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Canvas & frame packboard - not plywood


Bob Hudson
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I have been searching all over for packboard info and can find nothing about this. It has CPCO 1944 on the straps and had the folding shelf.

 

packboard.jpg

packboard2.jpg

packboardlabel.jpg

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bob, it is a home made jobber, the straps are from the suspenders for the M44/M45 combat pack which have been cut up! the canvas backer looks to be from the plywood packboard

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Its amazing how much stuff like that is around. Don't know if it was made by someone post war ar home or it was a Quartemaster field improvision. I have several items in my collection. My favorite is a wood frame riveted together with canvas machine gun belt for straps with two bazooka rocket bags sewn together

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bob, it is a home made jobber, the straps are from the suspenders for the M44/M45 combat pack which have been cut up! the canvas backer looks to be from the plywood packboard

 

It is factory made, no doubt about that.

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It does have the suspenders but it is not a home made rig. My guess is that someone post-WWII picked up surplus materials and used them on a sturdy lightweight frame of their own design. It is very well made and even has loops in the wood for a tumpline.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi fellows! I don`t know how much it`s helpfull, BUT i saw yesterday this strange packboard on archival movies about Italy & Patton`s army & others. There one of U.S. G.I. hadle this one on pictures from passing Salerno. If it`s a home made it`s not possible to see it on archival movies, if it`s a front made it`s to much coincidentialy. IMO

With regards and apologies for poor language, Bartek.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought this old packboard, and I don't have any good books on the subject of field gear. I figured it would be more fun to ask you guys anyway. So here are my questions:

1. Is it even military?

2. What era?

3. Country of origin?

 

I know The WWII packboards are common as all get out, at least up here, but I have never seen one like this. In fact, When I worked for the State Forestry at the Wild Fire warehouse they had a large stack of the WWII packboards still brand new. We used them for Chainsaw kits for the fires. I found one of the instructions pamplets in one. It was quite amusing.

 

Anyway, here are the pics

 

post-2011-1195339309.jpg

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post-2011-1195339336.jpg

post-2011-1195339355.jpg

 

And can Anyone recomend any good books on fieldgear?

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it is not US military and is very similar to the US Yukon packboard.The US model has tie down hooks on the sides I think four, if memory serves and constructed much like the one you have pictured

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Thanks for the info. I'll look it over more closely tonight, and see what I can find. I appreciate the picture of the Yukon packboard. I'll keep my eyes open for them. So much of that stuff made it into civilian hands after it served its military purpose.

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Thanks for the info. I'll look it over more closely tonight, and see what I can find. I appreciate the picture of the Yukon packboard. I'll keep my eyes open for them. So much of that stuff made it into civilian hands after it served its military purpose.

 

 

I've merged your post into an earlier thread about another packboard made with military components.

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I took the packboard apart today. The original color is a much deeper green. The rough pine supports remind me of Russian and Chinese items I have seen. But as was stated earlier, it does not seem to be U.S. so I will try other places.

Thanks for the help all

 

Levi

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I have been searching all over for packboard info and can find nothing about this. It has CPCO 1944 on the straps and had the folding shelf.

 

post-214-1189537071.jpg

post-214-1189537087.jpg

post-214-1189537108.jpg

 

 

I have one also.It is set up the same but a small canvas bag is attached to the frame.I always wondered if the pack was made for surplus sale after the war or something done during the war.I ruled out Boy Scout issue as the Scouts normally marked their euipment quite clearly.

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Guest kowalski
I have one also.It is set up the same but a small canvas bag is attached to the frame.I always wondered if the pack was made for surplus sale after the war or something done during the war.I ruled out Boy Scout issue as the Scouts normally marked their euipment quite clearly.

 

I am so happy that someone else other than me has seen these and owns an example of this packboard. I the last two years, I've bought three of this weird type of packboard. Only one of them had the 45 dated pads. Two had dark OD canvas and the other had a a lighter OD/khaki color. These packboards either could be Boy Scout/ surplus store manufactured gear, or they could be an early form of Army packboard, or they could be a Quartermaster theater specific item. I sure would love to know either way.

