Edward53

It's a S95 ripstop jacket. Google the NSN and you'll find all the details you need.

Just bumping this up for the benefit of newcomers.

It will be interesting to see what this rarity makes. I can't remember the last time one was up for sale. The cuffs appear slightly ragged but otherwise it looks in reasonable worn condition. I don't think I'm raining on anyone's parade by mentioning it here as it's clearly been well and truly seen already by Hosgpear's followers. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Paratroopers-1970s-DPM-Camouflage-Para-Smock-with-Wings-DZ-Flash-MSU-/351842617343?hash=item51eb7447ff:g:SpkAAOSwPCVX29zT

It's not an arctic smock. There's never been any wire in this hood, which is the smaller "SAS smock" size - the wired hood is much bigger with an extended flap the front, to fit over other headgear and keep rain etc out of your face. It's safe to say the arctic smock NSN on the label is due to sloppy research by the retailer. It might seem odd that these windproofs were made privately, but there isn't any doubt of it as plenty of SASS and Arktis labelled examples exist, as well as unnamed examples like this.

It'll be a private purchase one then, presumably bought by service personnel not issued with one but who for whatever reason wanted one. Quite possibly made by one of the workshops producing the officially-contracted garments, as it looks identical to mine, and the label with the wrong NSN subsequently added by the retailer. No idea what the odd button is but I suspect it's the closest the owner had to hand when one of the original ones fell off.

I've just looked at the NSN on mine which is 132 not 137. Are you certain it's not a 2? Mine has a similar plasticky label but in green not white and not configured like yours - it says SMOCK, COMBAT over Woodland DP (not DPM as yours appears) over Windproof over the NSN over NATO Size over the size and only below that does it say Height and Chest. Mine has contract number DC2CESL/3129 which I have seen on other examples. With yours using a different description, layout and NSN it's presumably either a private purchase copy or by a different maker but with that worn label it's hard to see if there is a contract number. I can't see the odd pocket button as the attachments in the first post still aren't showing for me.

It's the final iteration of the SAS smock in cotton before the polycotton type with zip chest pockets and slotted buttons. These sometimes have rank tabs added, as yours has. Nothing odd about it. I have one very similar.

Actually they don't. The WW1 small box respirator filter contains charcoal, cotton and cellulose. The tech spec makes no mention of asbestos.

Morning Dave and welcome to the Forum. Not many of us GW1 collectors around!

It looks like a prototype of the para bergen. It has the same tabs on the flap and side pockets with room to put things behind them, but it seems to do up like a GS bergen. Might just be a 72 trials version but the OG suits don't seem to fit timewise if it's NI.

A recent lucky find for a very reasonable sum: one of these in near NOS condition, material still quite flexible with no flaking and only a few spots of white surface loss. Size is Large for which read Huge. The jacket still has a papercloth size tag on the outside and appears unissued.

There was a steady flow of Mk1 58 pattern on ebay during 2015. Now it seems to have dried up for no obvious reason. Ebay is an odd beast.

An excellent and useful summary. Many thanks for that.

That is the Mk6 helmet which was standard issue from the late 80s to some time in the 90s (I think) for all arms not requiring specialist headgear.

Even with that extra hole (I too have no idea what badge it's for) that is still a nice beret and in my opinion worth in excess of £50. 70s para berets are extremely scarce: I have seen just two on ebay in the last couple of years.

This beret dates from about 1970. It's pretty clear if you look at the thread linked to in Post 4.

No idea about cadets as I wasn't one. We fired the Browning 9 mm pistol at recruit camp, ditto the Stirling and I never saw either after that. We also each threw a Mills 36 grenade in training. C Company still had the LMG as opposed to the GPMG - we seemed always to get everything last! At 6 foot 3 I was usually the tallest and ended up carrying it, or the GPMG at recruit camp.

I don't think the TA ever got 60 pattern dpm which I believe was a stopgap for troops in NI. We went straight from 60 to 68 pattern towards the end of 1974 just as I was leaving. I think my unit (2 Wessex) was one of the last to get it. As I remember it, the SLRs were recalled about that time for refitting with plastic which everyone hated. It was particularly unpleasant on cold wet days. We also had ancient 37 patt webbing blackened with boot polish except for a few who purchased their own 58 patt. No-one seemed to be bothered by the mix of equipment. Some wore gaiters (again blackened) and trouser elastics, others including myself wore puttees. I forget if we were issued KFS or brought our own. We were issued underclothing but everybody scorned it and wore their own. I'm also pretty sure we were never issued with "Noddy suits", as NBC suits were known.

The woollen ones, NI gloves never filtered down to the TA when I was in it. I forget where I stowed the snacks but probably in the side pockets of the smock where it wouldn't melt (we still had the OG 60 pattern) or possibly the big trousers pocket for the apricots.

From TA days in the early 70s all I recall having in my pockets on exercises was a pair of gloves, plus everyone had their preferred exy snacks, eg a Mars bar or two, packet of Rolos, ginger nuts etc. Mine was a packet of dried apricots and a slab of marzipan. It was easy to burn off those calories at age 20, not quite so easy now....

£40 for a good pair of pre-metric windproofs sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

PM me if you need a CB suit as I have an unopened 1969 dated one with the (usually missing) hood. Smock is L, trousers M, hood 2 (= L). £25 posted.

Here's the original thread: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?41702-Repro-60-Patt-DPM-Smock

Hard to say, as this kind of information tends to be thought of as ephemeral and gets binned without anyone considering the possible historical interest. One can only presume they tested both types and found regular ddpm to work better. There's no documentation that I know of, so I wrote my own mini history in as much (some would say mind-numbing) detail as I could here: http://iacmc.forumotion.com/t9823-identification-guide-to-gulf-war-one-militaria

That 1947 one is interesting, shows they were using the system almost immediately WW2 ended. See Post 4 in this thread which refers to an A/6/CLO series used in the 1950s. I'm not going to update the main list any more. My purpose in compiling it was to identity pre-Falklands and pre-Gulf War kit and I've more or less got what I need for that. Anyone wanting this information is welcome to copy it and maintain their own list as they see fit.