Today's Flea Market finds HOLY CRAP!

[776thamtrac]

Well guys take a look because this is what 20.00 can still buy you these days. I couldn't get back to my truck fast enough with this haul. All from the same seller. These items all came out of the attic of a house he cleaned out last week; low level flight suit, survial vest, leather hat with name tag sewn (need to take a new pic I guess) and to top it off a GERMAN parachute canopy in a Cheerio box! As a collector my thoughts have gone wild with this one. There were obviously two of these at one time because the bottom of the box was filled with scrap silk! Possibly used to make a dress? Who knows but the whopping sum on the parachute, any guesses??? 1.00 Ok I'll sit back and gloat now lol Sorry guys

CJW

[776thamtrac]

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[776thamtrac]

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[776thamtrac]

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[CNY Militaria]

Ok, that just not fair! Seriously though, great finds...Its not everday that bargains are to be had anymore at flea markets!

 

Justin

[dustin]

good find! but the c-1 vest has been altered all pockets should be horizontal but not the two chest pockets.They are more practible with flap up and holster is gone..it is clean though. here is a picture on what it should look like.alterations on these things are quite common when in the hands of them civilians

[jurgo]

good find! but the c-1 vest has been altered all pockets should be horizontal but not the two chest pockets.They are more practible with flap up and holster is gone..it is clean though. here is a picture on what it should look like.alterations on these things are quite common when in the hands of them civilians

i love the parachute!!!!

[776thamtrac]

oh well even if it has been altered I think I still got a deal...

[MAS36]

nice score! once I found a matching set of original Vietnam tiger camo fatiques at a thrift shop for $5.00 in excellent condition, it was mixed in with the halloween costumes.

 

if you keep searching flea markets you will eventually find some nice items like that if your lucky.

 

[776thamtrac]

Wow Mas those tiger stripes would have been a great score!

[SteveR]

oh well even if it has been altered I think I still got a deal...

Dog Gone right you did.

The alterations more than likely were the choice of the aviator. Riggers and sewing machines were always available at landing fields. Airmen are never hesitant to have the chute rigger make or alter something for them.

[776thamtrac]

Thanks for the input Steve! You do have a very good point there. I keep forgetting to mention that the name tag on the back of the cap has the name LG Hill Jr. And just as a side note the way I look at these things is this; you can't buy much of anything anymore in this hobby for 20.00 or less so in my opinion that makes this a good deal at any price haha.

Thanks again,

CJW

[RRA227]

Super stuff! Rich A.

[dustin]

Dog Gone right you did.

The alterations more than likely were the choice of the aviator. Riggers and sewing machines were always available at landing fields. Airmen are never hesitant to have the chute rigger make or alter something for them.

Steve, valid point but I do not buy it in this case.

one -the vest is to minty to have seen actual use there is no wear like from the parachute harness no sweat (a big sign of use), grime and discoloring.If the vest was modified by the request of the aviator then he would of had to have worn it to realize it needed to be changed but the vest was specifically designed to incorperate well with no restriction to the parachute harness or wearer.

two-pockets are missing with valuable components deleted this would have been very unwise on the wearers part it.At the time this vest was being distributed there was survival programs in place that would have kept the individual aware to the functions and use of all implements available in vest.

999 out of a thousand modified military items can be attributed to civilian use to make an item more practicle for general use.In this case if I were a hunter or fisher man and wanted to use the vest as a utility item horizontal pockets are almost useless you cannot put many things in them but in the vertical position they can be filled with many items, a much more practicle design.If I were a surplus dealer this is what I would exaclty do it makes the vest more appealing to the consumer.

Without the vest I'd to a vet with name and/or serial number written inside or actually gotten from the vet himself it is a butchered vest with no provinence and by labeling it a rigger mod piece is making this item "fantasy".Just a humble opinion and my 2 cents but sometimes I get worked up when everytime a piece is modified it gets labeled "rigger made".