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Charlie Flick

Good thread. This gives me the excuse needed to post this pic of a packboard carrying member of Merrill's Marauders. :rolleyes:

 

Charlie

 

Packboard_Doc_Stelling_Merrills_Marauders.jpg

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Guest kowalski

Giving more consideration to this whole unidentified packboard (UPB :lol:), I'm kind of inclined to think this is either some kind of Boy Scout made thing from like the 50's or 60's, or it is either an early model, so far unknown issue packboard that could have been experimental, or it was something made by quartermasters. The reason I say this is first off, if it were something a surplus dealer made from original gear scraps, which is entirely possible since I know many surplus stores did do this after the war, all of these packboards that I have seen seem way too concise in their construction. Also, why would surplus stores go to all the trouble and paint these things OD green? The stuff they did after the war, like sew 45 cargo packs to medic yokes was done only because there was a plethora of military surplus backs that by themselves, like the 45 cargo bag or a GP back, had no real value in terms of usefulness to Boy Scouts or other outdoor enthusiasts who needed real packs to use, not random bags without harnesses. As for the Boy Scout theory, I know in the 50s, Boy Scouts had the Yucca Pack which was basically a canvas knapsack so I don't see why they would start making their own packboards.

 

As for the three that I have owned of this obscure packboard, none had straps made from suspenders but rather simple canvas straps, two of which had the regular packboard 45 dated pads on them.

 

Someone said they saw archival footage of possibly one of these packboards? Would that person be able to post screen shots or post a link to the video?

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in response, surplus stores would have gallons of OD paint.From a friend that has spent the last 20+ yeras researching mountain equipment and 5 trips to the national archives I can tell you that the Yukon packboard was adopted based on civilian designs

All early mountain equipment were purchsed from the civilian market and tested at MT. Raineer in washington state,my point is that I am 99.9% positive this is not an early experimental model,

As for the boyscouts, they did have their own line of equipment but if you talk to many who were in BS in the fifties most will state that much of the items used were surplus equipment and closer to the end of WWII when forts and camps were closing down there was piles of equipment to be had and many BS trrops were allowed to go grab what they wanted, this happened here at Camp Adair.

The packboard seen in the video footage could very well possibly be a british model with folding tray, I do know the british and several military models.

IMHO I just cannot swallow that this packboard is G.I.

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Guest kowalski
The packboard seen in the video footage could very well possibly be a british model with folding tray, I do know the british and several military models.

 

I've never heard of or seen a British packboard, do you happen to have any pictures or know a source that does?

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Guest kowalski
in response, surplus stores would have gallons of OD paint.From a friend that has spent the last 20+ yeras researching mountain equipment and 5 trips to the national archives I can tell you that the Yukon packboard was adopted based on civilian designs

 

The only reason why I mentioned the OD paint was I know that surplus stores after the war assembled usable packs from previously unusable gear, such as sewing medic yokes to 45 cargo packs which I have seen both on line and in person. However, unless they were trying to make a wannabe military packboard, which I'm not sure why they would since I would assume regular packboards would be in supply, and I know from at least one Boy Scout picture from the 50's that I've seen verifies this since one of the kids had a standard late war packboard on, I don't see why they would go to the extra effort of painting a homemade packboard OD, whether or not they had OD paint, since it would be only for camping or some kind of similar outdoor activity. Why would it have to be OD? Maybe they were props made for a movie to look like military packboards?

 

Now I have heard that the Yukon packboard was based on similar civilian designs used primarily in Alaska by locals, so the experimental thing probably doesn't make too much sense, however I was simply throwing it out there as an idea.

 

I could see these as possibly some kind of makeshift quartermaster thing, or possibly made by the quartermaster corps for possibly a native group to help carry stuff for the Army, like maybe for natives in the Pacific. I know later, in the Korean War, some GI's made use of the traditional Korean A Frame, similar to the packboard idea but shaped using three poles, to carry heavy loads.

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I just saw two of those (first photos) hanging up at a local store. Had seen them before, but the post made me really notice them.

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Ok another unknown. Anyone can identify this packboard? It should be para version.

 

packboard.jpg

 

 

That one does seem similar to the one shown earlier in the thread. The easiest apparent similarity to see is the metal strap around the end of the uprights:

 

packboardtop.jpgpackboardbtop.jpg

 

 

 

Here's the bottom attachment points. Each seems to have one or two eye bolts on each upright:

 

 

packboardbottom.jpgpackboardbbottom.jpg

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