Questions About Paratroopers

[Tom Sawyer]

I have some questions on US paratroopers and hopefully you guys can help me. Thanks in advance for the repsoses.

1. First off, how prevalent were rigger pouches? What were the most common type, m-1, carbine, Thompson, etc?

2. Did the majority of D-Day paratroopers use only helmet netting or did they use both scrim and netting? What was themost common one?

3. How common or prevalent was the camoflaged 82nd pathfinder uniform with the darkened or blackened striping like Dragon Tom (82nd) uniform? Which unit did this or did more than this unit do it?

4. How common was it for Paratroopers to for go any netting and scrim and just go with a painted camoflage or plain steel pot?

5. What was thr primary bag used by those paratroopers with smg's? Was it the GP bag or the other plain thompson bags that companies have produced.? of those bags which are the most accurate, the Did one, the early Dragon one, the Josh Ackerman or the Bud Norris ones?

Thanks for any input and help on my questions.

 

[young 90th]

1. Rigger pouches were not that much
2. Net and scrim
3. During Normandy not much MTO a little bit more
4. Hardly in Normandy MTO more
5. SMG bag , but it is really your own choice

 

[Pangaea95]

First, I have to state that I don't really agree with young 90th reply, the first question you need to ask yourself is the time period and theater you want to portray the paratrooper in which is very relevent when it comes to equipment and uniforms of the paratroopers. My field of expertise is mostly German Wehmacht Heer, but I do have a US paratrooper I've been working on for a while, and here's some info I have found out along the way that might help you out.

1. First off, how prevalent were rigger pouches? What were the most common type, m-1, carbine, Thompson, etc?

The riggers were very common during the Normandy campaign and were made in many types for all sorts of ammo as well as grenades, and there were also rigger modified uniforms as well.

2. Did the majority of D-Day paratroopers use only helmet netting or did they use both scrim and netting? What was the most common one?

This is a tricky question as it depends on the unit you are portraying, both were prevalent during the Normandy campaign

3. How common or prevalent was the camoflaged 82nd pathfinder uniform with the darkened or blackened striping like Dragon Tom (82nd) uniform? Which unit did this or did more than this unit do it?

From what I've read it was used during the Normandy campaign by...as you stated the 82nd pathfinders, who painted the camo on the uniforms themselves from what I am told

4. How common was it for Paratroopers to for go any netting and scrim and just go with a painted camoflage or plain steel pot?

Not that common, I have seen very few pic's

5. What was the primary bag used by those paratroopers with smg's? Was it the GP bag or the other plain thompson bags that companies have produced.? of those bags which are the most accurate, the Did one, the early Dragon one, the Josh Ackerman or the Bud Norris ones?

Once again depends on the time period and theater/campaign, during jumps they mostly used the smg 5 cell ammo pouches or rigger modified pouches, and later would acquire the mag bags and GP bags as they restocked with ammo after the jump. I would think the GP bag to be more common, but later in the war as the paratroopers were issued the M3 SMG you would see more of the mag bags. as far as which manufacture in 1/6th is best I prefer the DiD versions on both. The DML mag bag I always felt was too small, as well as their GP bag. DiD's mag bag is very nice, but their GP bag is also a tad small, but better than DML's imo. There are some cool threads in the GenQuarters section where our resident US expert Hankco has done some excellent reviews of the various GP bags produced by several manufactures with the latest produced by BBi coming out on top.

Hope some of this info helps, for more accurate info search through this section as there are some great threads and discussion on the US airborne troops here

 

[Brave Rifles]

Many units utilized field expedient camo on their jumpsuits. This isn't D-Day per sey, but a unit that jumped into Southern France later in August, during Dragoon:


http://www.sixtharmygroup.com/portal/viewtopic.php?t=11916551st

 

[Kev Longino]

Rigger pouches were pretty common and appear in photographs from at least 1943 - I have one of Bob Piper wearing them then. After Operation Husky in Sicily the riggers also started widely modifying the M42 jumpsuit as the 1st combat useage showed it to be too weak.

The majority of pics around D-Day show troopers wearing helmet nets, with the 101st and 82nd having different supplies. Stocks of British equipment such as kitbags and helmet scrim were made available , some used scrim ,some did not. Helmet nets were somewhat fragile and easily torn by harsh use so later in the operation you see more bare helmets.Some troopers made themselves camo helmet covers from cut parachute material.

The majority of Pathfinder troopers seem to have modified their jumpsuits by hand applying camouflage, although again some unit pics show unadulterated unis - it seems to have been a personal preference thing.

 

[Pangaea95]

Some cool info guys, especially the link to the fig you posted Mike, first time I've heard of that unit, and I'm very intrigued by them, great 1:1 pic's of the camo as well I think should you come up with a specific time period and subject Tom not only can much of this info be applied, but you may be able to get some more specific info to help you out as well.

One of the things that helps me when working on a figure, and also inspires me for a fig, is to find some 1:1 pic's for a starting point. I think many of the better figure projects shown on the board are inspired by either pictures or unit histories that people have come across, which really helps to get you moving in the right direction as far as accuracy.

 

[kirk1168]

Some more field-painted camo on M42's:

509th at Anzio:

509th Operation DRAGOON:

These are actual M42 jackets donated to the Airborne & Special Operations Meseum in Fayetteville, NC in their original condition.
The plate describing the second jacket states that it was common for the 509th to camo their uniforms.