rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Share #1 Posted January 13, 2012 I have had the wet weather trousers for quite some time, but had never been able to acquire the matching Parka to go with them and complete the set. Well, I just found a parka on EPay and paid a bit more than I wanted to, but it was in the mint condition I love to collect. The trousers have an ink stamp in them that for love or money I could not photograph well so the details are below. The strange thing about these trousers is they are not the bib style that I see pictured in all of my reference books and WWII QM catalogs. They only go up to the waist and have a flap on the front. Any comments or ideas on this?? TROUSERS LARGE HOOD RUBBER CO. W669 Q.M. 21515 (9-25-42) Q.M.C. TENT. SPEC. P.Q.D No. 15? STOCK Mo. 72-T-1010 PHILA Q.M.C INSPECTOR The Parka, Wet Weather, is identical to those I have in my books, but is a pretty cool design when you actually have one in your hands. The waist has a draw string, the cuffs have adjustment tabs with two buttons and there are two eyelets under each arm pit for ventilation. The hood has two small flaps with eyelets inside where the wearer’s ears would be. This is so you can still hear while wearing the parka and water won’t get through the eyelets into your ears. Overall, the parka is a very well executed design. FYI. While the parka is “mint” you will notice a bit of rust on two of the buckles. I don’t plan to do anything but carefully put a bit of oil on them so the rust doesn’t get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share #2 Posted January 13, 2012 Parka Back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted January 13, 2012 Feature details and QM tag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share #4 Posted January 13, 2012 Trousers Front Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share #5 Posted January 13, 2012 Trousers back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted January 13, 2012 Trousers Ink Stamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reuscher Posted January 14, 2012 Share #7 Posted January 14, 2012 Hello, The complete spec on your trousers is 151 and is indeed something different than the Wet Weather Parka you also show. The Army hand two type of rain outfits in WWII; a jacket and trouser combo and a parka and trouser combo. You distinguish the two by whether the top has a hood or not; hood = parka. The 151 spec was an all encompassing spec that inculded a rain jacket, trousers and hat. I'll include a picture of the spec 151 jacket. I don't have the hat handy right now but it looks a lot like a US Navy rain slicker hat with the chin strap and ear flaps. Your parka spec 288B as you've correctly identified has a bib style set of trousers also showing the same spec number. There's also a 288A set with different positioning on the leg adjustment tab. Both 288A and 288B where proceded by another Rain Parka set up with the spec of 51, not to be confused with the 151 rain jacket mentioned above. Spec 51 was much simpler set up than the later 288 series. The 151 combo was preceded by spec dating back to 1934. Chris R The 151 "Rain Jacket": Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share #8 Posted January 14, 2012 WOW Chris!! Excellent information and well presented!! Thanks!! Looks like I still have some searching to do to complete the two sets. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share #9 Posted December 8, 2014 Well, after two years of casual searching, I found an absolutely mint, gorgeous pair of WWII Trousers, Wet Weather on Ebay to go with my Parka, Wetweather. Both items are spec 288B which means they are a matched set of top and bottom. Amazingly, I won this item for the opening bid and the total with shipping was under $30. I am thrilled with them and it just goes to show that there are still deals on Ebay to be had. Now all I need is the spec 151 Jacket, Rain to match my trousers. The search continues!! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted December 10, 2014 Share #10 Posted December 10, 2014 Man, you really scored there...keep us posted on the hunt for that Jacket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share #11 Posted December 10, 2014 Hey Der Flage, Thanks!! For a long while Iwas afraid that nobody else on the forum but reuscher was into the wet weather gear. Glad you are to. BTW. The forum will be the second ones to know if I score the 151 jacket and/or hat. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambob Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share #12 Posted March 26, 2015 Here is an example of the 151 spec rain hat that I just got from a dealer on the web for a very reasonable price. It is in a pretty rough condition, is a bit stiff and has a non readable ink stamp. It will make a good place holder until I can find a better example with readable ink stamp. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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