Flakjacket US M55 model made by Schuberth Werke

[Gordon Craig]

Michael,

The text in Schuster's book says that Schubert Werk started to design these vests in 1960/61 and that some were handed over for testing with nylon plates but he doesn't say when they were tested. It appears to have been a project for the U.S. Navy and the Bundewehr. Whether it was strictly a U.S. Navy project and the BW tested the vests or whether it was a complete joint venture is not clear in what Schuster says in his book. He indicates that the vest was not found to be satisfactory in the BW tests. He also indicates tests continued until 1978 when a British designed vest was adopted.
He has four small pictures in his book which are copies of photographs and there appears to be two slightly different models shown. He does not show a picture of the label such as the one that appears in your vest in the book but he does list what the label in the back of the vest says and it is exactly what your vest label says.
Congratulations on a very early test vest.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

And thanks go to Gordon for reminding me I have to get this book!

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

Yes you need a copy of this book. It covers a lot of area that Kunstwadl doesn't. Especially in the field gear and trial uniform area.

Regards,

Gordon

[hoover]

Yes, but in my opinion you will need both books if you are a collector.

[Gordon Craig]

hoover,

Agreed, but Kunstwadl is short on field gear etc. coverage so Schuster is a real help in that area. But then again, Schuster's book completely ignores the BW Marine while Kunstwadl covers it fairly well. As you say, a serious collector needs both books.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

I was going through a bunch of stuff and remembered I had this example of a 1980s body armor cover:





I'm guessing this is also an experimental model. At lest I've never seen one in use.

Steve

[michelwijnand]

fghg

Nice, I've seen 2 other versions of that vest on Ebay.de lately, 1 like this but with leather buttstock pad on the shoulder I believe, it also had a groin protector hanging from the rings in front.
And then there was 1 in BGS Sumpftarn, also with groin protector, anyone got intel on that? It looked really nifty :P

Cheers,
Michel

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Michel,

I bought this one around 10 years ago from a guy that also had the same type in French "Leopard" (Lizard), also made by Schulze Brakel, IIRC. I've got a used Sumpftarn one I bought about the same time, with inserts, in used condition. IIRC it has the leather on the shoulder. Sadly, no groin protection and that one up on eBay has been there for a while at a ridiculous price. Otherwise I would have "upgraded" mine

It's interesting to see that the first Flecktarn Flakjacke is nearly identical to this gray type.

Steve

[michelwijnand]

That's awesome, seems they wanted to try a whole lot of camo patterns out, any idea if they were ever made in the prototype Flecktarn patterns?
And I just remembered, I saw one of these in US woodland style camo too, just like the uniforms in that pattern, do you maybe know what those uniforms were for?

Cheers,
Michel

[Collectinsteve]

I suspect the Leopard model was as a sample for a possible French contract. I doubt they produced it for "fun" and certainly not the Bundeswehr. The Woodland type you saw was probably similar.

I am nearly positive no body armor was made in any of the 5 TrVsu 76 patterns. I am sure I would have heard about it by now.

Steve

[michelwijnand]

Well sh*t, look what I found:

[Gordon Craig]

Very interesting photo! Bosnia perhaps?

Regards,

Gordon

[michelwijnand]

No this is in Lybia, Misrata I think it was.
I saw a guy from Lybia with a Sumpf jacket on before, but didn't expect a vest :P

[Collectinsteve]

Very interesting indeed!

One of the many camouflage uniforms used by Libya is a BGS Sumpftarn derivative. It's been in use for at least 30 years, IIRC. The pattern is not the same as BGS Sumpf.

This flak jacket is the first I've seen. Body armor, in general, is a rarity in Libyan pics. This one is not the type I have and as seen recently on eBay. The obvious difference is the one pictured here has epaulettes and the others do not. There is a different method of holding the back and front sections together. So I'm sure it's not the same thing.

I'd love to know more about this example in Libya as I am the one I have.

Cheers,

Steve

[Gene T]

There are some nice full views of these Lybian flak vests here:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...1-revolt/page3


What's never been clear to me is whether all of these Sumpftarn uniform items were contract made in Germany or sourced locally. Perhaps the earliest ones were imported, while more recent items are domestically designed and produced?

We can also see in these photos that both the army and the rebels can be found wearing this camo pattern while they are fighting. How the heck do they know whom they are shooting at?


Gene T