Bush Jackets

[H.Johnson]

Mr. Past,

At your service, I'm sure. The No. 6 tropical uniform jacket is the standard...errr tropical jacket of the British Military. It has four flapped pockets (the lower ones without buttons), eppaulettes, removable buttons (makes fitting those leather jobs easy), a centre pleat in the back and a removeable belt that stows away inside. The sleeve end are plain rather than buttoning at the cuff.

I like them because they can be had for 10GBP unissued if you know where to look. But then, so can 1950 Pattern Aertex jobs, and they have more historical credibility. Suez, Malaya, Aden, Dharfur and all that.

Mr Johnson,

You've mentioned the No. 6 jacket before. I've seen photos on Ebay of things that purport to be current British military bush jackets, and these have two breast pockets, no waist pockets and short sleeves. I don't know where to look to locate a photo showing precisely the style you mean. It might be a useful alternative to those searching for safari-style clobber. I use a British army surplus heavy cotton shirt in OD as a shirt-jacket: it works welll.

[Creeping Past]

historical credibility. Suez, Malaya, Aden, Dharfur and all that.

Pardon my impudence, but I think you meant to type "Dofar" or similar phonetic variant.

[H.Johnson]

Yes, Dhofar is what I meant. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. An example of how current news corrupts history!

Pardon my impudence, but I think you meant to type "Dofar" or similar phonetic variant.

[H.Johnson]

Edward,

Silverman's do two types of trousers that may be of interest to you (OK, slightly off topic for bush jackets, but not too far). One is the Khaki drill 'cross-over' trousers (actually a reproduction of 1950 Pattern Trousers, Airmen) and the other is the legendary 'P Company' cross-over trousers that are basically 1950 Pattern SSI army trousers in Jungle Green. As reproductions the former are 90% accurate IMO. They have the same problems I am struggling to overcome - getting the buckles right - but at least I use NOS 1950 buttons.

Getting harder to find a decent Army Surplus these days (I live near Silvermans, but they can be pricey, IMO).

[Creeping Past]

Some photos of British 1950s pattern tropical jackets

The first example is described as a coarse kind of Aertex. The weave certainly looks cellular, but Aertex is not a coarse fabric. Perhaps you have to see that version close up to appreciate it.

CP

Edit: These are Canadian jackets, not British... (see below)

[H.Johnson]

They are Canadian, of course (and 1950s, rather than 1950 Pattern, which is a specific design) and Postwar Canadian stuff is very different from the British equivalent. I have a few Canadian items, so I find these interesting. I don't think that any Canadian jackets used real Aertex - I suspect it's used as a generic 'Hoover' term here.

The last example is something like the British No. 6 uniform jacket, with a lapels rather than a shirt-style collar.

Incidentally (going off topic) one of the un-noticed subtleties of 'Dad's Army' is that Captain Mainwaring wears Canadian battledress, which was much superior to British BD and was 'wangled' by senior officers. In a HO Home Guard officer this would have been a sure sign of pretentiousness - entirely in character.

[BellyTank]

Aertex-

A couple of years ago, I was in the "Moslem" canvas market, in Old Delhi and saw bails of Aertex bush jackets(He wouldn't sell them to me- I know not why). The cloth was actually quite "ropey"- a lot rougher than what you see on the modern shirts and repro WW2 shirts.
I don't have a WW2 vintage Aertex shirt to compare with but would it be true that there were 2 or more weights/qualities of Aertex- shirts/jackets?
I realise that "Indian" uniform manufacturers would have had different sources for cloth. My '50 Aertex bush jacket is surely of thicker stuff/stoff than Aertex shirts(?)

Please correct me...

The '50 pattern is very nicely styled, I think.


B
T

[Creeping Past]

Aertex types and grades: another example of lost fabric knowledge. It's the cotton canvas story all over again.

Who holds this knowledge? How can we retrieve it and put it all in one place? Should we?

[H.Johnson]

BT,

You need no correction. There were different weights of Aertex (e.g. for underwear and outerwear, shirts and jackets) produced by the eponymous company. The Indian stuff was probably unlicenced copies of the trade protected item, do you think, and maybe that's why the seller would'nt deal with you.

In wartime, of course, such niceties were overlooked, so there is a wide variation in the material from which WW2 bush jackets are made. Many were made 'locally' in India. The collars are sometimes idiosynchratic when compared to British-produced jackets.

AFAIK all 1950 Pattern jackets were produced by the usual wide range of MOD-approved manufacturers but all the fabric appears to have been produced by Aertex and is identical.

An interesting 'aside' is the Aertex-type fabric used in Czech Army 'overhead' shirts (you know who sells those). I'd love to know where that material came from!

Aertex-

A couple of years ago, I was in the "Moslem" canvas market, in Old Delhi and saw bails of Aertex bush jackets(He wouldn't sell them to me- I know not why). The cloth was actually quite "ropey"- a lot rougher than what you see on the modern shirts and repro WW2 shirts.
I don't have a WW2 vintage Aertex shirt to compare with but would it be true that there were 2 or more weights/qualities of Aertex- shirts/jackets?
I realise that "Indian" uniform manufacturers would have had different sources for cloth. My '50 Aertex bush jacket is surely of thicker stuff/stoff than Aertex shirts(?)

Please correct me...

The '50 pattern is very nicely styled, I think.


B
T

[Creeping Past]

The Czech Aertex-style shirts are very good. I've been wearing mine non-stop for a couple of months and it's wearing well, despite being hard-worn in its previous life and having had an extended period in storage, judging from the folds ingrained in it.

In an attempt to remain on-topic, did the Czechs produce a bush jacket or a field jacket for warmer weather?