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Reverse Lend-Lease Jungle Suit - Australian Made


Baron3-6
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Picked this up recently - it is a 95% copy of the US camouflage one-piece jungle coveralls  made of regular OD HBT in Australia. I've collected US gear for over 25 years, and am pretty familiar with most reverse lend-leave uniforms / web gear items....but I've never seen these before - and have been able to turn up nothing about them online or in any reference books. It mentions in "Quartermaster Equipment for Special Forces" that samples of the jungle suit were rushed to the South Pacific - maybe this was a local production sample?  I have never seen any in photos being worn either. I posted them in an Australian collector group and so far, the only thing added is the tag looks legit and the N57 code is for some factory located in New South Wales.  Does anyone have further info?

Observations on these:

-Had internal suspenders, just like the US model - but were cut out - which is just like most US models. 

-Cuff buttons are hard rubber.

-The only modification from the US pattern is two additional narrow pockets on the calf sections...knife pockets?  (pictured)

-The 11th Airborne patch was on these when I bought them. The patch and thread passes a black light test, so I'm not going to remove it. It is generally cleaner than the rest of the suit. It might have been added when the owner was on occupation duty in Japan? Just a guess. 

-One period repair to the front, also in HBT fabric. Looks like maybe a cartridge belt wore a hole through the waist line?

-The zipper is a ZIPP brand - and may be a post war replacement? Not familiar with this brand.  

Thanks for any help!!

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Brian Keith

Very interesting! Aussie made stuff is neat, this is just awesome! Thanks for posting it. I'm pretty sure the size tag in 40 is a US measurement not Commonwealth, so it would indicated it was for US consumption.

BKW 

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  • 10 months later...
  • 8 months later...
On 4/7/2021 at 7:56 PM, Baron3-6 said:

Bump - still have been unable to find anything about this jump suit or pictures of them in use. 

Hi Baron,

Here’s a link to some kit that’s similar to yours. Unfortunately no one had any definitive service info to add. If you ever find anything out I’d be curious to know

Cheers,

Matt

 

 

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I can only say with certainty that the zipper is not a replacement and it is consistent with zippers found in Aussie-made A-2 Flying Jackets, and also I agree this was made for USA forces.  
 

Very, very interesting item.  Thanks for sharing.

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I believe what you have there is an Australian made copy of a light weight flying suit of the "Beadon" type, RAF. I do belive the Beadon jungle and survival suit had internal suspenders as well because those pockets contained escape and survival items. 

Google Beadon flight suit and you'll find the many similarities. 

 

raf-beadon-flying-suit_15810_main_size3.jpg.607fb50d8900ac3f4ddbc32c686b85c0.jpg

 

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On 1/8/2022 at 3:14 PM, dustin said:

I believe what you have there is an Australian made copy of a light weight flying suit of the "Beadon" type, RAF. I do belive the Beadon jungle and survival suit had internal suspenders as well because those pockets contained escape and survival items. 

Google Beadon flight suit and you'll find the many similarities. 

 

raf-beadon-flying-suit_15810_main_size3.jpg.607fb50d8900ac3f4ddbc32c686b85c0.jpg

 

 

While similar, the "Beadon Suit" was not introduced until 1945; the suit posted here is from a 1943 contract, so we must rule out the "Beadon" theory.  

 

This Aussie-made suit is really mostly similar to the One-Piece Camouflage Jungle Suit in its details and features, other than the color and pockets in lower legs.  The pockets in lower legs are the most puzzling, as they seem to be for something very specific and not for anything I can think of used by regular troops.  Some of the One-Piece Camouflage Jungle Suits were used as flying suits by airmen, which would be a suit type where I could see some specific need being met by these pockets (keeping a knife blade secured to the leg); additionally, a flying suit would be more available to a paratrooper than the average solider.  Having said that, the 11th A/B did make use of one-piece HBT suits in combat, both of the plain and camouflage varieties, and I wonder if this suit may be something contracted limitedly just for them for combat jumps, and the lower pockets had some application they determined useful (knives come to mind, again).  

