Do you see anything unusual on the attachment that I have posted here? I stand to be corrected on what I am thinking and before I indulge my thoughts I wonder if other forum members see something odd here?
I know what it is! Winston Churchill never wears a uniform during ww2, but in this case Churchill is wearing a unifrom? Or is it the obvious cigar in his mouth? Or is it's Churchills big bottom lip?I don't think Churchill had big lips.
Well there is the cigar, that appears and disappears. Was the picture doctored to show it there, or not there? Uniform? He was entitled to wear an Air Commodore's uniform as he was an Honorary A/Cdre of a Balloon Squadron before the war. I'm not sure that he was entitled to pilot's wings; he did take flying lessons at least twice but never qualified (Clementine made him give it up!).
Churchillian Enigma Hi David, Apart from the obvious jumping cigar, I have no knowledge of Churchill ever qualifying for the pilots badge. Cheers Keith. Talk about quick, I go to check my post, and two others pipped me to the post, no pun intended.With a second look he appears to have a very overladen fruit salad.
The cigar is there as a distracter. He certainly wore uniforms I'm sure, but uniforms is where my thoughts were going.
I am taking a guess,Is Churchill wearing a german uniform? I thought Churchill said in a statement that *I'll shall wear no unifrom but only civilian clothes during ww2*
S & g Hi Heidi, You do not appear to have any slip showing, spelling or grammar, however, No! he is not wearing a German uniform, what is happening to the younger generation? :clapping: Cheers Keith ps. subtle use of lower case accepted.
Oh,you mean no mistakes! I have been warned,so i am typing really slowly. I don't know what's with the younger generation,some younger people never had good education in there lives. On Churchills jacket,there is a pair of wings. Churchill was never a pilot? But i think Churchill was though,i have seen a pic of Churchill flying. This guess was just a wild guess.
Is that a Field Marshals Batton he has in his left hand? Also possibly wearing to many Ribands! However his thumb does appear to be missing.
David, while researching old wartime newspapers 2 days ago, I saw a photo of Winnie in uniform and in the left hand seat (can't remember type of aircraft) but the caption said he operated the a/c straight & level for a while to get the hang of things then did several turns. I have also seen a newspaper photo of him in an Air Cdr's uniform, I think attending one of the big conferences - can't say I ever noticed pilot's wings though! Ah remember now - Yalta - Stalin was in the photo with him
David. Could it be this. Churchill's head is stuck on another mans body? The body looks to thin to be Churchill!
We discussed Churchill's right to wear the wings over on rafcommands: CHURCHILL - RAF rank and wings - RafCommands Forums Heidi, everything about the picture is original, except for the flashing cigar. That is not a baton in his hand but the silver tip of his walking/swagger stick Another pic, this time with Portal: Google "air commodore" and "winston churchill" and you find a number of pictures of him in the uniform.
So it's something to do if his uniform? Is it churchill's hat is the problem? Has anyone found out the answer yet?
Heidi, the question centred around whether Churchill was officially allowed to wear the wings just above all the medals. The wings are only supposed to be worn by qualified pilots, and he never qualified. It seems that the wings were given as an honour
Tempus Fugit David, Ditto I still think the pilots badge was wrong, but where did he get that gigantic fruit salad ? Nite, Keith
When Churchill was First Sea Lord just before WW1, he had some flying lessons with the RNAS, under the pretext of needing to gain experience to help him understand the job. He was enthusiastic but showed no aptitude whatsoever. Then his intructor Captain Gilbert Wildman-Lushington RMLI was killed in an accident, and the rest of the Cabinet asked Churchill to desist. Around 1918, when he was effectively unemployed, he tried again, at a private flying school. He had at least one accident, and apparently his wife told him to stop flying. He was probably a frustrated would-be pilot all his life, (I can identify with that), and he certainly seems to have associated with the RAF all his life. His increasing girth made it difficult to fit into military cockpits, but he was invited to be Honorary Air Commodore of 615 sqdn RAuxAF just before WW2 (not a balloon unit as I wrote, I was confusing him with someone else). The picture that Jerome mentions of him in the left hand seat of a cockpit is possibly the one of him at the controls of a Boeing Clipper flying-boat during an Atlantic crossing; he has a cigar on and looks very pleased with himself. Probably there is an anxious BOAC Captain just out of shot. This doesn't explain how he came to be wearing pilot's wings in the photo, though I do have a vague memory that he took them off when realising he had to be a qualified pilot to wear them. I'm not an expert on medal ribbons but he seems to have at least seven rows. According to Wikipedia his post-nominals were KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can), but the first two of these were not granted till after WW2 and not many of the rest have ribbons. Could some of them be for his service at Omdurman and in the Boer War? He would be entitled to the 1914-1918 War Medal as he spent some time on the Western Front with the Scots Guards. His thumb? He is just holding it crooked over his palm. Adrian
From what i know he has many "Ribands" (people they are not ribbons) that he had earned the right to wear including Sth Africa and France, and some other places. Many other Ribands would be honourable, earned during his times as First Sea Lord and other military poistions he held over his long career. So I beleive he was entitled to wear quite a few Ribands. However it would not surprise me if the picture had some added as from memory he didn't usually wear such a rack of "Ribands".
