British Royal Armoured Corps BD Blouse

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, this is another BD blouse from my collection.

Finding originally badged BD's to famous units is hard, even in the UK.

This one is for a member of the Royal Tank Regt and part of the famous 79th Armoured Division. They operated the "Funnies" , the special purpose armoured fighting vehicles on D Day and OP "Varsity", the Rhine Crossing.

The blouse is a 1940 Austerity pattern, dated 1943. I bought this together with the same man's 1937 pattern BD trousers. Note the large size. The trousers are also large sized to match. Big sizes are hard to find and it is slightly unusual to find for a man over 6 feet tall and serving in AFV's. The blouse has been tailored to fit, as evidenced by the diagonal pleats to the breast, which can been seen in the ribbon bar pic.

Medal ribbons are for the 1939-1943 Star and the Africa Star. There are red service chevrons and a good conduct chevron on the cuffs.

Divisional insignia is in printed format. The WW1 pattern tank insignia denotes a member of the Royal Tank Regt, while the red/yellow arm of service strips are for the RAC.

Cheers, Ade.

[Dutch Lion]

hi guys, this is another bd blouse from my collection.

Finding originally badged bd's to famous units is hard, even in the uk.

This one is for a member of the royal tank regt and part of the famous 79th armoured division. They operated the "funnies" , the special purpose armoured fighting vehicles on d day and op "varsity", the rhine crossing.

The blouse is a 1940 austerity pattern, dated 1943. I bought this together with the same man's 1937 pattern bd trousers. Note the large size. The trousers are also large sized to match. Big sizes are hard to find and it is slightly unusual to find for a man over 6 feet tall and serving in afv's. The blouse has been tailored to fit, as evidenced by the diagonal pleats to the breast, which can been seen in the ribbon bar pic.

Medal ribbons are for the 1939-1943 star and the africa star. There are red service chevrons and a good conduct chevron on the cuffs.

Divisional insignia is in printed format. The ww1 pattern tank insignia denotes a member of the royal tank regt, while the red/yellow arm of service strips are for the rac.

Cheers, ade.

outstanding !!!!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks for the kind comments.

This BD really shows how an originally badged BD should look. See how the insignia has sunk into the wool?

Cheers, Ade.

[joseph barrett]

Very nice indeed I am really jealous about that one.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Joseph, like you, I am from Nottingham. This blouse came to me back in 1989 and it was obtained locally and was hung on an old wooden coat hanger with a local tailor's name stamped on the wood. I would really like to discover this man's history as the chances are he was from Nottingham too.

Cheers, Ade.

[joseph barrett]

Hi Ade I am actually in South Derbyshire the same as you but with a notts post code as am on the border, perhaps we are neighbours and not realized it.

[Jerry B]

Very nice BD Ade and interesting how similar the cloth RAC titles are to those on the BD I bought recently, as you mentioned and also how both sets are mounted high on the sleeve.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks Jerry.

I know I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but what the pics don't really fully capture is how the insignia is "sunk" into the wool of the blouse with age and wear.

Cheers, Ade.