Trousers, Parachutist

[SMP]

Very nice
Just how rare are Brit para trousers ? I mean... how often does a pair turn up for sale ?

Regards,
Steve

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

Very nice
Just how rare are Brit para trousers ? I mean... how often does a pair turn up for sale ?

Regards,
Steve

Steve, I've had an interest in Airborne for about 5 years now and I can tell you in that time I've known of 2. A set sold about 2 years ago by a French collector (no not De Trez) and this set. I don't know anyone who has been offered a pair since I've been interested.

Perhaps people who have been collecting longer than I have can fill you in on the bigger picture. I would say they are very rare!

Jack.
PS. one more thing-before Roy Carter split up some of his collection in the mid to late 90s I think I remember him telling me he had 5 pairs. I can well believe it too-he had/has some outstanding gear.

[lambstew]

Steve, I've had an interest in Airborne for about 5 years now and I can tell you in that time I've known of 2. A set sold about 2 years ago by a French collector (no not De Trez) and this set. I don't know anyone who has been offered a pair since I've been interested.

Perhaps people who have been collecting longer than I have can fill you in on the bigger picture. I would say they are very rare!

Jack.
PS. one more thing-before Roy Carter split up some of his collection in the mid to late 90s I think I remember him telling me he had 5 pairs. I can well believe it too-he had/has some outstanding gear.

Jack, I heard from a friend that a pair sold recently (maybe a year or two) in England...does this info ring a bell? I've been collecting para about 12 years and these are the only pair I have heard of for sale over on this side of the pond.

Regards,

Konrad

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/lambstew/oddball.jpg">

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

Konrad, it could have been the pair that were on eBay a couple of years ago now you come to mention it?

jack.

[DJT]

For me the Airborne Kit Bag or 'Leg Bag', X-Type Parachute and Parachutist Trousers are the Airborne 'Holy Trinity' (Please don't crucify me for not including the P type Helmet or Step in Smock). I think the 'Leg Bag' is probably harder to find than the trousers and the X-Type probably the 'easiest' to find of all 3 but having said that, all are very scarce in their own right and as a consequence very very pricey. There are a lot of SAS/Airborne items I am looking for that I am confident with time I can find but with the 'Holy Trinity' I am not so sure . They are mostly in old airborne collections (I know a long term collector with 2 or 3 original pairs) and so they rarely surface for public sale. They are the type of item that a collector would pick up the phone and sell to another collector instantly for whatever price they ask. So after all that rambling Steve, I would say they deserve the often misused tag of rare and would be harder to find then their German equivalent.

[Ben]

Fantastic set Konrad! Congrats.
I used to own a pair (around 20 years ago) that came from the Brian L. Davis collection. They are still over here but I'm having great difficulty trying to get them back from the guy, I wonder why.

Des, here's another puppy for your enjoyment, I hope Konrad doesn't mind me posting it here.

[Ben]

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[lambstew]

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Ben - I think Des is going to dispatch an SAS squad to raid you and aquire your goodies - lol.

Regards,

Konrad
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/lambstew/oddball.jpg">

[DJT]

Fantastic Ben Thanks for posting it!

Des, here's another puppy for your enjoyment

[JEROEN1944]

Fantastic Konrad, i realy love it . Ill bet your sleeping with the trousers.....

Jeroen

[lnijherald]

A pair was sold on ebay mid-2004 for roughly 2000 GBP, it is the one shown on my website. And no I'm not the lucky owner.

Luc

[lambstew]

Fantastic Konrad, i realy love it . Ill bet your sleeping with the trousers.....

Jeroen

Hi Jeroen - Yes I am sleeping with my pants on eventhough my wife isn't impressed...

By the way, that's an excellent display you have there...very, very nice!

Regards,

Konradf

[JEROEN1944]

Hi Jeroen - Yes I am sleeping with my pants on eventhough my wife isn't impressed...

By the way, that's an excellent display you have there...very, very nice!

Regards,

Konradf

Thanks.....

Youre wife should be very pleased You can always offer her a droppingbasket for in the livingroom....

Cheers
Jeroen

[Maj.Cain]

Wow 2 of my dreams in one forum topic going bonkers here!
Very very very nice items m8's, the Holy grail items of British Airborne collecting!
Gosh just stunning can't say anymore.....

Cain

[mousekilla]

there are at least 4 patterns of trousers parachutist
1/. probably converted 37 pattern this is the type worn on the bruneval raid and has a button and 2 belt loops to hold the fs knife on the outside of the leg. the map pocket has been modified to the familiar expandable shape that you see on all the other versions but the button and popstuds on the flap are concealed like standard 1937 bd trousers

2 / 1937 pattern para trousers with all the chammy lining and extra pockets as per 1943 pattern but still retaining the back pocket with flap (so 3 pockets on the back!!) and the buttons are concealed like regular 37 pattern and the map pocket flap has pop studs to hold the corners down but they are the sewn in type

3 /widely produced 1943 pattern as in your photos (all the labled ones I have seen in this pattern have always been by henry brown middlesborough!)

4// same pattern as the standand 1943 pattern shown in the photos by lambstew but the chammy leather in the pockets was replaced by a heavy white cotton satine simmilar to the snow suit material

there are also pictures of SAS withextra para map pocket on the side of the leg not to mention pictures of recce in arnhem with an extra standard bd trouser pocket on the side like a 1949 pattern trouser

there in much we will never know!
mousekilla