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What is this bag in the USAAF ?

By regularly examining photos of different Bomb Groups taken in Europe, I realized the presence, quite regularly, of a bag whose buckles are reminiscent of those used in the British army.
Do you know the name of this bag and its use? Is it a US made one ? British-made? Or other ? Maybe a wide pack? :D

Thanks for your help















On the photos previously uploaded, the two front straps seem to be sewn above the flap whereas on the large British packs they are sewn below the flap

And unlike British made M36 haversacks, the corners appear square and not rounded


 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
7634FE86-4121-4347-A820-24CAAED89F84.png

I’m going to say it’s this m-37 British bag . Check the buckles out
6DEC249F-627F-451A-B195-330A31C7125A.png
2BD8253B-5FA9-47C2-B44F-560327EDD40F.png
 

Enigma1938

Well-Known Member
The corners of the m37 or m44 bags flaps are different to the ones showed in the photos from the thread starter.
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
I think the corners of these bags look different because the bags in the WWII photos were stuffed full whereas these bags are lightly filled.
 

Cocker

Well-Known Member
How would that change the shape of the flap corners, Burt? On some of the original pictures, you can clearly see a straight stitch line going from top to bottom, following the border of the flap.

Edit: and indeed, the straps are sewn on the top of the flap instead of inside of it on the british haversacks. So yeah, defo british made, but not a haversack.
 
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Hello,

Thanks for your answers but it’s not this kind of bag, as said the straps are sewn on the top of the flap … Maybe a rigger made ? But there is a lot of them in different bomb groups and I saw them in Lead Crews photos :D
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
How would that change the shape of the flap corners, Burt? On some of the original pictures, you can clearly see a straight stitch line going from top to bottom, following the border of the flap.

Edit: and indeed, the straps are sewn on the top of the flap instead of inside of it on the british haversacks. So yeah, defo british made, but not a haversack.
I was looking at two of the original photos and the bags in those photos looked different. I’ll post both photos below.
FF6A16FB-E128-49A6-B9F4-807130B0847C.png
F11A3FB2-6598-4571-AE56-2602A26E897A.png

So my thoughts were that maybe the bags looked different because they were stuffed with gear and the shape became distorted . As I now look at these two photos , they look like two different bags. Also the buckles on the bags are different in various photos. For example these are different
FF6A16FB-E128-49A6-B9F4-807130B0847C.png
D8EC3DEE-5D63-48D4-A5B5-EC16104175E9.png
 
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CombatWombat

Well-Known Member
I've come across these in my militaria collecting.....I think they were called "gas mask haversack" or some stupid name since it's definitely not that.....since they have "lift the dot" closures rather than the strap and buckle closure these have.....
Probably either rigger/the tailor just outside the base gates made or some Yank company did a interpretation of the P-37 haversack but did a warsave measure so it took less skilled machinists less time to see together
 

leper-colony

Well-Known Member
P37 small packs had solid fittings, while the P37 large pack had the cutout in the fitting.

The corners are harder to explain. Some of the pics are hard for my eye to read.
 
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B-Man2

Well-Known Member
I googled “British M-37 Large Pack” and a wealth of info and photos popped up. I’m pretty sure the bag we’re talking about here is in one of those photos .
Once you get there also click on “Images”
Here’s one that could be related
917CD283-16EC-4323-9C75-A79592E72F88.png
 
If it can help, this soldier is Chester W Greenhalgh and was Radio Operator so there is maybe a link with his job
 

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