Edward53

It's an ordinary WW2 helmet that someone's done up for a medieval look.

I was pleased to buy this at Stoneleigh for a very reasonable price, though the pleasure was somewhat diminished when I got it home and realised pleats were sewn into the back. The pleats came out ok but there are two unfaded vertical strips at the back. I'd have bought it anyway though, as it is otherwise a very nice example and the strips are less obvious than might appear in these photos.

I need to read the replies more carefully! Caveat emptor....

Seems to be one set that is defo period, as for the others - who can say?? :confused:

I see Regimentals have listed a few 70s and 80s windproofs on their website, including a quite decent early arctic smock and trouser set. At £260 they and the other items aren't cheap, but worth taking a look.

Put it in boiling water, but take care not to immerse it totally. If you just boil the woollen part, you'll get a fitted beret that looks good. If you boil the whole lot including leather band you'll get a silly tiny hat. I learned this the hard way in 1972 after being told "boil your beret" by an NCO who didn't think to mention the rest...

It's all good info, I am still a beginner in this field and this is the way to learn!

Absolutely, I am 6-2 and 44 chest and there is room to spare in that smock! The arms are especially long. However the trousers are bigger than you might think, and the two items don't look obviously mismatched when laid side by side. I don't know why the trousers are 03 instead of 3 as the size seems right for a 3. The quality does seem quite good but maybe that's due to the newness. Both labels still glint like mica fragments or dried egg white. I like combat clothing in this condition, as though you've been to the stores and back in a time machine.

Smock with arm FD pocket in this thread, by a very well-informed forum member who attributes it to the 70s: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?32212-Early-DPM-quot-SAS-quot-Windproof-Smock&highlight=sas+windproof Your smock is very similar to mine in colour, old-style dpm as you say, and there seems a fair likelihood it was released onto the market in the same batch. I wonder if maybe you have a very early new-sized item, about 79 or 80.

Very nice and a mega bargain at £10, but are you sure the field dressing pocket dates it to post 84? I know this applies to the smock parachutists dpm, but the sas smock I've just posted also has the fd pocket and the old 1-8 sizing, which I thought was done away with for all British combat clothing in about 1979.

Another recent lucky purchase, this time for a tenner. It was in with a pile of 85 pattern camo and other stuff of no interest to me, but I thought it seemed a good quality thing and would do for country walks. The seller thought it was RAF and I had no idea what it was. Having since found out and seen what these fetch on ebay, I don't think I'll be wearing it after all. The main photo is not good but it wasn't easy standing high enough to get it all in the viewer, even with a tripod at full length. I didn't notice the macabre face effect in the hood when I took the shots...

I recently purchased these from two different sources but they obviously come from the same original batch. Both have the size stamped in a box by the label, but although the smock label is for a 7, it is stamped 5, presumably a mistake as it seems like a 7. The smock was from mainland Europe at a very reasonable price indeed, the trousers from ebay at a less cheap but still fair price or so I thought. Anyway I had to get the trousers once I'd ordered the smock, and it was a relief to open the parcel this morning and find the smock exactly as described. Hope this is of interest!

Here's another smock sateen, recently bought by me off ebay. These don't seem to come up very often and I thought under £50 all in was not bad. It looked horrid on the listing but apart from smelling like a damp cellar turned out to be all right. This one's a size 8 and uncomfortably tight on me at 6 foot 2 and 44 chest, whereas my later 60 patt size 8 is a perfect fit. The date is hard to make out but seems to be 53 or 55. Maker is Silberston, zip is DOT.

I am a bit out of my depth here so may well be wrong, but this seems a lot to me: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1980s-Falklands-War-Era-British-Army-Parachute-Smock-with-Para-Wings-Ref-NFL-/141148829128?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESINDXX%3AIT&nma=true&si=PiyabT2OWx3neu5zYB601musfik%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc OK it has the pre-NATO sizing and a hat with it, but surely it isn't worth as much as that?

There can't have been very many made if this is the first one anyone here has seen. Any thoughts on who they might have been for? I'm still wondering about my Cadet Unit theory, or might these have been sold to regulars who weren't getting DPM fast enough from official sources? Or a foreign contract as for the Denisons?

Looks short but wide - a Size 3 perhaps.

Yes, I was going to retire on the profit from that!

Cheers arcot! Not sure that TA service entitles me to call myself an ex-squaddie, as the TA in those days was a very different beast from today, but I appreciate it all the same.

Hi Harry I was the underbidder on this - I'd hoped I was alone in spotting the stitched collar on the ebay listing, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised that someone here also noticed it! :-) I did wonder about the label but hadn't spotted the plastic zip. I only put in a very low bid because the size is small, I wasn't entirely sure what it was, and I reasoned that if anyone else saw it and wanted it they would outbid me anyway. Comparing it with my 60 patt dpm smock, the only differences I can see are the zip and the lack of a label and hanging loop. I don't think this is a repro as such. An item made for a cadet unit seems more likely to me. Best wishes, E.

Hi All My name's Edward. My interest here is not so much vehicles but rather the clothing and kit of the 1970s, which is what I was issued with when I was in the TA. So I'll be mainly on that bit of the forum. Glad to be on board. Best regards, E.