Now thats a good idea!

[ian16th]

A Blue Passport

[Capetonian]

I posted a letter to the UKPA at 0800 on 24th. June pointing out that when the UK leaves the Evil Union, the maroon monstrosities should be replaced forthwith with the old style British passports, and requesting to be one of the first to be issued with one.

I am still waiting for a reply.

In the meantime, 'European Union' has been covered with bandaid on my existing passport.

[Alisoncc]

Got a pile of blue ones wiv their corners cut awf. Some going back to when the old King died.

Have to change them all again when Queenie calls it quits as the coat of arms has a Queens crown on it not a Kings crown. Like what some of us remember is different. Was issued with a greatcoat that had buttons with Kings crown on them. Had to cut them off and sew new ones on. Ian, you might have had Kings crown buttons.

Alison

[Sisemen]

Had an "interesting discussion" with the other members of the RAAFA (WA) board recently regarding the King's versus Queen's crowns on the official logo! That's what you get when you let too many civvies into the show!

[ian16th]

Ian, you might have had Kings crown buttons.
Alison

The 16th Entry of Boy Entrants attested on 22 May 1952, we were the 1st entry of HMQ's reign. The 15th having started in the January, just before the death of George VI.

The printed cards from which we read the Oath of Allegiance were hand corrected, with His Majesty being replaced with Her Majesty etc.
The officer leading the event obviously hadn't got his head around the change and the whole event was rather spoilt with the 'His, err I mean Her' type glitches.

All items of uniform were adorned with the Kings Crown. At this time National Service was at its peak, so stores must have had an enormous amount of Kings Crown pattern kit on hand.

I think the Queens Crown buttons and cap badges became common with the introduction of anodised buttons & badges. If my memory is correct this happened while I was at Lindholme, so would place it in the 1954-56 time frame. I remember I had to buy them and it was quite an effort to change them all, especially my greatcoat. One redeeming fact was that I wasn't still in Boys service, where we had 2 'Best Blue' type uniforms with buttons to clean every day.

Incidentally,the greatcoat that I handed in on demob in 1965 was the same one that I had been issued with in 1952!

Happy Daze

[ian16th]

These 2 pictures from the book 'In Cobbham's Company' are both dated June 1959 and the Kings Crown version of the Squadron Badge is clearly displayed on the Sqdn HQ sign and on the a/c that was the 1st to fly UK - Cape Town non-stop.

214 pics.jpg (54.58 KiB) Viewed 532 times

[OFSO]

Germany migrants: Residents battle asylum seekers in Bautzen ((BBC Report today))

Residents have clashed with asylum seekers in a town in eastern Germany that has become a flashpoint for anti-refugee sentiment.
Some 80 locals, described by police as far-right, brawled with 20 young asylum seekers in Bautzen.
The asylum seekers were chased to their hostel and put under police guard.
The mayor said the town had to avoid becoming a playground for the far right. A curfew has been imposed on the young asylum seekers.
Anti-migrant tensions have been mounting in Bautzen this year.
Locals cheered when a building due to house migrants was set on fire in February.
The following month, President Joachim Gauck was verbally abused when he visited Bautzen to discuss the influx of refugees in Germany.
Bautzen and the nearby town of Niedergurig are home to four asylum shelters.
Bautzen is 60km (38 miles) east of Dresden, where the "anti-Islamisation" Pegida movement began.
Since the arrival last year of 1.1 million irregular migrants and refugees in Germany, some areas, particularly eastern states, have seen a rise in anti-migrant violence as well as support for the anti-Islam AfD party.
Germany's federal police force says there have been 700 attacks on asylum accommodation this year, including 57 arson attacks.

A region with a far-right reputation: analysis by Damien McGuinness, BBC News Berlin
Each fresh outbreak of refugee-related violence is potentially a political problem for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Some voters say large-scale migration could destabilise German society.
As a result the chancellor's conservative coalition has been haemorrhaging voters to the insurgent anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. That's a particular worry given that this weekend voters in Berlin region go to the polls, and next year Mrs Merkel's national government faces re-election.
But many Germans from other parts of Germany are more likely to blame the clashes on racist sentiment, rather than see it as a product of the chancellor's welcoming stance on refugees.
That is because this beautiful area of ex-communist eastern Germany already has a rather ugly reputation for neo-Nazi support and right-wing extremist violence.

[ExSp33db1rd]

In the meantime, 'European Union' has been covered with bandaid on my existing passport.

I wrote the number of my passport on the back cover of my previous issue, saved fiddling around through the pages everytime I had to write the number on Immigration documents. I was almost refused exit from Singapore because I had "defaced" my passport, a heinous crime. Much grovelling and proof that I was about to have to renew it allowed the Jobsworth to let me board the aircraft for departure.

[Capetonian]

Hopefully I will never go to Singapoo again, but my 'defacement' is easily removable if need be. Anyway quite often the check in staff stick the baggage tag on the passport front or back cover so I don't think it's such a heinous crime.
I've been through at least 20 passport control points in about 6 countries since doing it and not had any comment other than an amused grin from a UKBF official at Liverpool.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I also have a very old blue leather cover, with the old logo emblazoned on in gold, into which my passport is inserted, or was, until the coming of the present passports that have to be "swiped". A USA jobsworth demanded that I remove the passport booklet from the cover as he couldn't fold it back to swipe through his gadget, and was damned if he was going to spend time typing all the required data. I guess he had a point.

[unifoxos]

Most immigration jobsworths now seem to want it removed from the cover. I have given up using mine.

[Capetonian]

It is a perfectly reasonable requirement. It's difficult for them to scan it if it's in a cover, and if, like me, you have other bits and bobs in the cover, they'll fall out on the desk.
I rarely side with jobsworths, but here, I do.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Yeah, I've stopped using it for the same reasons.