Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me with a question please. My grandfather was an LAC gunner in the RAF regiment during WW2. We have a photo of him with a group of men (him plus 15 men) and wondered if it could be the squad he was in. If so, as an LAC, would he have been superior to the other men as he is centre photo with a diferent appearance to his uniform (different belt, different arm markings, different breast badges & he wears a beret hat). Thankyou. * sorry I can't upload photo as too big in size and unable to scan.
With regard to the belt. He is wearing a standard RAF webbing belt which was blue. At one time RAF police and other security details which might include RAF Regiment wore army issue webbing and were later issued RAF blue webbing. It would therefore seem that he has a newer issue belt than the others. He also appears to have some medal ribbons up which the others do not. He has his NCO chevrons on his arm - as an NCO he would be expected to show a higher degree of smartness
Hi Michele, As Steve said above, if he is centre in this pic, he's the Corporal whilst all the others are LACs. I would agree this appears to either be a section picture or a training unit picture. As for the medals, although the picture isn't great to break out the ribbons, I suspect there are three ribbons. The first being possibly the 1939-45 star, unsure of the middle ribbon but a guess is the Africa Star and the last looks like the France and Germany Star. With that combination, this pic would be sometime mid to late 1945 due to the release of the F&G Star and the lack of War Medal. But finding someone with knowledge of RAF Regiment uniforms might be a better way of dating this picture. Good luck!
I cannot see any of them with the 2 bladed prop badge of an LAC. All I see is the RAF shoulder eagle ¬hing else lower on on the arm. (Except the Cpl.)
Thanks for your replies. I know my grandfather was made LAC during his service but not a cpl. Could he have been made a cpl without it showing on his record?
Might be an idea to post his complete records on your other thread and members could help you further decipher them Service records research 2825 squadron RAF
Apart from the Corporal,the others are AC2 and from the immediate post war with the numbers wearing the forage cap. The group would be AC2 on service entry leading to AC1 classification on successfully passing their trade course. After the war, the beret replaced the forage cap as part of the working blue and the peaked cap replaced the forage cap for the dress uniform (best blue) This group are all wearing their best blue with their forage caps.Despite this change in uniform.many continued to wear a forage cap as a sign of "I'm of long service... get some time in". I have never heard of anyone wearing a forage cap after the change and being charged as "improperly dressed" I cannot see "RAF Regiment" at the top of the sleeve where it would normally be just above the eagle which leads me to think that the group is a u/t group ( AC2s) with a corporal.It looks to be an informal photograph taken on grass...a formal photograph would have a background such as on a square or in front of building with a paved area.The corporal is not wearing a webbing belt which points to an informal photograph and the belt he is wearing is the normal belt of the dress uniform (best blue).The wearing of a beret,the only one in the group does not give the impression of photograph formality. Like all trades which indicate the trade on the uniform by flash etc,an airman would not be issued with a trade flash unless he had passed out from the trade initial course.He would then be reclassified as an AC1 (RAF Police so passed out as AC1s but were promoted to Corporal (unpaid) as the minimum rank in the branch of service. The RAF Regiment was formed about 1942 to replace army defence units,(Ack Ack) on RAF Stations.At the start of the war these army defence units were commanded by older army officers who were brought out of retirement and usually had served in the Great War.RAF air units were allocated numbers from 1-1999 but in the event of the regiment formation, the numbers allocated to regiment squadrons were selected from the next higher numbers.
Thankyou for that. Can I just ask what a u/t group are please? I will try and copy his records and put on my other thread as mentioned to seek some further help with making them out.
