Polish Airborne beret

[Edwin]

Gents

Just got this one in last nite, Polish airborne beret, maker is "British Beret Basque Ltd" and it's 1943 dated.

Beret was found in Driel, Holland



All feedback is more than welcome



Edwin

[ze-pole]

Hello,
Found in Driel... Too beautifull the story...
Unfortunately, I would say this beret was never used by the Polish paratroopers... To confirm.
ZP

[prosty zolnierz]

this beret is the type that was issued to members of the Royal Air Force.

[Adrian Stevenson]

I must agree.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

My colleague and expert on the 1SBS Gary J. may correct me here, but while British Beret Basque Ltd did supply berets to the Polish 1st Armoured Division my understanding is that A. & J. Gelfer of Glasgow was the sole supplier of first and second pattern berets to the Polish parachute brigade.

Regards,
Tony

[ASR142]

Hi Chaps
The war department did surply ( NOTE NOT INDERVIDUAL MAKERS ) berets to the Polish free forces during WWII ,The maker Gelfer made the polish issued airborne forces berets as well as the black army examples they also are mainly known for the blue / grey and grey G S Caps & side hats for the Polish forces as well as the army and RAF etc . The Polish berets where surplied by the War Office and made by Kangol , British Beret Basque Ltd & Surpake and Gelfer all of these are very distinct in coulor and are of the army pattern and not the RAF pattern :
Army Pattern
The army pattern of beret is distinct in the fact that it is set out in a clock style when looking at the iside of the beret the join of the leather band is set at 6 o'clock position while the eyelets which are always round are set at the 9 o'clock position with the badges being worn at 2 o'clock by British and comonwealth troops while the polish forces wore there badges at the 12 o'clock position with stars below denoting rank etc this also goes for the Polish side hats as the badges tend to be worn at the front and bent around the join .

RAF Pattern
Is distingwishable only from the army patterns in 2 ways the 1st being the location of the eyelets which are positioned at the 2 o'clock position for the badge to be sercured through them by the lugs these are all ways set at the same distance apart and all ways matches the distance of the lugs on a genuine WWII RAF cap badges as this was set down in the manufacturing requiements for both items and then by the coulor which is diffrent from the polish colour which is a distinct grey where the RAF colour is a blue grey .

Important the polish forces did use the other colours of beret that where made as well and not just the grey examples ie black and green etc .

Just for those who are intreasted
The GS cap is made of 3 sections of matrial in most cases which are stiched together to form a cap the joines are normally found at the brims edge with the crown of the cap and then at 3 and 9 O'clock positions with the linning being made up of diffrent sections matching the outer part of the cap , these are worn in a simular manor as a beret is worn . These where worn by british army troops , polish forces other free forces and the RAF who had there own colour of the blue grey which matched their uniform colour .
regards Steve

[Krakow1]

I have never seen a Polish Paratrooper beret with grommets......

Polish Paratrooper berets were all made by Gelfer.

Here are two pages from a book by Piotr Witkowski, expert on 1SBS, "Walczacy Orzel " (Fighting Eagle).

He states that Polish Paratrooper berets were made by Gelfer.

[ASR142]

Hi Chaps some pics from the air borne head dress book please note the text in pic 5 is incorrect as the beret next to it shows a RAF beret also note in the pics the location of the gromits / eyelets as i cant read polish i will need a freind to translate the pages text so i will get back to this thread later regards steve

[Gary J]

I too think this is an RAF Beret ... Not Polish Airborne ....

That is my personal oppinion, ... and remember, just because it appears in a book, doe's not mean the "facts" are correct ....
For example ..... the "Polish Airborne Issue" .. smooth handled 2nd pattern fairbairn .... total fantasy, .... but has been accepted because of heresay ...

As for being found in Driel, ......
Many of the veterans used various berets over the years, ..... and it is highly possible this beret DID belong to a VETERAN, but was NOT his direct wartime issue, ... he simply found a beret closest to what he had to wear at reunions, and it happened to be a dated WW2 RAF item.

[prosty zolnierz]

Hello,
Found in Driel... Too beautifull the story...
Unfortunately, I would say this beret was never used by the Polish paratroopers... To confirm.
ZP

like a lot of artefact's descriptions, the " story " is secondary. my thanks to Gary Larson for bringing tears to my eyes when I came across this