WW2 Air Force Re-enactment's fun too!

[ndicki]

Have a look at a little collection of our WW2 RAF and SAAF pictures! 8)

 

[ndicki]

One or two more.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Very Cool!!

 

[ndicki]

Well, it's one way of getting in without paying!

 

[lesofprimus]

So is that u and ur wife in most of the pics ****???

 

[Wildcat]

Cool.

 

[ndicki]

So is that u and ur wife in most of the pics ****???

'Fraid so - and any comments about my rapidly-expanding waistline will be carefully ignored. It's all my wife's fault anyway.

 

[Medvedya]

Very nice! What is your group called?

 

[ndicki]

The Penguin Club - 'cos we look like aviators but we can't fly! It has no official status, it's just a bunch of mates; makes it easier to manage, especially here in France, where they spend more time squabbling among themselves than actually doing anything useful...

 

[evangilder]

Nice! Always good to see people keeping history alive.

 

[R-2800]

ver cool

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Very cool where do you guys do this stuff. I would love to get involved with that.

 

[ndicki]

Very cool where do you guys do this stuff. I would love to get involved with that.

Very welcome to come and see! Two or three outings a year, all in France, near Paris, including France's No1 Warbirds show, about 20km up the road from where I live.

The major problem is finding the uniforms, which have to be up to a certain standard (high!) of authenticity, though most of what we use is in fact reproduction; the real stuff is getting a bit fragile after 60 years of use! We have a few good contacts...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I have plenty of the real stuff (mostly 3rd Reich uniforms though) I am a collector of the authentic stuff. Get most of my stuff through Manions.com.

I though would never wear my real stuff to something like that, as you said it is too fragile and I would not want anything to happen to them.

 

[ndicki]

And the Frogs would not be too thrilled if you turned up in Luftwaffe kit! I think they have a guilty conscience...

This is one source we use - worth a browse.

Soldier of Fortune | Secure Online Catalogue

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Cool

 

[ndicki]

This is another one I've used, but you have to be a bit careful as he sometimes cuts corners!

Welcome To Replicaters.com

 

[Medvedya]

This guy is good for German kit - and it's accepted as totally spot on Welcome to Richard A Underwood Militaria

Hmm, real stuff - some WWII reenactors are very particular about wearing original gear. As you were saying though, original German uniforms are too valuable to wear at an Living History event, God forbid a battle reconstruction - where they would get trashed for certain!

(P.S - If you want to get involved in our mad hobby, P.M me and I'll put you in touch with a guy I know in Germany)

Myself, I wear kit from the early Fifties, which is virtually identical to Soviet uniforms during the GPW. My NKVD hat is repro though as real ones are a bit pricey!

My Tokarev holster is wartime - it was given to me as a gift by one of the reenactors from Russia who came as guests of our group at Detling. Original things like that are still okay to use, cause they're less likely to be damaged or wear out.

 

[ndicki]

Very nice stuff there - we used to get along with retailored, re-dyed Swedish uniforms all those years ago! And most of our field kit was genuine.

Iwas a member of BRA then - since become WW2 LHA - with Horse, Otto, Bill Medland, etc. Didn't have Russians then, except for one nutter called Dutch. As the world's a small place, you may well know him.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes Med can you please pm the way I can get in touch with this guy.

And ofcourse I would never use my authentic stuff for reenacting. I love my hobby of collecting my uniforms and look at as a piece of history. There is a thread here somewhere where I posted some of my uniforms. I need to go to Stuttgart to my mothers house where most of my collection is displayed and take some more pictures and post more.

It is a very expensive hobby though and I only buy about 2 to 3 Third Reich uniforms a year and a couple of medals or headgear or equipment to go along with them.

The last thing that I aquired was some Wehrmacht winter boots from the East Front.

My favorite piece (which I have posted pictures here somewhere) is a Luftwaffe Tropical tunic from the Afrika Campaign complete with officers shoulder bars, Luftwaffe breast eagle, Iron Cross 2nd Class ribbon, 88 Gunner war badge and Afrika cuff title.