 

These leg pockets have no flaps or closures, which would indicate they are likely just for placing or resting/supporting something, such as the end of some narrow, long(ish) object during a jump or even march, and not for actually containing or storing anything.  As long as these pockets are constructed from identical fabric as the suit and sewn with identical thread, it is reasonable to conclude they are part of the overall factory design and production.  My best guess is that this suit was specific to the 11th A/B and/or Air Commandos and made in very limited numbers, hence part of the reason we are ignorant of them.  Even if 25, 000 of these suits were made, the fact they were made in Australia and their use confined to the combat of the Pacific, it stands to reason survival of any of these suits would be very few in number - consider how few Aussie-made leather A-2 Flying Jackets have survived, which would be far more prized and durable, yet these are very, very rare among collectors.  

 

I am no expert on the 11th A/B or Air Commandos, but it would be interesting if anyone who has access to these units' photos in quantity could see if these suits show up; I'd not be surprised if some suits that have been assumed to be just the issue one-piece suits may turn out to be some of this type.  

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/9/2022 at 1:16 PM, PQD said:

 

While similar, the "Beadon Suit" was not introduced until 1945; the suit posted here is from a 1943 contract, so we must rule out the "Beadon" theory.  

 

This Aussie-made suit is really mostly similar to the One-Piece Camouflage Jungle Suit in its details and features, other than the color and pockets in lower legs.  The pockets in lower legs are the most puzzling, as they seem to be for something very specific and not for anything I can think of used by regular troops.  Some of the One-Piece Camouflage Jungle Suits were used as flying suits by airmen, which would be a suit type where I could see some specific need being met by these pockets (keeping a knife blade secured to the leg); additionally, a flying suit would be more available to a paratrooper than the average solider.  Having said that, the 11th A/B did make use of one-piece HBT suits in combat, both of the plain and camouflage varieties, and I wonder if this suit may be something contracted limitedly just for them for combat jumps, and the lower pockets had some application they determined useful (knives come to mind, again).  

 

These leg pockets have no flaps or closures, which would indicate they are likely just for placing or resting/supporting something, such as the end of some narrow, long(ish) object during a jump or even march, and not for actually containing or storing anything.  As long as these pockets are constructed from identical fabric as the suit and sewn with identical thread, it is reasonable to conclude they are part of the overall factory design and production.  My best guess is that this suit was specific to the 11th A/B and/or Air Commandos and made in very limited numbers, hence part of the reason we are ignorant of them.  Even if 25, 000 of these suits were made, the fact they were made in Australia and their use confined to the combat of the Pacific, it stands to reason survival of any of these suits would be very few in number - consider how few Aussie-made leather A-2 Flying Jackets have survived, which would be far more prized and durable, yet these are very, very rare among collectors.  

 

I am no expert on the 11th A/B or Air Commandos, but it would be interesting if anyone who has access to these units' photos in quantity could see if these suits show up; I'd not be surprised if some suits that have been assumed to be just the issue one-piece suits may turn out to be some of this type.  

 

 

 

 

When you posted this comment of the Beadon suit being introduced in 1945 I knew that to be not in an entirely accurate understanding because I have documentation that is to the contrary. Since it is not my primary type of focus I did not index where that information is at, I have documentation and even seen photos referencing the Beadon suit as early as the spring of 1944 in being used in the forward area or delivered at least. Today I came across one such document that references the Beadon suit dated November of 1943 inferring that it was in development at that time and known in the overseas theater, since the concept and design was known it's very likely that this suit we see in the original post is patterned after the Beadon design as I originally suggested. It does drive me nuts that I can't find those documents proving that the beaded suit was in use in India and the SWPA by the spring of 1944, one of the documents acknowledge receipt of the suit and distribution.

beadon.jpeg

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  • 8 months later...
Cpl. Punishment

I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I also have a pair of these that the son of the veteran gave me today. They are named to a man who served in LCT Flotilla 8 in the Pacific. I can’t find out anything about these and this is the only other pair I have seen. 
IMG_6367.jpeg.4537a8075e83dc64e74cf23e3f5b0756.jpegIMG_6369.jpeg.cc82e9ecd6146161a6a1c64ee64cc01b.jpeg

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