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Fallschirmjäger-Lehrkompanie Fallschirmjäger Uniforms
This event is a great opportunity for Luftwaffe Tropenbekleidung (Tropical Clothing). The most basic Tropical Kit consists of Jump Smock, LW Tropical Shirt (short/long sleeve), Pants, and Cap (either Flieger- or Einheitsfeldmütze). Our goal is to balance authenticity with commonality, please don’t show up with oddball/rare items. Stick with a common, easily-documented impression. Haircut / Facial Hair - Please arrive clean-shaven (no facial hair) with a proper 1940’s haircut. Headgear - Always worn outside. Tropical and Continental Caps were widely worn, even the peaked Tropenschirmmütze (aka Hermann Meyer). Tropenhelme (Pith Helmets) were often seen out of combat. Helmets – The Fallschirmjägerhelm in single and double decal form, in original and a wide variety of tropical paint schemes. Covers in I or Green, chicken or bailing wire and nets were all common. Extras were removed for Jump Training (or bring a second helmet). Jump Smock – 2nd Pattern Step-In Green or LW-Splinter (Splinter B), converted 2nd Pattern, or 3rd Pattern on LW-Splinter or Sumpfmuster Pattern (Marsh) are acceptable. Uniform Blouse – During the day you probably won’t need a uniform blouse, but it’s cool in the evenings. Bring along your Fliegerbluse, Tuchrock or Tropenrock (LW Tropical Jacket). Shirt –Tropical Long/Short Sleeve preferred. If you don’t have matching tropical shoulder boards, continental blue wool boards were frequently worn with the tropical uniform. Pants / Shorts - Tropische Überfallhosen (Tropical Pants) preferred – otherwise Paratrooper Pants. Kurze Hosen (shorts) in tan were definitely worn out of combat, so bring a pair if you have them. Boots – For the ground school, 1st/2nd Pattern Jump Boots are required, and available from several suppliers. Converted Dutch, Canadian SF, older U.S. (no Mid-Eyelet Notch). For off duty, Tropical Low Boots and Mountain Boots are acceptable. Don’t bring Jack Boots. Scroll down for some additional Boot information. Field Gear – Leather and webbing were commonly mixed, metal equipment (Buckles, Mess Kits, Binos, even Map Cases) was often painted tan. With the K98k, bring an FJ Ammo Bandoleer. If you have any specific questions regarding authenticity, please contact the event organizers. Appell Uniforms Friday Night Appell Cap (Tropical Preferred), Shirt (Tropical Preferred), Belt (Tropical Preferred), Shorts (Tropical Preferred), Boots
Saturday Morning Appell Helmet, Shirt (Tropical Preferred), Jump Smock, Belt (Tropical Preferred), Trousers (Tropical Preferred), Boots (Jump Boots Preferred)
Saturday Night Formation Helmet, Shirt (Tropical Preferred), Jump Smock, Belt (Tropical Preferred), Trousers (Tropical Preferred), Boots (Jump Boots Preferred)
Sunday Morning Formation Cap (Tropical Preferred), Shirt (Tropical Preferred), Belt (Tropical Preferred), Shorts (Tropical Preferred), Boots
Sunday Manifest Formation at Gary Intl Airport Helmet, Shirt (Tropical Preferred), Jump Smock, Belt
(Tropical Preferred), Trousers, Boots (Jump Boots), Jump Equipment
More FJ Boot Information: As far as is known, there are currently 2 sources of repro German second pattern Jump Boots - one is SM Wholesale (in CA), the other is James Brown in England. The English boots are pretty good, though they are a bit loose at the calf when laced up tight. Unfortunately, the exchange rate for pounds-to-dollars is almost 2 to 1, so they are prohibitively expensive right now. The SM Wholesale boots are pretty decent, though probably cut 1" shorter than what they should be. Most likely the pattern came from a very small pair of originals, and simply "not scaled-up" quite accurately for the larger sizes(?). "Conversions" can be made using a variety of post-WW2 military boots: - US 1960's era 'garrison/recruit' boots (black, smooth leather, no toe caps or ankle notches, but only 9 pair of eyelets. - Post war Dutch brown pebbled leather paratrooper boots: a poor man's Cochoran, but a really nice pair of German FJ Boots if converted correctly. The hardest thing is removing the toe cap, filling in the stitch holes, and re-dyeing them to match... Recommend resoling & reheeling. - 1950's Bundeswehr lace-up boots: Need to remove speed laces (9 pairs) & replace w/eyelets, resole, and reheel. - Doc Martins "Model 1940" boots: need
to cut them down to 12 pairs of eyelets, strip the cherry red dye,
and redye w/dark brown. All details look great, except for the molded
rubber sole, but perhaps there's a way to See the following for specific guidelines: Specific FJ Uniform/Kit
Guidelines
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