LW Tropical Tunic

[Dirk]

A question on the attached photo- of a Ju-52 crew member in Tripoli early (March) 1941. Is he wearing the sahariana pattern tunic and does anyone recognize the helmet? A standard LW blue or a foreign model--Dutch or Italian?

[John Hodgin]

Luft. tropical tunic

Hi Dirk,

Yes, that is an Italian tunic. The first flying crews in Africa wore Italian tropical uniforms. Cannot see the sun helmet well enough in the photo, but early on, Dutch helmets were often worn.

Best,
John

[Dirk]

John- Thank you for the help. Wish he turned a bit to one side so we could see the helmet more clearly. Dirk

[John Hodgin]

Italian tropical uniform

Your welcome. Wish more detail of the helmet showed too. It's a very nice photo.
Best,
John

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Dirk,

Here is a picture of my dad wearing an Italian pith helmet. It is also quite early, taken in 1941. Looks like yours might be Italian as well.

Cheers, Frank H.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is one with a South african pith helmet

[John Hodgin]

Tropical photos

Great photos Chris. What was your dad's service during the war?
Best,
John

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi John,
my father was in dadsbag till 43. (not exactly desert service but sounds like it eh ;-) (he was born in 44)
here is another photo of Germans with South African Helmets...

[Chris Boonzaier]

and another ....

[J Melvin]

Blue Ones

Hey Chris, you have any photos of the blue pith helmets being worn by Luftwaffe members? Just curious... Thanks!

[Ralph Heinz]

Sahariana

The tunic is definately an Italian Sahariana from the yoke and tight cuffs on the sleeves. I have two of these early Saharianas in my collection that were worn by LW officers.

One is actually ink stamped inside: L.B.A. IV 1942. This one has sewn in LW flight Leutnant's shoulder boards and a "big A" aluminum breast eagle discussed and shown yesterday on another thread by Jos Le Conte ("wesspennest").

When looking at wartime photos of Italian officers, you see a lot of variation in these officer quality Sahariana tunics and most came with a cloth belt that buttoned in front rather than using a metal buckle. I'd guess that a number of these tunics were produced in Italy principally for the LW but some were probably privately purchased by officers bound for North Africa. They were cooler to wear than the tight fitting heavy cotton tropical tunics issued to the Heer in 1940-41and the LW was late in getting tropical uniforms produced and issued to its troops.

Danke schon to others for posting such great wartime photos of Tropenhelme in use! I'd like to see more of these photos.

I have an officer's private purchase pith helmet marked: "Casco Roma Tettamanti Addis Abeba" (Ethopia) and this type is often seen being worn in North Africa by LW and even Heer officers.

[Dirk]

I also want to thank you all for sharing your photos and information. Looks like the South African helmet has a wider rim so I am leaning toward the suggestion of Italian (although I hold out hope its a LW in blue). Also I've got a second image of the same guy that looks a bit clearer and I think I see a similar band to Franks image. Ralph we talked about blue helmets off line a while ago and the one I saw was dated 1942. Any guess if there are any dated earlier than 1942? Again thanks all.

[Jos L C]

Hello,
Instead of photo's I have some shots of a special Luft pithhelmet for the Africa fans,maybe you like it.
Special is the neckprotection that is made of creamcolored HBT and to make the helmet a better fit for the owner they sewed a collar under the sweatband,originally done !

Jos.

[Jos L C]

Pithhelmet 1

[Jos L C]

inside.