Surprise with the US Air Force Reserve Pipe Band Tartan

[mookien]

Actually, in terms of color blocks, stripes, and proportions, the Strathmore Air Force tartan is absolutely identical to the US 2001 Air Force tartan, with the sole exception that the green stripe is gold in the Strathmore tartan.

That is correct (as far as I can tell, anyway)

The US Air Force Reserve Pipe Band tartan is actually quite different from the Strathmore tartan.

**** The following comment is in error. It is corrected in post #16 ****

Also true, though my comment was directed at the Lady Jane tartan, not the " ... Pipe Band" tartan. The Lady Jane also appears to be identical to the US 2001 Air Force tartan with only one exception. The "space" between the double dark blue stripes is larger - 30 threads vs. 14 threads, assuming I am now reading the threadcounts correctly (a tenuous assumption indeed).

************************************************** *********

As I said, it's a mystery. Was it recorded wrong, or is it being woven wrong?

According to the STA, the Lady Jane tartan goes back to 1988. Also, it is "One of a series of US Military tartans woven exclusively by the Strathmore Woollen Company of Forfar ...". Since that predates the SRT, it suggests the possibility that it was recorded wrong. I suspect only Strathmore knows, and they're not talking - at least not on this post. ;-)

[mookien]

Most surprising since I thought Strathmore was the go-to mill for tartans related to the American military.

That adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory that in the SRT the US 2001 Air Force is recorded incorrectly, and not woven incorrectly by Strathmore.

The SRT invites inquiries. Maybe someone should ask them.

[macwilkin]

That is correct (as far as I can tell, anyway)



Also true, though my comment was directed at the Lady Jane tartan, not the " ... Pipe Band" tartan. The Lady Jane also appears to be identical to the US 2001 Air Force tartan with only one exception. The "space" between the double dark blue stripes is larger - 30 threads vs. 14 threads, assuming I am now reading the threadcounts correctly (a tenuous assumption indeed).



According to the STA, the Lady Jane tartan goes back to 1988. Also, it is "One of a series of US Military tartans woven exclusively by the Strathmore Woollen Company of Forfar ...". Since that predates the SRT, it suggests the possibility that it was recorded wrong. I suspect only Strathmore knows, and they're not talking - at least not on this post. ;-)

When I wrote my article on the USAF tartans back in 2007, I e-mailed Strathmore, and received a reply, which you can read in my article on the STM web site:

http://scottishtartans.org/USAF.htm

Sounds like I need to do some revising of this article.

T.

[Barb T]

Also true, though my comment was directed at the Lady Jane tartan, not the " ... Pipe Band" tartan. The Lady Jane also appears to be identical to the US 2001 Air Force tartan with only one exception. The "space" between the double dark blue stripes is larger - 30 threads vs. 14 threads, assuming I am now reading the threadcounts correctly (a tenuous assumption indeed)

Big difference: the 2001 Air Force tartan has a _green_ stripe instead of a gold stripe.

[mookien]

Todd: Interesting article. Thanks for the pointer. That Lady Jane is one mysterious tartan!

Any idea why the Strathmore US Air Force (Not Official) tartan is shown (on Strathmore's web page) with gold overstripes, while the U.S. 2001 Air Force is shown with green overstripes (on the SRT web page), as Barb pointed out in post #3?

Are they indeed two different tartans as their different names suggest? Or, was there possibly a transcription error in recording the "(Not Official)" on the SRT?

John

[mookien]

In post #11 I made an error. I wrote ...

Also true, though my comment was directed at the Lady Jane tartan, not the " ... Pipe Band" tartan. The Lady Jane also appears to be identical to the US 2001 Air Force tartan with only one exception. The "space" between the double dark blue stripes is larger - 30 threads vs. 14 threads, assuming I am now reading the threadcounts correctly (a tenuous assumption indeed).

After reading cajunscot's article referenced in post #13, and upon further review, it now appears that the Lady Jane tartan [aka U.S. Air Force Reserve P. B. (Corpor Tartan] is IDENTICAL to the US Air Force Reserve Pipe Band as shown on the SRT. In fact the threadcounts are identical as shown on both the STA (for the Lady Jane) and the SRT (for the Pipe Band).

I apologize for any confusion and/or consternation this caused.

It now appears that the only open issue (for me, anyway) is the question I raised in post #15 and first pointed out by Barb.

[Barb T]

I'm sorry that I appear not to be explaining this clearly.

The thread count listed in the SRT and STA for what is called the USAF Reserve Pipe Band tartan (aka Lady Jane - clearly the tartan that Todd refers to in his historical description and clearly described in the Registry as having been adopted by the USAFRPB) is _not_ what Strathmore is weaving as US Air Force. The thread count in both registries calls for a _blue stripe_ between the red stripe and the light blue, and the two dark blue stripes in the light blue are medium width and fairly widely spaced. That is _not_ what Strathmore is weaving as US Air Force - in their version, there is no blue stripe between the red and light blue, and the double dark blue stripes in the light blue in their version are narrow, closely spaced stripes.

Here is what is in the registries as U.S. Air Force Reserve Pipe Band (aka Lady Jane) (BTW - "Corpor" is an abbreviation for "Corporate tartan"). The swatch below that shows what Strathmore is currently weaving as Air Force.




This the sett that Strathmore is weaving:



I could not find anything in the register that matches what Strathmore is weaving as US Air Force. The closest match is what's registered as US 2001 Air Force, designer unknown. And even this doesn't match exactly - it has a green stripe, rather than a gold stripe. Here is the thumbnail from SRT for the US 2001 Air Force tartan:



And, yes, that is a green stripe.

As I said, I don't know if the USAFRPB tartan was recorded wrong in the registers or if there's a long-standing weaving error at Strathmore.

[EagleJCS]

Perhaps a note to Sandy Jones is in order? He's a former P/M of the USAF Pipe Band. He may be able to clarify which is the correct tartan, if there was an official one adopted at some point. The USAF Pipe Band website shows a picture of the band circa 1963. They're wearing what appears to be a tartan that has a wider green stripe in the pattern. I don't know enough about writing out the thread counts to describe it accurately.

I see light blue, dark blue/black, white, red, dark blue/black, green, dark blue, green, light blue. There's also possibly a gold stripe in the red. It's hard to tell in the blowup.

[macwilkin]

Perhaps a note to Sandy Jones is in order? He's a former P/M of the USAF Pipe Band. He may be able to clarify which is the correct tartan, if there was an official one adopted at some point. The USAF Pipe Band website shows a picture of the band circa 1963. They're wearing what appears to be a tartan that has a wider green stripe in the pattern. I don't know enough about writing out the thread counts to describe it accurately.

I see light blue, dark blue/black, white, red, dark blue/black, green, dark blue, green, light blue. There's also possibly a gold stripe in the red. It's hard to tell in the blowup.

The USAF Pipe Band, according to most sources, wore what has become known as the "Galbraith/Hunter/Russell/Mitchell" tartan, the USAF connection being the surname Mitchell, a reference to General Billy Mitchell, a noted proponent of air power. My article addresses how the tartan became associated with the Mitchell surname. It is, INMHO, not the tartan Barb is describing here.

T.

[cessna152towser]

Obviously two distinct tartans, but two beautiful kilts nonetheless.