paratrooper garment camouflage build in parachute material

paratrooper garment camouflage build in parachute material













+ a beret

Interesting piece!

Hi Gilles,

VERY nice original special forces pull over (with large chest pocket). I have trousers and got screwed out of a top years ago, haven't found another one since

The other one is probably commercial. I had a commercial smock in a different pattern, but sold it back in 2005:



Notice that my smock is the same pattern as yours, except mine is printed flipped left/right, does not have rain strokes, and is slightly different colors. Both are different from the genuine parachute cloth. Also, the genuine items were all field made and not made in factories like our two commercial examples.

At least that's my opinion

Steve

Maybe garment for hunter
Gilles

Awesome! First one I've seen sewn into a jacket. The others I've seen are the pull over type.

Steve

Concerning para beret - it never went with metal ranks (or eagle badges) - since 1967 always made of PVC (conscripts) or bullion (NCOs and officers)

Has anyone seen a coverall in this pattern?



The para posing with the grenade launcher seems to be wearing a 1-piece suit.

Dredging through the Polish web I've found a few more photos and some information on these uniforms.

They're all custom-made from ripstop-reinforced nylon fabric from damaged parachute canopies used in the 1960s, and apparently as early as the 1950s (but in a different fabric back then). Popular with special purpose units and worn well into the 1990s. The photos below show the coverall in use by the 56 Kompania Specjalna (special company, dissolved in 1994). The fabric was also used to sew over existing field uniforms, sleeping bags and was also made into items for boy scouts and angling clubs. The commercially-made copies were marketed to hunters and fishermen.

The photos aren't dated and I'm not sure what the source is, appear to be magazine scans:

RAIDS magazine about 1991 or 92. I have the copy and was just reading it on the shitter last week, can't remember the exact year. Good article. I don't think it's 56 Kompania Specjalna... It was recon platoons of the Para Battalion or something like that... But I don't have the mag with me right now.

Yup, two and one piece uniforms. Because they were custom made there is some variation, but they do tend to follow the same designs reasonably closely. I have trousers and was supposed to have a smock, but my source disappeared before I transferred the money. At least I had that going for me!

Steve

vonstuck wrote:paratrooper garment camouflage build in parachute material

Actually this particular jacket was not made from parachute material but from the sleeping bag. You can tell by the different (darker) coloration, more dense pattern, and sort of "raindrop" pattern mixed in on the green.

vonstuck wrote:

This one however is great example of parachute camouflage material. The cut was inspired by the scouts' hooded jacket.

Great finds folks, these jackets are extremely rare.

The sleeping bag pattern is interesting - I've seen waterproof type commercial garments made in this pattern (na ryby). Was this pattern officially issued - were the sleeping bags official issue?

Here are some more items:
http://camouniforms.net/index.php/eastern-europe/poland/parachute-pattern

Another good thread to revisit  Nice to know sleeping bags exist in a slightly different variation of the pattern.  That explains a lot.

Since I'm here, I'll post some pictures of my smock.  Note the different batches of cloth!:



I also have trousers, coveralls, and Gilles' winter jacket. I don't have pictures handy.

Steve

That is very interesting example especially because of the different batches of material used to make the garment.

Material came from demilled canopies from cargo parachutes (ZT-500 made by Aviotex later renamed Air-Pol) that were put out of the use, I am not sure if these came from personnel parachutes' canopies as well. Mostly these were sewn by the civilian seamstresses from the parachute repair and maintenance section (some of those old ladies have been working for 30 or 35 years and have been making some stuff for me recently) using the parachute sewing machines and distinctive gray-blue thread and sewing pattern that guaranteed high quality and strength of the seams. Sometimes these were made on order privately by civilian tailors or mothers upon paratrooper's request.

Sleeping bags were also canibalized but not considered "cool" enough (not only because of the not purily airborne origin as anyone could acquire sleeping bag but also because the quality of material was worse).

These sleeping bags were standard issue, however some units (especially mechanized ones) didn't issue them "just because" or they didn't have them at hand to issue and some sort of equivalents had to be provided. Generally speaking airborne troops, special companies and any other personnel wearing "red berets" were issued those as those sleeping bags were crucial for their survival in the field during winter or mountain training. What is more! These couple decades old sleeping bags are STILL issued today sometimes as the equivalent if the administrative is unable to supply current standard issue sleeping bags... UNBELIEVABLE!

Well only recently airmobile/parachute qualified troops were issued new type of composite helmet that superseded old model introduced in 1963! Unbelievable! And sad.

PS: I am sorry I might have given you misleading information about differences in camo pattern variants used on parachute canopies and sleeping bags. YES the differences exist, YES the sleeping bags are found often darker. I am sorry for the mistake.

That's interesting, thanks for sharing.

The coverall version seems to be the most prevalent in the reference photos. Do you know if there was a preference for one over the other in service?

Well I do not know which style of camouflage garment was preferred (coveralls or 2 piece). But I think it's worth noting that the coveralls bear very strong resemblance to WW2 soviet camouflage coveralls in terms of cut and construction.

Great info! Yes, my pieces have the blue thread. I found that to be a peculiar choice, so I'm glad to hear it's a good sign of authenticity

That's crazy to know guys are still jumping with the old composite helmets. I have a couple and I don't think I'd like to hit the ground too hard with one of those. It feels like it would crack wide open.

Steve

Yes, old type of helmet (steel pot with leather liner named wz.1963) was called "nut" because of the funny appearance. It's fun jumping with them sometimes you have to catch it in flight or look for it on the ground as the old leather straps liked to break, or the size of helmet was wrong and too large brain bucket slipped off. But the same thing goes for the new type (composite helmet named HA-03) unless you don't tape over the small emergency quick release buckle that is not suited for jumping but placed on the left strap I guess anyway... Also the small dial thing on the nape pad supposedly for regulation breaks the second you hit anything with your head. But still better to be first user of HA-03 with imitation of MICH cushioning pads than the 9000th user of wz.63 with sweated through and rotten leather liner...

Ah, so you jump with the old steel helmet! I thought you were talking about the fiberglass style helmet that was shared between DDR and Polish airborne forces. Did you ever jump with that one?

Steve

I'm impressed by how well my coverall was actually made, with a nice brown plastic eagle button on the main flap, very ornate.

I agree, very nice construction job.  The weakness, of course, is the cloth itself.

Here's my used set of trousers.  You can see the great attention to detail:



It is modeled after the special forces type trousers with two front thigh pockets with bayonet holder on the right.  It has a button fly with a full compliment of brown army buttons.

This is yet another color variant as it doesn't match either of the smock's two colors.

Steve

Very cool. I assumed they never bothered to make separate trousers, and they even went to the trouble of using the US paratrooper cut...

Since we're on topic and we have a former paratrooper here, what exactly where those thigh pockets meant to store, since they have a very specific and odd size? Popular folklore has it that they were for PMD-6 anti-personnel mines..

koalorka wrote:Very cool. I assumed they never bothered to make separate trousers, and they even went to the trouble of using the US paratrooper cut...

I just looked at mine. Here are the details:

1. two hand pockets
2. two front thigh pockets with hidden buttons
3. two rear thigh pockets with hidden buttons
4. bayonet holder and loop (hand stitched on, I might add!)
5. hidden button fly with exposed button for the waistband
6. beltloops
7. zippers on the outside of the cuffs and elastic bottoms
8. maroon fake silk liner (mine's in rough shape!)

In short, it's pretty much an exact copy of the US (special forces) type trousers.

Steve