Australian BD

They're more easy to convert to an acceptable state. Basically

1) move the map pocket round to the front
2) add an FFD pocket
3) sew up one rear pocket
4) remove the belt loops
5) readjust the slit pockets slightly.

Sounds like a lot of aggro. There's a Pegasus 40 pattern pair in exactly my short-leggy size on ebay which I'm trying to nab. I quite like the look of the 37 blouse though. I imagine a mix of 37 and 40 would have been fairly common seeing as trews would need replacing long before a jacket (that's my story and I'm sticking to it )

Yeah essentially if you want look a like 'it looks like a tommy from 40 yards' 49 pat or converted 49 pat is cool.

If your intending to use it for any length of time for close inpsection you're better of buying a second hand set of a good repro.
While i applaud inclusiveness as ive said i spent 80 quid on a set several years ago and its spot on and on average has cost me about £12 a year...

You'll be lucky to get a pair of 49 pattern trousers anyway, Sinead and Paul's were pretty hard to track down when we were looking a while ago.

Also, what's all this about being too green etc? I reckon I could have a great deal of fun arguing that you can't conclusively proove BD was a particular shade of brown in the first place.......

* C-W steers clear of "British Uniforms and Kit" section for a while *

BTW - Size 10 & 16 49 pattern trousers available from Springfields: http://www.springfields.co.uk/military- ... 2/?id=2793

I imagine a mix of 37 and 40 would have been fairly common seeing as trews would need replacing long before a jacket (that's my story and I'm sticking to it )

Yes, quite common indeed. BD rarely matched!

I reckon I could have a great deal of fun arguing that you can't conclusively proove BD was a particular shade of brown in the first place.......

Agreed... but only foreigners had green

I watched a program a few years ago and a ww2 veteran talked about a time when their stores recieved a batch of canadian BD's and because they were a smoother material and generally 'looked better' a lot of squaddies were deliberately damaging their existing BD's in the hope of getting issued the better canadian ones.

Sounds about right. Didn't Barcelona Blom say he was recently issued with re-badged chocolate chip Yank kit (old style)?

I bet in 30 years time that will send reenactors into fits. "They wouldn't have done that !!!!"

My personal bugbear.

Official pictures, especially from the 40s rarely show you stuff that happened frequently (very scruffy troops, captured kit, unorthodox drills) most of it was censored and had to look good back home.

You're right in that Canadian BD was prized for best BD by many and even issued as replacements to some.

Kit you're issued *never* matches. Only re-enactors get anal about having 'matching' pouches, l straps, braces etc. In reality you QM would throw you a list of stores (boots, jumpers two, blouse two, hemet steel one!' etc etc) in a size that looked *roughly* right to you, getting them to exchange anything is a fecking nightmare so if you cant swap it about in your section you made do with mismatching or ill fitting stuff. Stil happens now!

To a soldier a pouch is a pouch, they dont give a flying monkey if the have one mkii and one mkiii as long as they both have working clasps, the RSM only cares that they are blancoed to the same shade and polished evenly etc.

I've said this several times but my firs tissue of kit included three pairs of trousers and three jackets in DPM... NONE of them were the same shade and they were of different patterns (85/90 etc)

On the subject of kit colour and designs I quote "The World War II Tommy" by Martin Brayley ,"War Aid( american made British BD) was of noticeably better fabric and a greener shade than the british production.The most noticeable identifying feature is the fly front on the blouse but with exposed buttons to the unpleated pockets"
I have 3 sets of BD, a replica (WPG) 37 pattern ,which is noticeably lighter and more brown than my genuine 49 pattern ,and a Canadian set ( though I was sold the blouse as Greek ,it has no labels or markings and is an almost perfect match for my Canadian trousers- and which I now think could be War Aid)which is only slightly darker and more green than the 49 pattern,and to top it all I have a genuine 1940 pattern greatcoat which was issued in 1941 and made in Leeds ,which is considerably darker and more green than the Canadian set ,but is undoubtably correct and british made.
Due to different supplies of material and manufacturer it must be incredibly dfficult to verify what was actually the "correct" tone ,and surely anything outside the extremes could be deemed acceptable.
I have been trying to source a piece of serge to make a FFD pocket for my Canadian trousers but have so far failed to find any that actually matched them perfectly!!

My personal bugbear.

Official pictures, especially from the 40s rarely show you stuff that happened frequently (very scruffy troops, captured kit, unorthodox drills) most of it was censored and had to look good back home.

You're right in that Canadian BD was prized for best BD by many and even issued as replacements to some.

Kit you're issued *never* matches. Only re-enactors get anal about having 'matching' pouches, l straps, braces etc. In reality you QM would throw you a list of stores (boots, jumpers two, blouse two, hemet steel one!' etc etc) in a size that looked *roughly* right to you, getting them to exchange anything is a fecking nightmare so if you cant swap it about in your section you made do with mismatching or ill fitting stuff. Stil happens now!

To a soldier a pouch is a pouch, they dont give a flying monkey if the have one mkii and one mkiii as long as they both have working clasps, the RSM only cares that they are blancoed to the same shade and polished evenly etc.

I've said this several times but my firs tissue of kit included three pairs of trousers and three jackets in DPM... NONE of them were the same shade and they were of different patterns (85/90 etc)

My kid brother is a permanent storesman for the TA and RAF , last year they were issueing American kit to our troops going out to Iraq and Afganistan because they had run out of brit issue and could only lay their hands on yank gear quickly enough to supply them.Wonder if anyone will say that didn't happen in 50 years time.

Almost certainly, a mate of mine did a tour of bosnia in the British Army wearing a czech army assault vest (they were working with czecg SF and swapped each others kit all the time) I'm sure future re-enactors would you a farb if you re-enacted Bos and you were not in entirely 90s brit issue kit.

The colour looks similar to some of the Repro BD that are around.
Nice Bunker by the way!

Do either of these postwar sets look passable for war aid BD? Good prices, but I don't wanna bother if it's not gonna hold up to scrutiny

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Antiques-collectables/Militaria/Uniforms/auction-244151807.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Antiques-collectables/Militaria/Uniforms/auction-243891359.htm

The problem with both of those is that they are a post war pattern jacket. Like the UK 49 pattern they are not button to collar but have jacket lapels. So would need extensive alteration to look like wartime pattern. The American war aid has exposed pocket buttons and covered buttons on the fly so these are the wrong way round for that. The second example is also in a tiny size do not know if that is a problem for you.

Yeah, I'm reasonably slim, but not enough for the trousers on that second one - should have paid more attention to that. I can re-tailor the pockets ok, but I'm not game for any more than that, I'd be bound to mess it up . Sooner save for repro trousers and smock, I think.
Thank you, Ramsay!