Martyn MacDonald Adams
The Uniforms
RAF (Captain 1894)
For a dashing gentleman officer in the RAF a neat moustache is an essential requirement.
The uniform is RAF blue; leathers are black, buttons are blue, the shirt is white, heavy cotton. The tie is RAF blue.
The peak cap is RAF blue with a blue visor. The RAF badge is on the front and has an eagle under a crown on top of oakleaves in a white-bordered circle.
If an officer is qualified to fly (airships) then they have wings insignia on their left breast. Two wings, either side of - an eagle under a crown on top of oakleaves in a white-bordered circle (i.e. the same as on the RAF badge). The upperpart of the collar has small, silver crown badges.
Qualified helmsmen and navigators wear a single wing on the side of an eagle under a crown in a white-bordered circle.
An RAF Captain has a single, bordered, band on each cuff to denote rank. RAF officers do not wear upper shoulder insignia. The uniform is similar in style to an Army uniform, circa 1910 with large jacket pockets.
Officers are equipped with a Sam Browne belt (a waist belt with a diagonal shoulder leather strap) and have a sidearm, a heavy frame revolver (i.e. similar to a Webley).
The trousers are straight (not cavalry style). The boots are tall black leather.
RAFFIA (Major 1894)
The uniform is basically the same as the standard RAF officers’ uniforms except for the jacket’s lower collar which is red with the white letters RAFFIA. There is no insignia on the left breast if the officer is not qualified to fly.
WRAF (Lieutenant 1890) – Ground Pattern
The uniform Eulalia acquired was designed in 1892 and would later be revised to match the 1898 pattern as described above.
Cloth is blue, leather is mid-brown, piping (edging) is in gold.
For junior officers, the cap is normally worn square on top. The cap badge is the standard RAF pattern. Hair should be worn pinned up. The winged badge on the breast is only for flight qualified personnel. The leather neck brace is brown with a small brass buckle at the front. It is not ornate.
The blouse is a heavy white cotton. The tie is RAF blue. Buttons are RAF blue.
Lieutenants do not have the small silver crowns on their collars. There is a leather arm brace for each lower arm. The arm braces do not extend over the hand. The 'leathers' (i.e. belts and pouches) are not visible as they're worn under the skirt. The skirt, which is quite heavy, should reach down to the ankles. There are discreet slits in the sides of the skirt which enable the wearer to access the leathers, pouches, and sidearm (if available) underneath. Below that are brown leather boots with plain brass buckles.
There is a knife scabbard in the right boot, but this has a neat little clip to help prevent someone else from extracting it.
WRAF (Lieutenant 1891) – Air Pattern
This is basically the same as the Ground Pattern, but with brown leather trousers instead of a skirt. These trousers are worn inside the boots.
The leather belt is now worn on the outside. Hanging from the belt are leather pouches containing makeup, a palm pistol at the rear (optional for sidearm qualified personnel), and some other items. Eulalia has managed to attach her hammer (Maxwell) to her right.
There is a lanyard attached to a whistle, for getting people’s attention.
Eulalia’s Pirate Uniform
At the end of Book 3 and in Book 4
Eulalia has taken the WRAF Air Pattern and amended it for her own purposes. When she got her own band of followers, she insisted that aircrew wore a uniform and behaved with the same discipline as those in the RAF. She understood that, without discipline and respect, a pirate crew would not last long and would not attract the right sort of people.
The cloth is now black with red piping. This is because she believes that black is intimidating and also easy to match. The red piping is to highlight the black and also hint at danger, and blood. Leathers are also black. The blouse remains white for contrast, and the tie is now black. Buttons are also black.
The cap badge and collar flashes are red skulls on a black background with a red border. Again, the skulls are there to intimidate.
She has promoted herself to Squadron Leader, so she sports the three red bands with the middle one being thinner on the sleeves following the RAF convention. This pattern is both on the leather wrist protectors and the jacket arms underneath. The leather wrist protectors have silver buckles.
The leather neck brace and shirt collar are similar to the WRAF pattern, but the neck brace is black with small silver buckles. There are no outside pockets on the jacket, but there is an inside pocket for papers and ID.
On her right side on her belt, behind the hammer, is now a pistol in a holster. The pistol is similar in style to a Luger P08 but chambered in a short 0.30” (7.62mm). On the belt to her left is a cutlass scabbard. She retains all the other paraphernalia in the pouches, including her makeup, her ‘knuckles,’ and her palm pistol.
Her other officers wear various combinations of swords and sidearms. Eulalia (aka Miss Porter, aka The She-Demon) allows her officers to adapt the uniform in this regard.
She now has a knife in each of her boots, and these are clipped such that an assailant would find it awkward to pull them out without knowing how. The buckles on her boots are, like the neck brace and wrist protectors, metallic silver (steel) rather than the brass of the RAF.
Illustrations by
Richard Verlander
BADGER INK DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION
https://www.badgerinkdesign.co.uk/