Glider Pilot Regiment blazer, mess waiter or tunic button in gilt flat finish, produced in the King’s Crown pattern worn from 1942 to 1953 by all ranks of the Glider Pilot Regiment, Army Air Corps, of the British Army. This British Army airborne forces button displays the recognised regimental device in clear relief, incorporating an eagle alighting with wings spread as the central device, within a scroll inscribed “GLIDER PILOT REGIMENT” on which the eagle stands, the whole surmounted by a King’s Crown at the topmost point. The flat gilt finish is consistent with the production standard for blazer, mess waiter or tunic-size and small flat-shank buttons of this period. The King’s Crown surmounting the device dates this example to the period from the regiment’s formation in 1942 until the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in February 1952, after which the Queen’s Crown pattern was introduced, making this a button of exclusively Second World War and immediate post-war production.
The Glider Pilot Regiment was formally inaugurated on 24 February 1942 as part of the Army Air Corps, which at that time comprised the Glider Pilot Regiment, the Parachute Regiment, and the Special Air Service. The regiment was conceived to create what its commanding officer, Colonel George Chatterton, termed “Total Soldiers” — men trained to the standard of RAF aircrew as pilots, and simultaneously trained to fight as infantry soldiers with all weapons on the ground after landing their gliders in battle. Volunteers were drawn from across the British Army and subjected to RAF aircrew selection standards followed by an intensive military training programme. The regiment’s pilots flew Airspeed Horsa and General Aircraft Hamilcar gliders, the Horsa capable of carrying twenty-eight fully armed and equipped airborne soldiers or a Jeep and trailer, while the larger Hamilcar could carry a light tank. The regiment participated in every major British airborne operation of the Second World War, including the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, the D-Day landings at Normandy in June 1944 — most notably the precision night glider assault on the Orne River bridges — Operation Market Garden at Arnhem in September 1944, and Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine, in March 1945. The regiment suffered exceptionally high casualty rates in action, gaining the distinction of the highest casualties per head of any regiment of the British Army during the conflict. Following the war, the regiment continued in service, participating in operations in Korea and other emergencies, before being disbanded on 1 September 1957 when glider operations were superseded by helicopter-borne assault as part of the reorganisation following the 1957 Defence White Paper, with the regiment’s pilots forming part of the new Army Air Corps.
Manufactured in flat gilt finish consistent with British Army airborne forces blazer, mess waiter or tunic button production of the 1942 to 1953 period, this example provides a well-defined representation of the Glider Pilot Regiment King’s Crown service button. Glider Pilot Regiment King’s Crown buttons are collected as examples of Second World War British airborne forces militaria, uniform hardware of the Army Air Corps in its original formation, and insignia associated with one of the most operationally distinctive and historically significant regiments of the Second World War.
Dimensions 17mm in diameter
Condition Very good
