Re: sidecap continued

The bombing of the factory doesn't neccessarily mean it is pre-war; most tailors had stocks of buttons and thus, even though a company may not be making new ones, they may have still been added to uniforms for some time afterwards.

One thing does occur, though, and that's that I've never come across a RAF side cap worn prior to WWII.

The other possibility is that it is a foreign made RAF example, e.g. made in India. I've come across a lot of slightly odd, iffy, and non reg items made in various colonies