Original American Used British 1937 Pattern Battledress, 12th and 8th Air Force, Colonel Richard Elvins, Chief Surgeon MTO

Original American Used British 1937 Pattern Battledress, 12th and 8th Air Force, Colonel Richard Elvins, Chief Surgeon MTOAn original British Battledress tunic, 1937 "Serge" pattern. This is the pre war variant, that wasn't quite so restricted in terms of material use. The Americans entered the war wearing the M 1941 jacket. This jacket was quite unpopular, it was difficult to clean, not very hard wearing and not particularly warm in the harsh UK climate. The ETO jacket was the answer to this, it was designed from British Battledress material (a heavy wool), unlined, and

An original British Battledress tunic, 1937 "Serge" pattern. This is the pre-war variant, that wasn't quite so restricted in terms of material use.

The Americans entered the war wearing the M-1941 jacket.  This jacket was quite unpopular, it was difficult to clean, not very hard wearing and not particularly warm in the harsh UK climate.  The ETO jacket was the answer to this, it was designed from British Battledress material (a heavy wool), unlined, and with a tailored collar for a shirt and tie, unlike the Battledress in mimicked.  It is quite an unusual jacket to see worn in old photographs, but is most usually associated with the US Army Air Forces.

Even more unusually seen, is American personnel obtaining and wearing British BD.  This is what we have here, the tunic having been obtained by us from the United States. 

The tunic is in excellent condition, no significant soiling or staining, no significant areas of mothing, but one or two nips in places (pictured) and no rips or tears.  None of the patches or stitching glow under blacklight, denoting natural fibres and not any post-war synthetical material. It has the following interesting features;

1. A pair of beautiful bullion and likely British made "Full Bird" Colonel rank insignia.

2. A 8th Air Force SSI, British made, one of the British 8th patch variants that seemed to be quite prevalent. 

3. Standard U.S. issue buttons have been added to the epaulettes, but the front fastening retains the British dished buttons. A further button has been added in the centre of the waist band, and the crude metal clasp to secure the waist strap has been replaced with another button.

4. Fabric wings, Senior Pilot. A further patch was found in the pocket, which is for the grade above, Command Pilot, although I can't confirm he ever achieved this. He is noted as a Flight Surgeon when he was a field officer.

5. Label shows the manufacturer as The West Auckland Clothing Company, based in Bishop's Auckland and a manufacture date of 21 April 1942. Size 12.

6. Looks to be two white markings to the inside, possibly the size (12) and two letters, but I can't make them out.

7. Marked AID BBG inside the lining, near the button holes. There seems to be some debate as to what this denotes, but the most likely theory seems to be that the AID stands for Aeronautical Inspection Directorate, with initials of the inspector. The British 2nd Tactical Air Force were issued with Army Battledress, so it is feasible that an Army BD would have an RAF related stamping. This also provides a theory as to how the tunic ended up with an American, as US and RAF aircrews would often intermingle, with aircraft putting down at the nearest fields in the event of bad weather or an emergency.

8. Marked twice on the label with the name Elvins and twice on the waistband with the initials R.E.

This is the uniform of Colonel Dr. Richard Elvins, chief surgeon and Senior Pilot with both the 8th and 12th Air Forces. 

Elvins arrived in England in 1942. The 12th Air Force medical element was formed from individuals in the US, or with the 8th in England and we have it confirmed that Elvins left England in October 1942. Presumably he was attached to the 8th and this is how he obtained his tunic.

He set up his headquarters at Tafaraoul airfield in November 1942. He was influential in arranging the system of airlifting casualties back from North Africa and worked closely in this task with the commander of the 12th, Jimmy Doolittle. He was also part of ensuring hospitals were attached to the airfields in southern Italy and Sicily as the war went on.

By early '44 he was the chief surgeon for all air forces operating the Mediterranean, so overseeing both 12th and 15th air forces. He was superceded in this role in April 1944 and was back in the US by October 1944.

He is referenced numerous times in the book (Medical Services in the Mediterranean Theatre) available online on the AMEDD Centre of History and Heritage website.

Chat GPT has produced a fantastic history of his career, which I will provide to the purchaser upon request.

A fantastic item.