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Forties Re-Enacting
is a leisure activity that is rapidly growing in popularity around the globe, nowhere
more so than in the UK. Both organised groups and individuals gather
together at pre-arranged venues around the country to relive those heroic
days of the 1940s in dress and in spirit. A quick glance at the excellent
Rod's
1940s' Events Calendar website reveals hardly a weekend throughout
the year without a significant Forties event of some description taking place somewhere around
the country.
My wife and I attended our
first Forties event at Thorpe Camp, Lincolnshire, and were so impressed by
the sheer enthusiasm and knowledge of those taking part that we decided
there and then that this was something we wanted to become involved with ourselves. This
was dressing-up for adults! There is of course a far more serious side to this
as re-enactors are intending to accurately portray exactly how their
assumed character would have looked during the 1940s, for the
interest and education of the general public who attend Forties events,
and to answer any questions they might have.
This is usually described as 'living history'.
There are individuals on the fringe of the re-enacting scene who are content to
make a gesture towards dressing in 1940s style, with varying degrees of
credibility, for the purpose of attending dances, etc, and this is their
choice of course. But the
purpose of this website is to guide those who genuinely want to dress
authentically so that they may be assured that their uniform or costume
will stand up to critical scrutiny. Not only does this honour the men
and women whom re-enactors are trying to portray, but living veterans
are often very impressed by the degree of accuracy and detail achieved. It
also defeats the 'experts' who will always be quick to demonstrate their
superior knowledge by pointing out some real or imagined minor discrepancy.
The choice of period clothing ranges from
civilian on the one hand to military on the other. As a British Army
veteran, I decided I would feel more at home back in uniform, albeit an
American one this time around. There's no denying that
our US allies enjoyed by far the smartest and most comfortable uniforms of
the WW2 period, and none more so than those of the US Army Air Corps. So I decided
to assume the guise of an officer in the US 8th Air Force which was based
in England during WW2. My wife thought that she too would cut quite a figure in uniform and
initially elected to be a US
Women's Army Corps (WAC) officer in the Mighty Eighth. We both now also
portray RAF, and WAAF and ATS officers respectively. Although the
following observations mainly relate to US Army and Army Air Force
clothing, there are other sections on this website that deal with US Navy, RAF, WAAF
and ATS uniforms as well as period civilian clothing.
Once having made our decision about what
clothing to wear, the next step was to obtain it. The problem with
original USAAF uniform items from the Forties is that they tend to be
either moth-eaten, stained and not particularly cheap, or in reasonably good condition
and astronomically priced. Another often unforeseen problem is that of
size. The Great Depression of the Thirties in America had produced a
generation of somewhat under-nourished youngsters who reached prime draft
age in 1942. This resulted in the typical WW2-era US serviceman being very
slim and slightly-built with a typical chest measurement of 36" and waist
of 30". As the average Forties re-enactor today tends to be of rather more
mature age and far more generous build, trying to source original US kit
of the correct size can prove difficult, if not almost impossible.
Fortunately a whole new
industry has grown up around this hobby and there are an increasing number
of specialist manufacturers and online retailers out there who cater to
the re-enacting scene with brand-new reproductions that are
realistically-sized and reasonably priced, and that are sometimes
indistinguishable from the originals. However, the key word here is
'sometimes', because different manufacturers have very different ideas
regarding the authenticity of their products. This is compounded by the
fact that a lot of these manufacturers are located in Third-World
countries, rather than in the US or UK, with attendant problems associated
with quality control and consistency. To make matters worse, retailers
can't be relied upon for the historical accuracy of their products. For
example, several prominent UK retailers are in
the habit of advertising reproduction uniforms that have little or no
connection with WW2. Inexperienced newcomers to the 1940s event scene can
easily fall into the trap of automatically assuming that anything being
sold by these retailers is correctly authentic. A classic example of this are the US
Navy female khaki summer uniforms commonly available on these websites.
They are smart, good looking, relatively inexpensive and therefore
very appealing. Unfortunately they are also totally wrong for WW2
re-enacting as the women's division of the US Navy (WAVES) didn't wear
khaki uniforms until after they were eventually integrated into the US
Navy in 1948. As we have discovered first hand, the
market can be a bit of a minefield and you really do need to do some research
and have a good idea about what you are looking for before you take the
plunge and part with your money. Hence the purpose of this website,
which is to help potential re-enactors avoid the expensive pitfalls and subsequent
frustrations that we encountered along the way.
For those who really do want to properly research the subject of USAAF
uniform, I can thoroughly recommend a book entitled 'Silver Wings,
Pinks & Greens' by Jon A. Maguire which is easily obtainable via the
Internet. The rather curious title makes reference to the standard US Army
officer Class A uniform of WW2 which was known as 'Pinks & Greens'. The
name is derived from the combination of 'pink' trousers (actually a
beige colour) and 'green' (olive drab) jacket. Another good source of
information are original WW2 photos of US serviceman, of which the
internet abounds. These illustrate what was actually being worn,
regardless of the official uniform regulations. There are links from this
page to others that cover the various types of Forties uniform and
civilian dress. On these we have specifically commented about various retailers and the products they
stock, recommending some and cautioning against others. Please keep revisiting this site as we will be updating it
periodically as and when new sources come to light, or when changes to
currently-known sources become apparent.
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