Although I will probably wear my RTR beret and badge at Haggard most of the time I was wondering about getting an SAS badge to go on my maroon beret as well.
I assume it is the cloth type I'm after, but what exactly is the wartime one like?
An army air corp one is just as likely
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
What does that look like?
Very few wore the maroon or sand beret badged as SAS on ops..altho there ARE photos of them wearing them!!! The AAC badge is round with a Bombay Shitehawk with wings spread and AAC on bottom and Kings Crown on top. IMHO one of the nicest bits of insignia around!!
Ive worked out very very roughly from all the photos Ive got that around 1 beret in ten was badged as SAS. Most photos show maroon beret with AAC.
If you want the SAS one though, SoF have a decent cloth one for a fiver that's the WW2 pattern. Originals wore the Winged Dagger and many kept hold of their sand berets as well as regs specified that when this needed replacing, a maroon version would be issued.
I'm surprised if the ratio was 1:10 SAS vs AAC badges as the inclusion in the AAC was more an admin thing to give the regt a 'home'. Getting the winged dagger and SAS wings was a real coup for recruits and it took the Kommandobefehl to stop troopers wearing them.
In fact, if you really want to look SAS '44 then a black beret and tank corps insignia would also look the part 
SAS did become part of the airborne brigade and yes this was for administrative reasons. But after the SAS were told of Hitlers Kommando Order ( 2nd SAS werent told about this until March 44!!! ) a lot of people quite rightly chose to disguise themselves somewhat and wore the AAC maroon beret.
You do see a lot of photos of the SAS in the field badged as SAS.. but most of these photos are staged. The real combat photos very very rarely show SAS badges......I have a photo of 2 SAS troopers getting ready to blow a bridge and they are both wearing AAC maroon! On the other hand Ive got official troop photos before or after ops and they are ALL wearing winged dagger!!! They werent all the Originals!
There is written evidence of the SAS rebadging as RTR AND having false paybooks..but Ive never seen a photo of any trooper wearing this and thats for a reason...because as an SAS man youd want to look like an SAS man in a photo that will be shown to family and friends...another reason why a lot of photos are 'staged'
I always look at it through a soldiers eyes....in combat I dont want to be shot out of hand because of a mere bit of insignia...Id rather survive the war by disguising myself......it makes sense!
The SAS have a long history of subterfuge and disguise and theres no reason to suppose it wasnt always so!
In regards to Airsofting wear what you like on yer ead.......either of the three is acceptable. For renactment Id wear AAC for combat and SAS just for best!
Yeah, I was thinking of wearing it for socialising at Haggard...
I already have the RTR badge and black beret for the game itself.
If I get to this event I'll prob go for AAC maroon..or if there arent any historical fascists running rampant I'll wear the dagger....
