2 Blendspiegel Variants

[Harry]

Strictly speaking, it is only the pouches that are different, the mirrors them selves are identical. The white pouch is larger and the mirror fits loosely inside. The white pouch is made of a avery fine lightweight material, like silk. The yellow pouch is smaller, and made of a thicker material. The stamps are different in font and size.

Both of these examples are original.

[Harry]

... a shot with one mirror laying over the other - exactly the same in dimensions and in the position and size of holes

[Jos L C]

Does that one mirror show grey bars on the decal instead of yellow ?

Jos.

[Harry]

Hi Jos, well spotted. Both have yellow bars on the decal, just one is a little faded and did not come out on the pic .... here is another pic with flash which shows it more clearly .....

I have a theory on these that the yellow pouched mirrors were packed with survival kits for use in the event if ditching in the sea, (the farbbeutel, life-raft etc were all yellow) and the white version was packed with the winter/snow survival kit

[totteek]

Blendspiegel

Hello Harry and Jos ! Do you know if their are Any different using areas since one has a white and the other a yellow case ??? Bomber/ fighter ?? I my self have a white case to my Speigel !! Mayby just 2 different makers ?? Regards Markus E

[Harry]

Markus, I think the makers of the mirrors are the same, just different makers of the pouches (different colour, size, material, and assembly/stitching of the material). Like I said earlier, the different coverings may have been for different conditions (sea versus winter/snow). There is no period photographic evidence to show that these were carried on smaller/fighter aircraft or by the pilots themselves, but only as part of rescue kits

[Jos L C]

I also have the white and yellow pouch and on one hand I like your theory..
..on the other hand I would say that the mirror was more or less invented to survive when crashed on sea.
It's all a bit guessing ofcourse, just focusing on the Fibel and the fact that it was part of a life boat.
White could indicate Winter/snow, but would it really matter, it's a small items and one would not wear it on the body directly ?
You can be right ofcourse, I'm just trying to get the picture.
Not easy, cause sometimes all was blue and just one item was black etc..
Different maker of the pouches, yes.. or the same and they were ordered to change white in yellow or the other way around ?
Same mirrors, sofar they look the same..
Did these mirrors came in pouches or were both ordered seperately, like certain lots of helmets, liners and rivets etc ?
Well, all we know is that mirors came in yellow and white pouches ..

Yes, not even a million photo's show a mirror on the body of fighter pilot, Stuka pilot, bomber pilot etc ..
Fighter pilot liked items dangling all over the body, if issued we should've seen one hanging around.
What we/ I know is that the mirror belonged to a rubber bag as part of a big life boat, the Fibel also confirms this.
I've seen such bag and the other goodies inside, sofar I'm not aware of other use.
Not saying that a individual pilot could "own" such mirror by laying his hands on it, possible .. , in that case he may have worn it, even used it ..
I'm almost certain that mirrors were not issued to fighter pilots, rather than flag poles, farbbeutel etc..
Reason why is unknown, the bomber planes had more items in their kits which fighter pilot simply didn't have, these single guys just had to work with the minimun, but most useful items.

Jos.

[totteek]

Ok ! Thanks Very Much Guys Regards Markus

[james nz]

What we/ I know is that the mirror belonged to a rubber bag as part of a big life boat, the Fibel also confirms this.

Jos.

Interesting thread and very nice items Harry. Silly question Jos, but what is the Fibel you refer too?...
Are there any period manuals about survival equipment? I only have a modern print of the translated cartoon style 'survival at sea' manual

[Jos L C]

Interesting thread and very nice items Harry. Silly question Jos, but what is the Fibel you refer too?...
Are there any period manuals about survival equipment? I only have a modern print of the translated cartoon style 'survival at sea' manual

The 'survival at sea' is actually a translated version of the German 'Seenot Fibel', it's all we've and then there's some written stuff mentioning certain items.
The Fibel displays very well the difference between bomber and fighter IMO, it's a comic manual more or less, butt rather accurate and gives us a good impression of the majority of items.
Then there's the RLM pages, very useful..
For the rest it's theories, sharing knowledge, sharing collections etc..
There's no specific era book about these items sofar and as far as I know.
It's also hard to find the specific era photo's ..
No proof sofar that the mirror was used by individual pilots, proof sofar that the mirror was part of a large life boat as used in big planes.
One mirror for the whole crew !
So, it wasn't a personal item, so, low chance that every fighter pilot carried one of these.
Add up that none of us never saw a photo with a fighter pilot with miror dangling at his swimming vest.
The Seenot Fibel doesn't show a mirror for fighter pilot, we see knife, signal pistol, flag pole, even a rescue light, but no mirror.

Jos.