On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 20:18:16 +0000, Richard Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >Is anyone here an expert on WWI military uniforms? If so, could they >take a quick glance at this photograph? > > http://www.wikitree.com/photo/png/Smith-76395 > >It's of my great uncle, aged about 17 and wearing what seems to be an >WWI-era British army tunic. In later life, however, he claimed to be in >the RAF during WWI. His name (George Smith) makes it too difficult to >verify this in the historical record, but I was hoping someone might be >able to tell me whether it's an RAF or an army tunic. > There was no RAF until April 1918, prior to that it was the Royal Flying Corps which was part of the Army and using its general style and colour of uniform although it did have a distinct pattern of tunic :- http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/re-enactor-info/british/british-ww1-soldier-uniforms-and-equipment/ww1-1915-royal-flying-corp-flight-sgt-pilot.aspx [http://tinyurl.com/lfyqyyl] "Many officers transferred into the Corps from other regiments and continued to wear their former uniforms with just the addition of a pilot’s or observer’s badge" [http://www.armyflying.com/royal-flying-corps-rfc-officers-pattern-tunic/] Many soldiers were moved around various corps/regiments during WW1, some very soon after joining up, so it could easily be a "my new job" photograph with the uniform soon becoming out of date.

On 30/01/15 21:23, Charles Ellson wrote: > There was no RAF until April 1918, prior to that it was the Royal > Flying Corps which was part of the Army and using its general style > and colour of uniform although it did have a distinct pattern of tunic > :- > http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/re-enactor-info/british/british-ww1-soldier-uniforms-and-equipment/ww1-1915-royal-flying-corp-flight-sgt-pilot.aspx > [http://tinyurl.com/lfyqyyl] Interesting. The tunic he's wearing certainly isn't the design shown on that page. The collar is quite different. He was only 17 when the war ended, so he couldn't have been in it for very long. It seemed to me quite likely he joined straight into the RAF in the closing months of the war. But now it seems the army tunic is perhaps evidence that he was in the army (possibly the RFC) before that. > Many soldiers were moved around various corps/regiments during WW1, > some very soon after joining up, so it could easily be a "my new job" > photograph with the uniform soon becoming out of date. That's quite possible. I found the photo in a box of family papers and photos that appear to have been his grandmother's, packed up when the house was sold and forgotten for several generations. It's easy to imagine him sending a "new job" photo to his grandmother when he first signed up. Richard