An Cosantóir

49 UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA OF THE AIR CORPS er, the slider rank on the epaulette was not military looking and the wing de- sign, which is based on the metal wing, was added on the recommendation of the author. Lanyards Lanyards of blue and yellow colours were introduced in the 1970s for all army uniforms, however, they were dis- continued by the Air Corps with the in- troduction of the blue uniform as there were no epaulettes on the blue tunics. Air corps officers of general rank do however have epaulettes on their tunic to display the red oval insignia of their rank and the air corps lanyard which was re-introduced by Major General James in 2010. Wings Although Pilot Wings and Non-Pilot Wings had been worn since 1922, they were first mentioned in DFR 7/27. The wings have remained in the same material format of silver and gold metal and bullion thread. The metal and bul- lion wing were not the same designs, and it was an anomaly that continued. In 2010 the then GOC Brig General James standardized all formats of the pilot with design to be that of the metal wing. Non-flying officers wore a half wing in bullion and in 2010 the metal version was introduced. The design of the Enlisted ranks half wing is unique to them, and differs from the officers' half wing. There are three versions; thread, then bullion in 2010 and metal in 2011. During the Emergency 1939/1946 cloth wings were also worn due to the scarci- ty of metal. Unit badges Individual unit badges did not come onstream until 1982 although the per- sonnel of Technical Training Squadron (TTS) did have their own badge until 1982 when they became part of Train- ing Wing. When the new uniform was introduced in 1994 the individual unit badges ceased to be worn. They were re-in- troduced on 3rd January 2012 fol- lowing a submission by the author of designs approved by the various wing commanders. The badges in general incorporate elements of the pre 1994 badges. Irish was used on the badge because that was the guideline for badges at that time (if a badge con- tained English, it must also contain Irish, but it could contain Irish only with- out English). Sources Badges and Insignia of the Irish Defence Forces (Perkins 2019) An tOglách An Cosantoir Military Archives

• Cover