This is the standard BCATP jacket crest which was produced by Crest Craft in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan during WWII. These were all virtually the same size with very similar stitching, but they came in many variations, and numerous BCATP schools used them, as you can see. The first one was probably used at Mossbank, SK. (The photo which came with the crest is of a woman who packed the parachutes for the two aircrew, who had to bail out of a crippled Anson at #2 B&GS, Mossbank, Saskatchewan, and obviously owe her their lives.)
If you look closely at the last badge, you will see that it is very different from the rest. It has a poorer quality of stitch pattern and doesn't have the Crest Craft stamp or label, which was usually (but not always) applied to the backs of their crests, so possibly it's a knock-off. The third crest is from #3 Wireless School in Winnipeg (Class 75?) Note that below there is another very different crest from #3WS, and now I'm not so sure it is of the quality to be called a Crest Craft production. The sixth scan, another in the Motor Transport series, is from the Repair Depot in Scoudouc, PQ.
Here is a photo of Rusty Haug (see story on linking page) wearing one of these Crest Craft crests. He was home on leave from #15 SFTS Claresholm, AB (The fourth crest above is the actual crest in the photo.). It seems to me that these crests are so rare because once a man got his wings and began to fly operationally, wearing the SFTS crest would seem like wearing your high school football crest when you were playing university ball. It just wouldn't seem appropriate to show it off any longer (and if you washed out, you wouldn't be showing it off at all). I have a photo of Rusty on leave in England with the same sweater, this time without the crest!-----------------------------------------------
A lot of what I say on this website is me thinking out loud, so if you see something with which you disagree or something I need enlightening about, please feel free to comment. In the many crests which I have seen so far, I have to say that Crest Craft was by far the leader in artistry and quality of work. And Gustav Werle, the owner, was no fool. Again and again, we see images, shapes, and stitching duplicated, sometimes with slight variations. There are a few variations of eagles which show up on different crests. Also, the crown seen at the top of many of the Crest Craft crests is in their distinctive style. The stitching on the wings is also similar in each crest. I am going to assume that this distinctive crown and wing stitching identifies the work of Crest Craft.
What we have here are doubtless all Crest Craft work: 1) Ball crest-from a crest lot of a man who trained at Virden (#19 EFTS), but the "Hudson" reference may indicate a later training base (or maybe each flight was named after an a/c); 2&3) Airframe badges - origin unknown; 4) The #19 SFTS (Vulcan, Alberta) crest was made by Crest Craft, as it is stamped, and the #3 SFTS (Calgary) has their wing stitching; 5) Fire Fighters - #1 CNS, Rivers, Manitoba; 6a) Instrument Mechanic, also from Rivers; 6b) same crest exactly, except this one is Instrument Maker;7) Bombardier, also from Rivers; 8) Navigator, again from Rivers 9) #7 RC (Repair Centre? Recruiting Centre? Repatriation Centre?), Calgary; 10) #5 B&GS, Dafoe, Sask; 11) Patricia Bay, home of #'s 3 & 32 OTU; 12) an interesting W.O.G. crest, not sure from where. What does the "12" mean, I wonder?; 13) #4 CMU (Construction & Maintenance Unit), Calgary; 14) Gotta love this crest from PEI, likely a W.D. version; 15 & 16)both sides of a Track crest from #23 EFTS (Davidson, then Yorkton, Sask), showing the usual rubber stamp of Crest Craft (but not their usual flare for design); 17) a nice crest from Dafoe B&GS; 18) an interesting RCAF Service Police crest. 19) This crest was earned at Rockcliffe by the Photo Section. An interesting sidelight is that this crest belonged to a German-speaking airman who became an ABC [Airborne Cigar] operator with 101 Squadron. He was unfortunately killed on the infamous Nuremburg raid of March 31, 1944. (At right) Crest Craft stamp on back of another crest. I have now identified four different stamps and two labels that were used by Crest Craft.
Crest Craft seemed to have a significant corner on the market, but there are some fine examples of other makers' work here. 1) The Boundary Bay crest has the silhouette of a B-25 Mitchell, which they used at #5 OTU (Operational Training Unit). 2) The Moncton, NB badge was most likely from #8 SFTS (see Eric Bland page). 3) The Gun Club badge was from #11 SFTS, Yorkton. 4) The #19 SFTS was from Vulcan, Alberta. Note that there is a Crest Craft variety for #19 SFTS above. 5) #9 AOS was in St. Jean, Quebec. 6) #10 AOS was in Chatham, N.B. (I'd like to know the significance of the rabbit and debris in the clouds.) 7) The #4 ITS was from Edmonton, Alberta, and 8) a rare Manning Depot crest, this one for the Rifle Club at #3 M.D. in Edmonton. The last two from the 9) #2 Wireless School in Calgary and 10) the #3 WS in Winnipeg seem to have some common features, probably made by the same company. It seems a lot more research is going to have to be done to find out who the other players in the "crest wars" were.
Getting a crest for your unit wasn't as simple as drawing it up and sending it to the makers. These things had to go through official channels and weren't always a shoe-in. I recall the story of the 407 Squadron "Demons" submitting their idea for a crest, which contained a devil stabbing a U-boat with a trident. The powers-that-be turned it down, probably worried that, with God on our side, we didn't need to be promoting his rival.
The images at the right show how the RCAF encouraged bases to acquire their own crests, BUT ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS. The prototypes they sent along are beautiful works of art. And look at the result--Ray Provick and I have each found a different version of the #2 B&GS crest, of quite different qualities. The first, I'm sure, is a Crest Craft work (note crown and quality) while the second may have come from Moose Jaw, but requires further research. These were probably both samples sent out to Mossbank in order to attract their business.
