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RAAF pilot, tropical dress.

Steve H

Member
Just thought i would share the latest kit rollout- 1944/45 RAAF pilot, South West Pacific theatre. The chute is standard RAF/RAAF seat type with the dinghy pack fitted rather than the pad. The helmet is a wartime dated E Type with a wartime dated H mask and MKVIII goggles.














 

Andrew

Well-Known Member
Is that a gun in your holster Steve? :shock: :lol:

Great impression, just need to rough up that cap a bit. Where's it from? Original shorts I see but what about the shirt and boots?
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
Andrew, please don't make another one of your reports to the authorities! ;)

I am not sure what kind of watch the RAAF issued, but I hope they are not too expensive or hard to come by....
 

Steve H

Member
Thanks for the comments guys.

The "pistol" is a wooden cutout with Enfield grips and a lanyard loop attached- looks good in the holster and is totally safe/ legal.

I should also mention that the H type mask has a postwar microphone in it which I need to fix with a wartime mike- I should have pictured with an E* mask instead.

Setup is good for South West Pacific or the Med.

Shoes and Boots are wartime original, shorts original, long socks WPG, & shirt is a cut down What Price Glory Aussie repro shirt, the cap is original and is actually more salty than the pic shows and the flight gear is original, wartime dated early E type helmet. Parachute is an English made Irvin, BoB dated original with the seat pad taken off and a late war dinghy pack installed per flight ops over water.

I am in the process of rolling out a RNZAF set, just need time to photograph it all!
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
Steve H said:
The "pistol" is a wooden cutout with Enfield grips and a lanyard loop attached- looks good in the holster and is totally safe/ legal!
Dang! That means you need one of these for your AAF impression:

image.axd


http://www.nrablog.com/post/2014/01/17/ ... -luck.aspx
 

Andrew

Well-Known Member
unclegrumpy said:
Andrew, please don't make another one of your reports to the authorities! ;)

I am not sure what kind of watch the RAAF issued, but I hope they are not too expensive or hard to come by....

Haha, I was actually attempting a bit of low brow Mae West inspired humour but I guess that was a bit hard to pick :oops:

CMYA made watches for the RAAF, here's one I used to own
RIMG0009.jpg



Speaking of Mae West, I like the use of the '41 pattern rather than a B-4.

Steve, when the time comes for me to move some of my collection I might drop you a line if you like. I really need to start to thin things out that just sit in the wardrobe.
 

Andrew

Well-Known Member
Yes it was a lovely watch Corey but for the usual reasons it went- cost to service, fragility etc. I think I got around $300 for it, so It was comparable to a really good A-11. I don't know much about them but they are not common and I don't think there was a particular pattern or design. I suspect this one was 1950's. I reckon Steve could get away with any old '40's civvi watch or an A-11.

I remember my Uncle who was Infantry in Nth Africa and later New Guinea still wore his watch with the cupped leather protector cover fixed with a press stud into the 1970's.
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
Interesting, I would have thought they might be crazy expensive like some of the RAF watches.

This does look much like an A-11, so much so that it would be hard to tell on ones wrist. Makes you wonder why someone has not made a modern version that swaps out the faces/markings so they could have a number of versions....they could cover a lot of ground and be in the 90% accuracy range as far as being close to the originals.
 

Steve H

Member
With this gear I just use a bog standard ATP army issue watch with the broad arrow in a leather strap with cover.
 

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