Oh and a water bottle held on with string..... 
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Just found this one and never seen this pic before.
Apart from the guy with the snipers sling anyone else notice the unusual kit on them ?
Looking at the no4 with the sniper sling, it does look like it may have a scope on it... also he does seem to have more cammo material in his helmet, so I'd say he WAS a sniper...
The guy on the right also has some sort of string in use as a water bottle carrier.
Top marks, i didnt even notice the e-tool in the pack.
God that *is* unusual.
Nah... not THAT unusual... I've certainly heard of it before.
I think my issue would be more along the lack of research. I don't mean looking at books, or worse, trawling the web or worse still getting information from forums. Real research. The ratio of photographs published in books to those in archives is minuscule. Spend a few days going through the archives of regimental archives or doing a research project and access the IWM archives. By way of example, just because there is only one picture published of a Brit Airborne chap with a leg holster doesn't mean it wasn't commonplace - just that there is only one photo in a book reproduced ad nauseam!
From an airsoft POV I like the rag-tag look - we don't depict a troop at barracks on parade at home, all of us are frontline fighting troops.
Therefore I would be more inclined to go along Sgt.Heide's premise: 'squaddies will always try to get their hands on gucci kit, are inveterate souvenir hunters AND will wear their kit in combat pretty much any way they want.' than Gadge's 'being wary of basing your impression off unrepresentative photos.'
Im not sure but isnt that helmet strap a US one ?
No they are MKII helmets with leather chinstraps
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Aha apparently those three paras are 1st Canadian Para - which makes jump boots much more likely.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
the one on the left has a fibre rim...
MKI *&* II then
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
the one on the left has a fibre rim...
That'd explain the baggy trousers and funny stance then. 
Looking at the no4 with the sniper sling, it does look like it may have a scope on it... also he does seem to have more cammo material in his helmet, so I'd say he WAS a sniper...
The guy on the right also has some sort of string in use as a water bottle carrier.
Yup, Looks like a No.4 (T). If you look carefully, you can see the elevation drum on the scope.
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Yup, Looks like a No.4 (T). If you look carefully, you can see the elevation drum on the scope.
Yup, just what i was looking at.
A Proud Member Of 'Team Spleen!' who play mainly at Gunman Airsoft, Tuddenham, Suffolk.
Also looks like a leather scope tube slung across his front ?
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I think SoF are a huge blame for a lot of the inaccuracies. A lot of people use it as their bible to kit. My kid brother certainly looked at that as what people actually wore. I clocked the bloke wearing the chinstrap on the top of his helmet - I’ve only ever seen it on the mortar crew picture, even in the Hartstein there is only him doing that.
Also on the front of the magazine you can see a bloke a couple behind him wearing his para beret shaped IMHO in one of the worse stances you could dream of! I know this is/was a very popular thing for paras to do in the 80's and 90's but it looks out of place in WW2, airsofting or re-enactment and still looks pretty daft around today!
But a good thread, I always like to find something odd on a piece of kit and look about to see if I can find it elsewhere.
There are so many mistakes in the SOF catalogue its quite unbelievable... the whole thing should be banned!
Yeah the bloke with the modern shaped beret on with the wings over his ear 'legion' style is really doing a disservice to re-enacting IMO.
I know its how paras do it now but it wasnt then.
Shaped berets are ok but not the super stylelised ones you see from the 80s onwards.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
I always line up the badge with my eye is that right ?
yes... though you see them all over the place in pics..
Many times Berets and GS caps are almost "thrown" on...
In protraits you sometimes see some very odd looking shaping as well!
plus the fact that ( with the exeption of the lad wearing RAMC cap badge near the front) the rest look like they should be in the home guard. not the elite infantry . but thats just me being ageist ( i am 40 tho,,, so maybe i should just shut up lol lol lol )
Thats ok then im the prime age of 18 and not with a large waistline, so i look good in my kit 