The Royal Tank Regt black beret

[ian]

Ade hi mate ,unit badges and RAC badges /shoulder titles should not/and must not be mixed it was the same in my day as during the war // both are difrerent and never the twain should meet / RAC was ever and will ever be training unit , as far as i know and history tels no soldier went to war with RAC cap badge or shoulder titles , now i stand willing to learn as allways
cheers mate ian

[ian]

i have to say guys , without the RTR sleeve badge everything makes sence with these blouses but RTR sleeve badges and RAC shoulder titles do not add up , something is wrong ,for an RTR sleeve badge the shoulder titles should be RTR for RAC , no sleeve badge at all ???
that goes for war time and post war cheers ian

[LucN]

Ian, thanks for your comments. I don't believe there was a RTR shoulder title at all. There was a black on khaki shoulder slip-on at the outbreak of war, but it was replaced by "Royal Armoured Corps" (ACI905 of June 1943) as the only regimental designation for armoured units except the reconnaissance corps.

[ian]

there are brass shoulder titles and i think 3 types of cloth titles from the war time , il look tomorow and post them for you
for the royal tank regs im not sure of the numbers but i think there were over 45 rtr regs in ww2 mabe more
but an way the rac and the rtr were very diferent , the rtr were part of the rac but like all rac reg badged diferently
im hageling with o0ne of the big boys on this at the mo so lets see mabe i may have to eat loads of humble pie cheers ian

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Luc, that is my understanding too. Never seen a cloth RTR shoulder title in WW2.

Hi Ian, I look forwards to seeing what you can find.

Cheers, Ade.

[ian]

right here we go ,,,,,loads of humble pie here .. ive just talked to a good friend ex wo1 1st rtr wo tels me there were NO CLOTH TITLES (squeek squeek)
but he also said that the rac titles ment RAC centre training unit (NOT COMMBAT AT THAT TIME ) ok come on boy.s 50% right
can i with draw one sqeek there ADE
seems i was right about it being a training thing ,

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ian, here you go. 50% right.

Here is a typical wartime era photo taken during training. The RAC cap badge would not have been worn after training, as the soldier would then have been posted to a unit, RTR, a Cav Regiment, etc, and would then have worn the Regimental cap badge.

But the cloth shoulder title would have continued to be worn.

Cheers, Ade.

[ian]

im suprised that his berret is right and rear , you learnt to ware it down bothsides , and you never ever ever admited to bieng rac trained , cos you would get sorted very fast by the old sweats , to have those titles was like saying you were a public school boy , black eyes were an every day thing
BUT as you say that was my day . things may have bin diferent back then ,,but i think not that different ... i think most of the lads who went rtr would have hidden the fact of rac training so mabe the rtr sleave badge was worn with rac shoulder titles prior to pass out from training ,, talk about asking to be bullied ,
oh well , of subject again ,, i think one squeek and 75%,for this one
OK OK dont shoot cheers ian
if you went through the regimental school to get your B trades then the boys gave respect but central schools RAC = oh fu-k
,pain, hurt , ouch and thing of that ilk . a good shaped tankie berret and a closed gob , thats the way to go

[ian]

Here is a tankie beret , down both sides , none of this over the left eye biz an all. All to do with head sets for radios, it's a good feeling to be different?

cheers ian

[Adrian Stevenson]

Oh yes, the old "It's the headset's fault" wheeze...

Here is another photo for you.

RAC cap badge but with RTR slip on shoulder titles.

Cheers, Ade.