101st airborne questions

[badger906]

right im another one of those "ive just watched band of brothers" weirdo/geeks

Was just wonders a few things.
1) Whats the name/issue of the belt/brace as ive seen several names such as m36 ect as some are kakhi and others OD
2) What is the actual name of the para troopers jump uniform?

[steve34]

Re: 101st airborne questions

The early troopers uniform was made purely for paratroops, thats the M42 uniform. Most M42 gear was rigger modifed with knee and elbow patches being sewn on, along with the pockets being reinforced
Later in the war the M43 uniform was adopted, this was the standard US Field jacket and trousers, which some troops then had modifed with larger pockets etc.

If you want a realy indepth look try this site,
http://www.101airborneww2.com
but if you register on the forum, dont go asking dumb ass questions without doing a realy good search first and be polite as quite a few WW2 vets and their families regularly post on there.
And for gods sake dont post a " I want to recreate a Easy Company uniform" thread there as you will recieve no end of abuse!
Good luck though and post some pics when you get your gear sorted out, Id love to do a proper trooper load out, but I would want to get it super exact and I would end up spending 100's of £'s trying to get it just right.

[Gadge Europa]

Re: 101st airborne questions

As said above.

Basically the 'jump uniform' is good for sicily and d-day. The market garden drops and 'bastogne' you want the M43 which was pretty standard across the army by then.

The M42 jump uniform wasnt that good, hence the numerous modifications made to strengthen it and its phase out for a more 'one army, one uniform' approach with the M43 (it was a massive bone of contention that paratroopers got a different uniform, boots and pay compared to glider borne troops who wore line infantry kit).

Webbing by D-day can be a mix of the earlier khaki shades and the later greener shade that was starting to be phased in. A mainly khaki set with a few greener bits tends to look pretty accurate. It's a myth that no one used the greener stuff until the end of the war.

US airborne in WWII is perhaps the easiest and cheapest of the lot to do as their is a massive glut of companies making repro kit for the 'bandwagon of brothers' market so the options are there from 'all in a box for 150 quid' to 'spend thousands' depending on how accurate/good/hardwearing you want your kit to be.

If you're set on 101st fair enough but perhaps look into the 82nd... they achieved as many victories, fought in more battles but get less press so folk doing 82nd tend to get less 'yawn... another easy co' from folk than those doing 101st... perhaps unfairly.

Depending on *how* you want to skirmihs i'd be wary of the m42 jump uniform, espeically cheaper makes. Its' not hard wearing and has zero insulating power when wet. At a WWII weekender a while ago it poured down and was quite cold. All the germans and brits in wool uniforms were fine but the US para lads were in a bad way. It was only really supposed to be worn in the field for very short periods of time (about 24 hours).

[Zib]

Re: 101st airborne questions

M42 uniforms are supposed to be worn OVER the wool trousers and shirt actually.

[dj2l8b]

You can always do another unit besides Easy 506. Though Easy Company and the rest of the 506th PIR was disbanded in November 1945 and reactivated in 1954 as a training unit. If you are dead set on doing the 101st ok, but dont stick to one regiment. Try looking the 101st airborne as a whole and Then you have more options on what to wear etc.

[101stairborne-506]

Re: 101st airborne questions

read this, its a guide i wrote a couple of years ago

http://forums.zeroin.co.uk/showthrea...try-kit-guides!


this is the original one i wrote, not sure if its any different but hey, reference is a reference!

http://forums.zeroin.co.uk/showthrea...-loadout-guide

[Gadge Europa]

Re: 101st airborne questions

M42 uniforms are supposed to be worn OVER the wool trousers and shirt actually.

And how many airsofters have you *ever* seen do this

The point is that most skirmished do an 'outer layer' and if you just wear the jump suit and it rains on anything but a warm day you're going to get cold.