Odd WWII Army Camouflage Pants

[hzamar]

Does anyone have an idea about these pants? They are original WWII camo pants but the pattern of the camo is different than I’ve seen before. There is more brown and not much green. Also, they are non-reversible material. The pattern is the standard WWII Army camouflage and the tag is the same from what I can recall but the colors are just different. The green side is the ‘outside’ of the HBT cloth and the pattern side is the ‘inside’ of the material. They are in mint condition.

 

I thought maybe they were an experimental pattern of camouflage but I will leave it open to the experts to identify them.

[hzamar]

more

[hzamar]

3

[American Graffiti]

WOW

 

These are very nice rare birds indeed.

 

The camo does look like some of the protoypes trialed by the army. These have obviously gone into production, but I've never seen a pair before.

 

Very nice and great condition, thanks for sharing,

 

AG

[General Apathy]

 

Does anyone have an idea about these pants? They are original WWII camo pants but the pattern of the camo is different than I’ve seen before. There is more brown and not much green. Also, they are non-reversible material. The pattern is the standard WWII Army camouflage and the tag is the same from what I can recall but the colors are just different. The green side is the ‘outside’ of the HBT cloth and the pattern side is the ‘inside’ of the material. They are in mint condition.

 

I thought maybe they were an experimental pattern of camouflage but I will leave it open to the experts to identify them.

 

Hi hzamar, what an amazing find in such great condition, a model of trousers that thirty years I ago was very keen to aquire for my collection, I loved all the weird and wonderful stuff. I am quite amused by the Feb 1944 date in there though, I didnt think that they were being made as late as this, I thought the standard ' frog-skin ' pattern had been settled upon. :think:

 

Attached is a photo of Army Engineers in training stateside in March 1943, notice the two helmet covers that are similar to your trousers.

 

Although I no longer actively buy things for my collection I am still deeply envious of your find.

 

Cheers Lewis

[Jamecharles]

Those ezperimental trousers are amazing ! cool

 

(look the camo used in this training during the ww2)

[bfryar44]

Those trousers are very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing!

 

Bryan

[jgawne]

Those are strange for two reasons. (And keep in mind I have been through every known cammoflage uniform file in the archives and wrote an article ont he early patterns for Militaria Magazine.)

 

1. They look like one of the experimentl patterns from 1942 that was never mass produced. Just a small run for testing.

 

2. The Army had decided to stop making and using cammo about January 1944 so the date of Feb 44 is somewhat bizzare. Anything in stock at the time was just used as regular fatiques in the USA.

 

I can come come to only four conclusions:

 

1st They are one of the last of the cammo trousers to be made and they used a roll of old material rather than print out some more just to fill out the contract. (most probable)

 

2nd They are one of the experimental items that was never issued, but someone sewed in a crisp label. (not too probable)

 

3rd More in that pattern will turn up and they will be traced to some company that made up some of the material to do stuff like this. Possible, but we'll have to see if more suddenly appears.

 

4th The company had the material and tags sitting around at the end of the war and at some point decided to make them to be sold as surplus cammo for hunters. but then I doubt they would use a tag.

 

 

 

Of course my 1st reason is the most probable. It may be one of those things that "ain't supposed to be, but is."

[jgawne]

I have been trying to upload a photo of the closest match of the exp patterns to this and it keeps hanging. Its close, but not exact. Which is even odder.

[jgawne]

Finally- note the colors are off, and the patterns seem slightly different. note the small splotch in the light area.

 

 

[Corpsmancollector]

Wow, just wait until Owen, Jim & Bob see these beautys!

 

Extraordinary...

 

Will

[kammo-man]

Over stock test fabric from a pattern that was dropped and cut into regular Army cut trousers by a manufacturer who just thought all cammo is cammo .

Look under the pocket flap .

That is frogskin pattern .

So both patterns were in the shop at the same time .

These would have been in inventory and worked their way through the supply chain .

All fabric was used up as it was war-time .

Very cool .

owen

[jgawne]

Now I am more baffled

 

I had thought this was a unique oddball. And then I see it is not one of the known experimental patterns.

 

However now I've found out that a number of (mint) examples popped up in Europe about 25 years ago. Borsarello had them in his book on cammo and called the 'McLaren' pattern (from the manufacturer).

 

So there may be something to them. What I have no idea. It the end of US camouflage, and slightly different from a pattern that was experimented with in 1942 and not used. I am not sure if I have the records of who made the original experimental garments.

 

Also the stock number is different from the standard Cammo pants.

 

But there is nothing about these in the Army Archives records (which means little).

 

So in any case they are not as rare as we thought, and I think there is a story here.

[124cav]

somewhere i have a signal corps pic that i found on eBay

 

also the life google image combo turned some pics up

[124cav]

 

is this what we are looking at?

[kammo-man]

 

is this what we are looking at?

I think so

[kammo-man]

I think so

BOB ,

that is your smock being worn .

[124cav]

i grabbed this pic from an ebay listing

 

the same photo was also available thru the life image search but has since vanished

 

i think i searched engineer 1943 or sniper 1943

 

note the BAR belt

[vintageproductions]

Sure looks like it.

 

Here is a link to the original thread on my smock / pullover

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...perimental+camo