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Airman Chip Hats...

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reggie2712

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Hi there,

Just wondering what the regulations are about Airman wearing Chip hats?

I would like to get one due to my Great Grandfather, Grandpa and Father all wearing one in the service. Would like to keep this tradition up if you know what I mean.

Advice would be highly welcome as I am clueless!

Cheers
 
You can wear one...You'll have to buy it from the tailors or similar and you only wear it with blues no.2...I wore one as I think berets look ridiculous on me.
 
Hang slack on buying one as I heard a rumour that they're going to be replacing berets with chip hats for no2 dress, going back to our roots and all.
 
Is that the same as the rumour that we're all getting Stable Belts?

Go to the tailors and buy one mate, you'll get grief about it at first for some reason. People in the RAF thrive on herd mentality and if you do anything different they like to have a go. I've always thought they looked smarter and I think they're more comfortable and easier to put on with one hand when you're trying to get out the NAAFI with your hands full.
 
Fantastic thanks chaps,

I have seen them online but they appear not to have holes for the cap badge... Is this the norm? Will I have to bodge my own into it?

I agree they do look better than a beret, my head is not a normal shape (picture a King Edward potato) so a chip hat seems the best option.

And as for the RAF issuing them... is this happening in the near future? Or is it just a suggestion at the moment?
 
reggie2712 said:
Fantastic thanks chaps,


I agree they do look better than a beret, my head is not a normal shape (picture a King Edward potato) so a chip hat seems the best option.

And as for the RAF issuing them... is this happening in the near future? Or is it just a suggestion at the moment?
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Like what you did there :PDT_Xtremez_15:

It usually takes so long to implement changes, I'd buy one now ! All the ones I've seen worn have cap badges on them, so there must be holes somewhere

Gray
 
This is very true.

It is rare that anyone finds themselves comfortable enough with their own sartorial individuality to wear an SD hat and No 2 shoes with greens and an NBC suit until they attain the rank of Chief Tech.
 
If you buy it from the Station tailor they will put the holes and badge in for you.
 
I do look very smart in my Chip Hat. I agree though, you need to be a chief tech before you wear one or you'll look a right tw@t.
Mine was a pressie from Cpl Q cos he said I deserved one
 
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I remember they were withdrawn from issue around 1985,one of the lads I joined up with wanted to wear his dads old chip bag & was a bit deflated until he found out you could still wear it with his Thunderbird jacket...Thought they'd gone the way of the dodo by now....
 
Chip Hat

Chip Hat

spike7451 said:
I remember they were withdrawn from issue around 1985,one of the lads I joined up with wanted to wear his dads old chip bag & was a bit deflated until he found out you could still wear it with his Thunderbird jacket...Thought they'd gone the way of the dodo by now....
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What could be more uniform than a chip hat, the variations in wearing a beret are enormous. I wore a chiphat for the vast majority of my time in, as a migraine sufferer, a beret was a no,no, even as Guard Commander I wore my chip hat, no Rock Ape instructor ever made a comment when doing pre-training. Look at wartime photos, all you will see are chip-hats, my father looked particularly dashing as a LAC in Kenya in 1943.
 
stereolab said:
What could be more uniform than a chip hat, the variations in wearing a beret are enormous. I wore a chiphat for the vast majority of my time in, as a migraine sufferer, a beret was a no,no, even as Guard Commander I wore my chip hat, no Rock Ape instructor ever made a comment when doing pre-training. Look at wartime photos, all you will see are chip-hats, my father looked particularly dashing as a LAC in Kenya in 1943.
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Absolutely, if they were good enough to wear when we were seeing off the Hun they're good enough to wear now. I've worn one ever since I was a jelly-tot, except I never wore when when on Shiny Two because early in my tour a certain Welsh liney set fire to it and I couldn't be arsed to get another and also for the last year 'cos I lost it and again haven't been arsed just yet to get a new one. I've said for years it ought to be worn with No 2 HD, with beret reserved for No 3, though really I think we should bin off berets totally if for no other reason than they are fcuking French!
 
There have been lots of comments on previous threads about forage caps - usually derogatory, but they are smart and as has been said, were once the distinctive RAF headgear.

I never had one but having the wrong shaped head for a beret would have appreciated the opportunity.

Surely some traditions are worth resurrecting / preserving?
 
OldMedic said:
There have been lots of comments on previous threads about forage caps - usually derogatory, but they are smart and as has been said, were once the distinctive RAF headgear.

I never had one but having the wrong shaped head for a beret would have appreciated the opportunity.

Surely some traditions are worth resurrecting / preserving?
Click to expand...

They are smart, however as we all know, to wear one is to be branded a bell end, which is a shame.
 
But what if they were issued and it was decreed that they had to be worn with blues and flying kit and you could only wear a beret with greens?
 
Puma said:
They are smart, however as we all know, to wear one is to be branded a bell end, which is a shame.
Click to expand...

The only people from my POV who speak out against them are the barrack room lawyers, robbed of anything interesting to say after having RAFG shut down on them well over a decade ago...
 
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