gunner501

welcome old boy

Paul is bang on with what he wrote ,just to add infantry snipers got smocks to and just as now many items were not issued but acquired !In regards to the Denison book I,m very happy with it but like all books it,s not a last word bible but has taken the subject forward massively . It turned out to be quite a good thick work and is nicely presented in my humble opinion

That's a great looking smock . The print upon this one is one of my favorites . I hope you can get the original owners details to keep with the item .

I have a pair of these the NSN dates to 92 so after the gulf if that helps

Thanks for the info Tinweasle, Could you poss post the NSN please when you have a spare min ? does this new info indicate these were produced for a few years guys ?

Cheers all

G501

Thanks for the responce guys. I spoke to a friend who was in Iraq in 2003 with 3 para and he told me

a few guys were issued these . he remembers them moaning about them ! As Steve has pointed out there pre 95 manufacture ,,and thus (could ) be infact realy early ? one thing I,ve noticed is a small offcut of tri color D P M has been

used inside . SEE PICTURE

Run of the run of the mill British surely?

I was wondering why this cut was produced as opposed to the ,,run of the mill double bellows pocket version,,

I found these a while back ,they look early(ish). any ideas what/who they are for please

Thanks in advance

More++

More

some sample pages

This is the front cover shown on the flyer

It looks like the Denison book is going to be with us soon https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Airborne-Assault-The-Museum-of-the-Parachute-Regiment-Airborne-Forces/109068972454849

There's no evidence that these "sand" coloured smocks, made roughly during 1942 only, were intended for desert use but it is possible that again they were intended for warmer mountain climates (Mediterranean theatre - a sand-coloured "battle jerkin" was produced around the same time), hence the lighter weight and coloured, windproof fabric (actually cotton-gabardine).......the "salt n pepper" type is thought to be simply a variation on the sand colour.......these items supplemented to earlier drab denim version and both were replaced by the cammo version from 1943 onward......

 

Seemingly, a fair stock of these were held in store through to the 90s, and I think it was a Hereford area...... recall an old article in a magazine ("Soldier" ?) showing an exercise/urban CQB, that showed the "enemy" forces clothed in these garments (smock and trouser)........evidence exists to show that SAS did use these in Gulf War 1 in the absence of any desert-coloured windproof alternative, and that the older tape cords were replaced by some with more modern alternatives.........:-D

Thanks Steve great info .These are often mis sold /described as SAS or LRDG . like you pointed out there just part of

a winter warfare type clothing system . There are some nice period photos of thesee in SAS/SBS use in the Adreatic in 44

.They were plentiful and relitivly cheep pre Bravo 2 zero .

One quite nice detail is the underside of the pocket flap that uses the (I presume earlier salt n pepper fabric??) there are still cutters markings to the cloth in blue . The smock has clearly been stored for along time

but also shows signs of use ,the hood cord is replaced with modern para type cord . The seller told me it had come from

Hereford about 8 years ago ,but there is as ever no paper proof of this

Another recent find

A very nice example, and early date (Oct 41).........I recently sold one of these, just as nice, and a huge size too.......

 

These were the very first pattern of this type of smock, made from 41 - 42-ish in drab denim with matching trousers, and intended for mountain troops to wear in "cold, snow-less conditions".......the labeling can be a bit vague or ambiguous though, and you can find 'em labelled as shown, or "Smock, Snow", "Smocks, Drab", "Blouses", "Smock", etc........

 

The lightweight sand version replaced these from 42 onward, although the labeling remained similarly vague, and the cammo and heavyweight white colour snow oversmock both introduced from around 43 onward......[/quote

 

Great info thanks Steve . I would guess the denim material was not so windproof and would have stayed wet a lot

longer .The labeling as you say Steve is confusing ,I think it is because we now assume the snow wording must mean camouflage ,but then they were thinking of the enviorment it would be used in ,Was there any snow specific camo ie white garment/s at this early stage ?

I think these have been discussed here before but I thought I,d share this item that I bought last weekend at the huge ciney fair in Belgium.

Guards

Later hat for a tank transporter

The label ,,,,,,

Hi Gents I thought I,d kick off a thread by sharing some photos of my small but growing DDPM Boonie/bush/sun hats

This hat was issued to me in 1991 as part of OP Granby the chinstrap I made using the lace from the cuff of my DDPM trousers and a civvie fix lock for some other bit of kit