Peter ? Air Force snipers????

[Surpmil]

Capt. C. Shore, RAF Regiment: "With British Snipers to the Reich".

[Thunderbox]

Capt. C. Shore, RAF Regiment: "With British Snipers to the Reich".

Have you found a reference which actually confirms C Shore's regiment? I ask, because in his book he is very careful to obscure which unit he is actually commissioned into. Most of the narrative seems to indicate that he is actually in the Army, rather than the RAF - use of Army ranks & terminology, etc. Because he spends most of his service attached to various other units & schools, the RAF references tend to be of third parties.

The main photo of him - on page 135 of the version I have - shows him wearing the uniform & Tam O'shanter of a Scottish battalion. He does include a photo of the "first RAF Regiment sniper course" at Sylt between Dec 45 and Jan 46 - but he is again wearing the same Scottish headgear. I'm not sure the RAF or RAF Regiment have ever worn "regional" uniforms.

Reading his book with a military eye, it looks like he was in the RAF (but not the RAF Regiment; this only formed in 1942, and Shore appears to have been in service since 1939) up to the rank of corporal, then transferred via officer school into an Army unit.

[Peter Laidler]

It's most common to wear the hat of the units that you happen to be attached to. For example, Corps troops attached to the Guards wear their kakhi colourse beret and those attached to the Jocks wear the tan-o-shanters too. It's taken a turn for the worse recently because those attached to 16 Para Brigade are now wearing the Paratroopers maroon beret. Wearing the Maroon Beret was FIERCELY protected by real Paratroopers who have done 'P' Company AND passed the course AND been awarded their parachute wings AND were Airborne troops. (Yep, did P Company and the proper full course and got the wings but never went into Airborne forces and therefore never wore the coveted Maroon Beret..... Hence the wings but standard navy/black beret in the Sten gun book since you ask!) Alas, even those not even parachute trained now wear the maroon beret. Where were we........? Yes..., wearing the unit beret/hat was always acceptable.

Capt Shore does half indicate that he was RAF Regiment in the book but it was confirmed to me by Major McCaw who ran the sniping school at Bisley that he was RAF. He is believed to feature in a photo of sniping school personnel as wearing the usual combat stuff of the time but just visible in the cap is an RAF badge. Incidentally, the RAF badge could easily be mistaken for the Lovat Scouts badge too...., so don't be mislead.

Where were we? Ah, yes..., RAF snipers. And yes, made a phone call and they do attend the current sniper courses and are employed in 'hot climes'. They usually 'ply their trade' with and alongside Army snipers.

[Surpmil]

Capt. Shore was a great admirer of the Lovat Scouts from his comments in the book and no doubt considered it an honour to wear their headdress, if he could.

[duggaboy]

love those clays, especially when I planted them. CLICK CLACK anyone?

[Thunderbox]

As an all-arms-P-Company maroon beret & wings wearing individual I did once have to save some "hats" from an airborne lynch mob, when the new Brigade Commander gave the order for all Brigade personnel (including - gasp! - women!) to wear the maroon beret..... The outraged toms were slightly mollified when the attached Royal Marines personnel also had to dump their cabbage hats and wear maroon. In para logic, this grouped the RM along with the women and remfs.... Cue a few massive punch-ups on the next "purple" exercise...

C Shore's status is confusing - I'm sure all wartime RAF Regiment personnel continued to wear RAF headgear, even when they were "attached arms". The ranks he uses - including his own, of course - are Army. Today's Rock Apes use RAF ranks, e.g. Flight Lieutenant instead of Captain. As far as I am aware, this was also true during WW2.