Military Picture Analysis
Was my ancestor in the Army or the RAF?
QThis is my grandfather during the Second World War. My father always said he was in the Army in North Africa, but my aunt recently told me that he was in India repairing the upholstery on planes as he was an upholsterer by trade, so it’s not clear whether I should be searching for Army or Royal Air Force service records for him. I’m wondering if the uniform gives any clues.
AThis is a photograph of a serviceman in tropical kit taken in either India or North Africa. It illustrates how, during the Second World War, uniforms became steadily more practical and, in many respects, indistinguishable between the services.
It also illustrates a problem with blackand-white photography, because some army variants of his jacket were in jungle green, which appears khaki in photographs.
There may be another way to decide which service he was in. If you have his medals, and if he served in North Africa between June 1940 and May 1943, he should have received the Africa Star. This medal is starshaped and has a pale-buff background (representing sand) with a broad red stripe centrally and blue stripes (one dark, on the left, and pale blue, right) representing the Navy and the Royal Air Force. There was no specific medal for service in India, although if he served in Bengal or Assam (bordering Burma), he might have been entitled to the Burma Star. This had a red central stripe with dark blue and orange on each side.
I’m by no means certain that he’s RAF, but it would make sense for a trained upholsterer to serve in India. Although all-metal aircraft were introduced during the war, India tended to receive these later than other war zones and there were likely to be plenty of older aircraft with canvas surfaces still in operation as trainers, or on the North-West Frontier. Phil Tomaselli
1TUNIC
Your grandfather is wearing a tropical four-pocket tunic made of khaki drill cotton. These were designed to be both light and durable, and had long sleeves that could easily be rolled up in hot weather. They were meant to be worn without a shirt. The style of the breast pockets appears to be RAF.
2INSIGNIA
There are no insignia on his upper arms. I’d expect most army tunics to sport a divisional badge.
3BELT3BELT ATTACHMENTS
There doesn’t appear to be anything on the jacket to which a belt could be attached. Army jackets had an intrinsic buckle where the belt could be inserted.
4TROUSERS
Although the British Army adopted trousers for jungle warfare, the jacket would normally be tucked in at the waist.
5FOOTWEAR
This seems to be black shoes not light boots, making him RAF rather than Army.