Paul Wagner Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I am embarking upon a Singapore based Vickers Vildebeest c.1942. I'm going to put in a crew - but what would they have been wearing? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Teflon-coated titanium underpants. Those crews had REAL courage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) These pics are of a Blenheim crew member in Singapore, April 1941. Might give you some ideas: Nice Sweater And Smashing Shorts Edited January 5, 2012 by mhaselden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Jan/Feb in Singapore/ Malayasia is Monsoon season, and with open type cockpits I would imagine the crews would want to wear approriate clothing, remembering Khaki is not a great wind/cold barrier. (High Humidity with wind chill factor) My thougts are more along these lines. White flying overalls as in this photo of "Hutch" Hutchison Black overalls Or Possibly Sidcott flying overalls (Photo used for illustration only) Either flying boots standard issue or black steel cap shoes, Mae West - yellow/unpainted, standard RAF type flying helmet/goggles And as Mark said, Bullet proof underwear!!!! Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Wagner Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 These pics are of a Blenheim crew member in Singapore, April 1941. Might give you some ideas:Nice Sweater And Smashing Shorts That's awesome. And neatly sums up everything that's wrong with today's military - too much body armour and IR-scanning-motion-sensing-night-vision whatsits, and not nearly enough people going into battle in cardigans.... ....now all I have to do is paint a convincing Aran Herringbone weave in 1/72 Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 That's awesome. And neatly sums up everything that's wrong with today's military - too much body armour and IR-scanning-motion-sensing-night-vision whatsits, and not nearly enough people going into battle in cardigans........now all I have to do is paint a convincing Aran Herringbone weave in 1/72 Paul Talking of cardigans, whilst I was in the Army I regularly wore a blue woollen civvie cardigan under my Para Smock whilst out in the field which was just enough to make it windproof whilst wet! I`ve still got the thing after 20 years despite my wifes best efforts to sling it!! Speaking of modern soldiers wearing too much armour, my nephew is a Royal Marine who has just returned from Afganistan and he hated the body armour and wished that it could be fought `old school' (thats what he calls me...cheeky git!) without any armour whatosever as it would help them move far more easily. I second the fact that Vildebeest crews should have worn armoured undies by the way, they were extremely brave men! All the best Tony O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Homewood Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Don't forget that the Vildebeest had open cockpits and almost all the raids they flew in the Battle of Singapore/Malaysia were night raids. They would not have been in shorts for those raids due to the Malaria regulations as well as the cold air. Here in NZ even in summer the Vilde crews seem to have always worn the leather Irving jackets with uniform or flying overalls and in winter leather pants too. Don't forget the battle in Singapore Dec 1941-Feb 1942 was in winter and it would have been damned cold at night in an open cockpit with air rushing over you at 100mph I would imagine. Edit: I just looked up climate data in Singapore on Wikipedia and it seems winter is just as hot as summer there, with an average low of 23 degrees C in Jan-Feb. So not as cold as I was thinking. I'd guess just the leather jacket then with uniform or flying suit. Edited January 7, 2012 by Dave Homewood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darby Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 That's awesome. And neatly sums up everything that's wrong with today's military - too much body armour and IR-scanning-motion-sensing-night-vision whatsits, and not nearly enough people going into battle in cardigans........now all I have to do is paint a convincing Aran Herringbone weave in 1/72 Paul You could try 'The Chap' magazine for suitable sartorial advice on how the 'gentleman in tropical outposts ought to be attired.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Homewood Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I don't know if that Blenheim crew member is RAF or maybe RNZAF, and I don't know if the UK had this, but here in NZ there was a group called Air Force Relations which was groups in every town across NZ of mothers, wives, girlfriends and sisters of RNZAF airmen who were supplied wool by the AFR heirachy who raised money for it, and they knitted clothing for airmen to specific RNZAF patterns. These included mittens, scarves, balaclavas, sleeveless pullovers, socks, and aran knit jumpers. They used to bundle them up into wool bales and ship them overseas to be dished out to our airmen. It's possible this guy was a beneficiary of the Air Force Relations ladies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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