[776thamtrac]

Well the last and only point I am going to make here is that the hat is ID'ed and all of the items came from the same attic. So whatever no big deal to me....you call it butchered I call it a bargain for all that stuff at 20 bucks

[QED4]

Steve, valid point but I do not buy it in this case.

one -the vest is to minty to have seen actual use there is no wear like from the parachute harness no sweat (a big sign of use), grime and discoloring.If the vest was modified by the request of the aviator then he would of had to have worn it to realize it needed to be changed but the vest was specifically designed to incorperate well with no restriction to the parachute harness or wearer.

two-pockets are missing with valuable components deleted this would have been very unwise on the wearers part it.At the time this vest was being distributed there was survival programs in place that would have kept the individual aware to the functions and use of all implements available in vest.

999 out of a thousand modified military items can be attributed to civilian use to make an item more practicle for general use.In this case if I were a hunter or fisher man and wanted to use the vest as a utility item horizontal pockets are almost useless you cannot put many things in them but in the vertical position they can be filled with many items, a much more practicle design.If I were a surplus dealer this is what I would exaclty do it makes the vest more appealing to the consumer.

Without the vest I'd to a vet with name and/or serial number written inside or actually gotten from the vet himself it is a butchered vest with no provinence and by labeling it a rigger mod piece is making this item "fantasy".Just a humble opinion and my 2 cents but sometimes I get worked up when everytime a piece is modified it gets labeled "rigger made".

 

You also have a valid point also but I don't buy it. While it is true the vest was designed to be worn under other equipment it was found early on that they were too bulky to be worn that way. Regulations actually call for them to be carried in a modified M-36 pack and attached to the parachute harness. So they would all be in near new condition. Also there were many modifications made by the AAF to these vests over time. It was found that were best suited for tropical regions so components were changed and pockets changed to fit them. The holsters were usually removed when they scraped them. I personally find it unlikely that a civilian would go to all that trouble with all the inexpensive hunting and fishing vests on the market. I have a vest with the same configuration of the pockets but with the holster in tact and it is no armature job, way better than I could do and I am pretty handy with a sewing machine. For my money these modified vests are a legitimate Army modification, probably not at the whim of the wearer but to suit the needs of the unit.

[776thamtrac]

I should mention here that the holster is still attatched to this vest as well. Seems some people assumed it wasn't since it didn't show in the pic...

[pconrad02]

Great buy !!!

[776thamtrac]

Thanks Paul! Always nice to get a compliment from a pro!

Colin

[dustin]

You also have a valid point also but I don't buy it. While it is true the vest was designed to be worn under other equipment it was found early on that they were too bulky to be worn that way. Regulations actually call for them to be carried in a modified M-36 pack and attached to the parachute harness. So they would all be in near new condition. Also there were many modifications made by the AAF to these vests over time. It was found that were best suited for tropical regions so components were changed and pockets changed to fit them. The holsters were usually removed when they scraped them. I personally find it unlikely that a civilian would go to all that trouble with all the inexpensive hunting and fishing vests on the market. I have a vest with the same configuration of the pockets but with the holster in tact and it is no armature job, way better than I could do and I am pretty handy with a sewing machine. For my money these modified vests are a legitimate Army modification, probably not at the whim of the wearer but to suit the needs of the unit.

Good point and would assume if enough turn up in the same configuration then it would really support an army/air force modification,I would really like to see some documentation on modifications,that would interesting to help support the issue here,I stated what I said because it was my opinion and do not know foresure and would love to find out for fact about these modifications.I would imagine many were modified post WWII and into korea.I do know that by late 1945 a few items were dropped such as one ration and several other items to reduce bulk.

