British Desert Boots-Double Buckle.Never seen this type before.

I wouldn't say they were British army issue.

Couple of issues , stamped " made in England "

Size 10 , until recent boots were never issued size stamped like that.

Buckles , they look like Foreign contracted.

Although they look 90% British 90's period they could be foreign contract or private purchase.

Nice boots however in a great size.

They were indeed(according to the previous owner) issued to an RAF airman prior to being shipped over to the Gulf during Granby but never worn(for some reason?)

Also sure I have a pair of suede ankle boots(again issued) that dont have any military stampings on them just Made In England.

Was flicking through my reference books just before I bought these boots and was 99.9% sure I saw a pic of a guy wearing the same,now I have the boots,can I find the pic again-no chance!!!

Wonder if they were a part of a trial issue or army buying/ issuing what they could until supply started issuing the American looking ones with canvas sides ?

Gulf91 wrote:They were indeed(according to the previous owner) issued to an RAF airman prior to being shipped over to the Gulf during Granby but never worn(for some reason?)

Also sure I have a pair of suede ankle boots(again issued) that dont have any military stampings on them just Made In England.

Was flicking through my reference books just before I bought these boots and was 99.9% sure I saw a pic of a guy wearing the same,now I have the boots,can I find the pic again-no chance!!!

The guy wearing the ankle ones is all over net wearing sparse !

I'll get him.

Thanks for the pic,those are civvy boots.

Remember at the time hearing stories from squaddies of the shortage of desert boots during initial deployment and loads of guys were issued leather BCH so had families send out any civvy suede desert type boots and various different types can be seen worn in period pics(along with US jungle boots as well).

Also as well remember stories of the first issue desert boots that were sent being terrible with the soles either melting in the hot sands or falling off.

Er, those aren't the same boots. Those are fairly standard hiking boots. But really nice picture anyway Nipped it for my photo collection, in fact.

These mystery boots look pretty much spot on for French combat boots. Maybe they were made for a foreign contract and were diverted to British use because of short term shortage of issued boots?



Here's a similar set but with black soles:

http://www.europeanarmysurplus.co.uk/shopitem.php?itemid=FWIM111-NV-BN

Steve

Heh... Gulf beat me to it

Steve

These are the suede ankle boots I was on about along with comments off another forum about them.











I suspect these are issue, dating from "Gulf War One", and probably RAF issue....? Seemingly, the good old "brothel creepers" were popular at the time and far more suitable for RAF than infantry needing a high-leg combat boot.......

Note the old DMS boot sole...the moulds still probably surviving by the early 90s..........

I suspect that these were sourced from a commercial supplier in bulk.....also, several of my old issue boots lack a full NSN but do have other contract or reference marks....

The first pair of boots with buckle top were issued, or at least some exactly like them for Op Granby. They were not as common as the ones without the buckle but were issued.