polish!!) Uhlans, for example). I've heard, however, that there actually may be a link between the Russians and the airforce uniforms, though. This involves the early RAF blue (Russian Blue?) uniforms. I don't know the truth of this, nor any further details.Maybe somebody can elaborate? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerboise Posted 10 March , 2008 Share Posted 10 March , 2008 ... Officers seconded to the RFC continued to wear their original service dress from their origin unit complete with all badges (this was "official" as they were still counted as being on the strength of their original units). The only difference being their qualification badges such as pilots wings,etc. many photos can be encountered of RFC officers wearing both the 1902 pattern (closed to the neck collars) and 1908 (open collar) tunics with RFC wings between 1912 and 1914. The practice of wearing originator unit badges continued throughout the war. Dave. Was it also true for ORs? Thus meaning infantry/Corps soldiers joining RFC and qualifying as pilots (for instance) kept on wearing their 1902 pattern for a while with appropriate badge, etc...?? Cheers. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montbrehain Posted 10 March , 2008 Share Posted 10 March , 2008 I Dont know too much about this subject, but here's a photo from my collection that may be of interest. Notice the Naval officer (RNAS?) "MO" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerboise Posted 10 March , 2008 Share Posted 10 March , 2008 Thanx! It seems that on this picture they all had already adopted the Maternity tunic except the 2 officers in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 2 August , 2016 Share Posted 2 August , 2016 Any more recent thoughts on what inspired the design of RFC "maternity jackets"? Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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