1968 pattern DPM combat smock / jacket

A nice mint '68 pattern jacket ........










Dave

Nice,i have a couple of unissued ones as well.

Used to have a soft spot for these as not that long ago they werent that easy to come by now they are ten a penny and Ebay is awash with them

C'mon Gulf, you've had long enough ....... now that I've shown you mine, let's see yours !

Dave

I have matching unissued trousers and hat, identical to your jacket

Photos mucker !

Bury_Dave wrote:C'mon Gulf, you've had long enough ....... now that I've shown you mine, let's see yours !

Dave

Ill see if i can be arsed to dig them out as they are packed away somewhere

From the same chap who they were never issued to(but somehow never used)came a Smock,Trs and Crap Hat-was there a hood as well????

Yep, a hood as well. There is one in the pocket of that smock. I just didn't bother to photo it.

Here you go Dave,sorry pics arent fantastic.Cap and hood were in lower pics of the smock.

Wow,glad i dug the suit out to check as to me with these makers,print type,dots,colours etc do not interest me in the slightest but whilst taking pics of the label noticed that these trs are dated 1972. I have NEVER seen an item of 68Patt dated before.

As far as I know only CW Son do this. I have a pair of 60 pattern trousers dated 1970 and a pair of 68 pattern trousers dated 1971....useful for no other purpose than determining when 68 replaced 60!!

I have a modified 68patt jacket from the 80's. I'll post some pictures of it over e weekend.

I've got an early series 1968 pattern set. It's labeled as a "1968" which would indicate a manufacturing date of between 1972 through 1975. In 75' they changed the fabric and the print very discretely and these smocks were no longer marked as "1968 pattern".

Nice set Raff, very nice

Excellent piece of kit. I've said it before, and I will say it again: British kit up until the 1980s had a quality that was mostly unrivaled.

Dave, I believe you had some insight in regards to the changes made in 1975? I can't seem to remember the finer details that you described to me.

And the uniform came at a perfect time as I was just leafing through David Barzilay's "The British Army in Ulster" and spotting the equipment. BTW, is there a book that follows the involvement of the Para Regiment in N. Ireland?

Here's a recent find .....

koalorka wrote:Excellent piece of kit. I've said it before, and I will say it again: British kit up until the 1980s had a quality that was mostly unrivaled.

Dave, I believe you had some insight in regards to the changes made in 1975? I can't seem to remember the finer details that you described to me.

And the uniform came at a perfect time as I was just leafing through David Barzilay's "The British Army in Ulster" and spotting the equipment. BTW, is there a book that follows the involvement of the Para Regiment in N. Ireland?

There are some good (usually B&W) reference books on NI but no Para specific one as far as I am aware. Well, not photobook type for kit - only the usual ones covering what they did. But some of those do have a small photos section.

Leave it with me Raff, I'll look through my library and let you know.

Dave

I used to wear 1968 pattern DPM trousers. I noticed the older pair had rounded belt loops and pockets, and the zip was bottle green and not olive green. The DPM camouflage pattern was slightly different such as the dots on the later trousers were more obvious.