Thomas Koehle
Well-Known Member
"Original norwegian Army" ...
During the time when I was still more active in reenactment I collected more Army than Airforce stuff. Simply made more sense to ride around in my Jeep in Army Equipment rather than in AF stuff.
For me one of the most interesting - and still impacting modern combat uniforms - was the M43 parka.
Pretty hard to get hands on period pieces in size 44 I was searching for alternatives. One of the many armies using US Army influenced equipment after WW2 was the Norwegian Army. Besides other stuff they copied the M43 combat dress almost 1:1 and used it until the late 1990ies up to 2000.
About 15 years ago the Norwegian Army started liquidation of there old combat dresses and this is how I was able to buy M43 per Kilogramm`s but not per pieces.
I bought about 100 kg assorted, used but cleaned M43 jackets with matching pants. Back then was still the "SPR" and "Band of Brothers" hype ongoing so I slammed 101st airborne patches on the jackets and sold them via Ebay.
I kept 4 jackets with matching pants in my collection ... - besides those "Norwegians" I own period M43`s but in very small sizes.
period M43 in very bad condition - like a lot of homecoming GI`s did in the US the jacket was once used to do some paintwork
antoher period piece - should patch was added by me - jacket was worn by my wife when we did weekend rides in the Jeep (was also still Airborne-crazy back then)
Norwegian M43 out of that 100kg lot outriggered to match the club I was member in back then
Another "Made in Norway" jacket
M43 of the OSLO 82nd Bartender Group fighting for free beverages
and the obligatory 101st airborne - yep I was also addicted to the "BoB" mini-series
all of my 4 remaining ex Norway M43 jackets - obvious the different shades and also the extra seam on the epaulettes on 2 of the jackets (that "extra seam" is no longer found on M65 jackets also)
and here on the far right the 2 originals
Norwegian garment does usually have white sizetags with red embroidered European sizes
there is not some many more obvious differences in the "modern" Norwegian variant compared to originals and as you can see from the pics even the fabric looks pretty similar.
so if someone offers you a M43 which accommodate sizes 44 and bigger (I found one in approx. size 48) check for the sizetag
Saludos
Thomas
During the time when I was still more active in reenactment I collected more Army than Airforce stuff. Simply made more sense to ride around in my Jeep in Army Equipment rather than in AF stuff.
For me one of the most interesting - and still impacting modern combat uniforms - was the M43 parka.
Pretty hard to get hands on period pieces in size 44 I was searching for alternatives. One of the many armies using US Army influenced equipment after WW2 was the Norwegian Army. Besides other stuff they copied the M43 combat dress almost 1:1 and used it until the late 1990ies up to 2000.
About 15 years ago the Norwegian Army started liquidation of there old combat dresses and this is how I was able to buy M43 per Kilogramm`s but not per pieces.
I bought about 100 kg assorted, used but cleaned M43 jackets with matching pants. Back then was still the "SPR" and "Band of Brothers" hype ongoing so I slammed 101st airborne patches on the jackets and sold them via Ebay.
I kept 4 jackets with matching pants in my collection ... - besides those "Norwegians" I own period M43`s but in very small sizes.
period M43 in very bad condition - like a lot of homecoming GI`s did in the US the jacket was once used to do some paintwork
antoher period piece - should patch was added by me - jacket was worn by my wife when we did weekend rides in the Jeep (was also still Airborne-crazy back then)
Norwegian M43 out of that 100kg lot outriggered to match the club I was member in back then
Another "Made in Norway" jacket
M43 of the OSLO 82nd Bartender Group fighting for free beverages
and the obligatory 101st airborne - yep I was also addicted to the "BoB" mini-series
all of my 4 remaining ex Norway M43 jackets - obvious the different shades and also the extra seam on the epaulettes on 2 of the jackets (that "extra seam" is no longer found on M65 jackets also)
and here on the far right the 2 originals
Norwegian garment does usually have white sizetags with red embroidered European sizes
there is not some many more obvious differences in the "modern" Norwegian variant compared to originals and as you can see from the pics even the fabric looks pretty similar.
so if someone offers you a M43 which accommodate sizes 44 and bigger (I found one in approx. size 48) check for the sizetag
Saludos
Thomas