I am not convinced that the pic is all that it initially appears to be. The mix of uniforms is one thing that leads me to that conclusion amongst others. The two individuals at left rear appear too be remarkably young, the one second left is wearing the rank of LAC or leading aircraftsman and the signalers emblem, as well as the RAF eagle on his shoulder flashes, they are not so evident on any of the other uniforms although officers uniforms did not have them. They have brass buttons were as there colleague in the rear rank and the one sitting down in the front rank do not, the headphones are definitely WWII vintage and possibly earlier, the style and the woven cabling is a giveaway there.
The third guy on the rear rank looks very Eastern European to me and also seems to have an uncomfortable look on his face as if he doesn’t quite share the joke, the same goes for the civvy on the right. His dress would indicate WWII era.
The guy front left is adopting the traditional “official “ service photo pose, IE hands on knees and legs slightly apart, he has a chevron on his left sleeve which I believe was a service award and was not used I believe in the RAF during or at least not after the war during my time (1955-67).
The next one second left with the mustache looks from his rank emblems to be a Warrant Officer however certainly from my time the badge was a lot different than that and it looks more like an army rank badge, it could be the Warrant Officer 2nd class badge which was discontinued in 1939 also the cap badge is wrong it should be a cloth badge in similar design to that of the officer second right.
The two officers are FLt Lt and Plt Off, both with a variety of medal ribbons which I am not qualified to identify. The uniforms look right for the era with the correct shirts with cufflinks and the black tie of the time which later came to be Airforce Blue. They look to be the only ones with a uniform that actually fits, but as they are officers that was usually the case. The helmet it rather intriguing and the light bulb on the top is I believe actually a radio valve I believe he is of coloured extraction rather than “swarthy” as a previous poster has suggested. His facial features indicate that. I am at a loss to explain the significance of the “Slide rules”
The final candidate far right front is again wearing a uniform different to the rest, similar in a way to those at rear left but as he has his arms across his waist it is not possible to identify if a belt is present but I suspect it is. He appears to have shoulder flashes as do all the others but certainly not as prominent as 2nd left, rear. He is wearing Cpls rank and a few medal ribbons, it is also noted that he is wearing white socks!
If what we see is genuine and it is in fact WWII I would plump for Iceland as the location.
