Page 68 - Demo

68awarding Allied decorations to British personnel and vice8versa, and in early 1943 the issue was laid before the Air Council for final decision. Its view was that flying badges should not be exchanged. Unfortunately, their decision was not expressed in the most diplomatic of terms: %u2018The Allies like to pretend that their flying badges are awards rather than symbols of qualification, but there is no reason why we should subscribe to such fictions... The Allies must know by now that our ideas about awards are very different from theirs and that we are not prepared to come into line with foreign practices. Instead of accepting their standards, we should try to educate them up to ours.%u201932%u0005%u0017,(+%u0015%u00168? The Principle of Legality dealt with the reconciliation of British and Allied service laws, since it was unacceptable that personnel serving side by side should be subject to different sets of regulations and punishments. As members of the RAFVR, the British felt that Air Force Law should apply, although many of the Allies tried to retain some control over the matter. After all, it was unfair for Allied personnel to be subject to legislation with which, initially at least, they were unfamiliar, even when, as was often the case, British law was more lenient. In the end a series of compromises was agreed. Courts A Spitfire V of No 316 (Czechoslovak) Sqn in 1943.