Unusual Pilot... Help with ID

[Battery Command Post]

Rob: We need to hear from BlueBadger to see what he has concluded. Last heard he had the lower right ribbon ID'd as (I think) the US WWI Occupation Ribbon and two in the upper row were questionable. He did conclude that they are all WWI ribbons. Hopefully BlueBadger will will bring us up to date on his present thoughts. But the problem I have with the ribbons is that they are entirely from an earlier war, and I don't think that the guy in the picture looks old enough to have participated in WWI, especially if he was a volunteer in the French army. But that's part of the mystery here.

Only the ribbons are a problem.

And according to asterpious (post #21) the VR device on the man's left lapel is an RAF Volunteer Reserve from before the war, which would suggest that the guy in the photo didn't take part in the Arnold Scheme since he would already have been a pilot. The problem is that everything about this guy is a guess, which shouldn't be the case if the uniform was up to snuff and regulation. Dwight

I'm afraid the information in post 21 is erroneous. The RAFVR were actually the primary source of new aircrew throughout WW2, most new wartime recruits for the RAF were placed in the RAFVR. In fact, it is estimated that over 90% of Bomber Command's crews were RAFVR by the war's end. Only the wearing of the the VR brass collar badge was discontinued in 1943. It would be usual for an Arnold Scheme man to be RAFVR in reality.

Rob

[drmessimer]

Rob: Thanks for that information. Is it safe to infer from what you have said that the guy in the photo is actually an RAF pilot who went through the Arnold Scheme flight training program and for some reason removed his RAF wings for the photo session and wore only the USAAF wingson a tunic that is, or isn't, an RAF tunic with US Army buttons? If that's the case it would be a plausible explanation for the photo, though certainly unusual, but we still have the mystery of the WWI French ribbons. Dwight