As for the modified mussette bag is was not really a regulation but a suggested means of carrying the vest it was never officially authorized or adopted by the AAF.The official authorized use of the vest was to wear it as outlined in technical order 13-5-46 which illistrates proper attachment as they call it .The use of the modified mussette bag was left to local commands and distributed accordingly.I was merely theorizing on the modified vest in question but I do have the documentation to back up the tech order and mussette bag,that I do know

documentation is everything it seems in most cases.

for arguments sake lets say it is a genuine military mod....then the question is when? WWII? Korea?

Colin I hope your not getting offended this is just a simple conversation about the vest not the fantastic buy you made...that is undisputable and am sure most are gealious!

[doyler]

I believe most modifications were/are personal and done on a individual level.Take a lot of your Viet-Nam Seals and other Spec ops operators.They used whay fit the situation or had it made to there individual liking.The M42 jumpsuits are another matter.These were done on a divisional level and are quite well documented in photos.I personally know a man that that served in para maintenance with the 101st and he was one of many who did the re-inforceing of the suits and made the pouches,gear deploment bags etc.This wasnt an official government modification.Again the need nessitated the end product.I have also interviewd a 17th Abn. vet and he also was in para maintenance and he done the same work only on the M43 suits.

[QED4]

I got my vest out and looked closer at it. It appears that it is not exactly the same, mine has the two narrow bottom horizontal pockets still in tact, other wise it appears to be the same. Also mine has the exact same label which raises another question, maybe this was done to only one contract. Another thing I noticed, while they are marked Army Air Forces the the order number has the 33 in it which is usually associated with later Air Force numbers so they may well be a Post-War to Korean War modification. I also looked closely at the way it was done and this was not an easy modification requiring a good amount of expertise which in my opinion would eliminate Buba from changing the pockets on his huntin' vest or even a surplus dealer doing it because it would not be cost effective. The modified pockets are not sewn through the inside pockets. The inside pockets had a side seam opened up and it was folded back while the modified pockets were sewn on then the inside pockets were restitched. All stitching is done in the same style and quality as the original stitching. It just hit me that the labels are black and silver rather than black and gold indicating late production. After looking closer at this vest and thinking about it I am now leaning towards the theory that they are factory or at least depot modifications done Post-War probably by the Air Force. Dose anyone else have a modified vest it would be interesting to see if they are all the same?

[QED4]

Close up of the stitching.

[dustin]

QED, as far as I know know no C-1 vests were contracted after 1945 as there was plenty in stock after the war ended and going into korea.

there are a variety of labels for the aaf black with gold lettering, black with white lettering, white with red lettering and white with black lettering.

the AAF used two different contract prefixes, on items procured prior to 1944 they used 535-AC-### after 1944 they used 33-038-AC-###.I do not exactly know what this designates but both variations can be found on most AAF contracted items

The vest you have is a WWII contracted vest the contract number 5415 was awarded in oct. 1944 and completed in march 1945 for $685,000 to the Aircraft Appliance Corp.Your vest should be void of the labeling for the cooking container in inside and is what I call standard or common variant with strait vertical breast pockets.Other variants include slant pocket no insect repellent pocket and cooking container (all slant pockets have cooking container label),slant pocket w/insect repellent, vertical pocket with cooking container label then finally no cooking container label.Vests contracted after 1945 had the cooking container eliminated,I do not know the exact date it was dropped but by using known contract dates it seems sometime in late 1944.I havcompiled a pretty complete list of C-1 vest contracts with makers and manufactured dates.The eariest contract I can verify was awarded in feb. 1944 I believe this to be the first contract awarded after the vest was accepted and post 2,000 experimental order.other manufacturers include

belber Trunk and bag co. (subcontractor for sears and roebuck)

Breslee mfg. corp

clark W.L.M.

Cappel McDonald co.

lite MFG.co

Sears Roebuck which label reads manufatcured by reliance

Your vest does look proffesionally done but I can tell you that I have seen atleast a half dozen or more of these contracted vests and they were not modified and is the one in my collection so I would foresure eliminate factory modified

[dustin]

here is an example of a 33-038 contract