WTB WW1 US Raincoat

[noworky]

I'm looking for a nice US WW1 raincoat to include in my 1904 saddle display. Thanks, Chris

[Joseph Sullivan]

Good luck. THose rubber coats are very scarce.

J

Joe

[Dave J.]

Rubber? Is it a mounted version? I always thought the WWI rain coat was the Burberry double breasted trench coat.

[noworky]

I found a nice overcoat I think would have been suited for cavalry. It has the long slit up the back that buttons. Would this be called a mounted type coat?

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by noworky</i>
<br />I found a nice overcoat I think would have been suited for cavalry. It has the long slit up the back that buttons. Would this be called a mounted type coat?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

A surprising number of overcoats and the like from earlier eras contemplated riding in one form or another. A slit on the back of the raincoat would probably indicate the designer contemplated mounted use, or was following the pattern of coats that had contemplated mounted use.

Conversely, for some odd reason, even clothing items which supposedly are currently designed with field use, by occasionally mounted classes, today seem to lack such features when you wish they would have them.

Pat

[Gunny Gibby]

WW2 Impressions makes a repro rain jacket for WWII era. AEF Supply use to make a rain coat for WWI era. If you order from AEF Supply, verify he has it IN STOCK. I have been waiting for 3 years for a couple of items.[:(!]

Phil Gibbons

[Gunny Gibby]

http://www.schipperfabrik.com/ami_gear.html

This company is also producing a WW1 ers rain coat. I can't vouch for the quality but the photgraphs look pretty good.

Phil Gibbons

[HawkHero]

Not to bash AEF Supply, but some friends of mine who know Alan Crane (AEF Supply owner) say that he's been very bad at filling orders but refuses to stop taking new ones. I have been waiting two years for a pair of boots and he stopped replying to my emails and phone calls. I'm not saying don't buy anything from him because is stuff is nice, just be careful.



Brian S Colonna

[HawkHero]

I just bought one of the raincoats from Schipperfabrik and they are VERY nice and VERY worth the $125.

Was there a big difference between the mounted and dismounted versions? I only ask because the raincoat I got has a very nice slit up the back that would allow more than enough room to wear the coat while mounted.



Brian S Colonna

[John Fitzgerald]

WPG makes the M1938 dismounted coat. It would be fine for display. No split up the back for mounted use though.

http://whatpriceglory.com/usunif.htm

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm

[Kurt Hughes]

Hi Brian

The mounted slicker does differ from the dismounted version, I have had a quick look at the Schipperfabrik example.
My first thoughts our that the 1912/13 and 1917 model slickers do not have a double back, although the post WW1 version does, some other differences are as follows, the mounted versions have a large pocket on the front right, two rows of fasteners, a cantle piece, this is a triangle section sewn between the rear opening, lastly the cut of the front where the female fasteners are is slightly different.
The mounted 1919 raincoat is more similar to the WW1 dismounted version shown, in that it only has a single row of fasteners and a double back.
I do have copies of the specs for the 1907 oiled pommel slicker, 1912 Slicker, 1913 Slicker, the 1917 slicker, 1918 raincoat foot and 1919 raincoat dismounted (this is similar to the 1918 raincoat), lastly the mounted 1919 post WW1 raincoat.
The 1912 and 1913 version slickers have an opening and flap for the rifle, for when using the M1912 cartridge belt, the 1917 version is of a similar design and material but does not have this flap.
I have an example of a 1913 slicker in my collection.

Hopefully any reproductions are clearly and permanently marked as such?

I hope this helps
Kurt.

[HawkHero]

Kurt;

Thanks for the info. Do you have any pictures of the coat in your collection you might email to me?

As more the markings on repro items, my experience has been that most repros have period style markings using made up manufacturing names. The company, At The Front (www.atthefront.com) has a very good section with tips on spotting fake items and the reasons behind his madness of marking items. His whole website is pretty good, a bit vulgar, but very much to the point.



Brian S Colonna

[HawkHero]

Thanks for the pictures, Kurt. I find it surprising that the raincoat appears to be designed to be worn over all the field gear. Ever since I've been in, I have been trained to wear the rain gear under all field gear (The poncho being the exception). When I was in basic, there was one poor kid who wore his wet weather coat over his load bearing equipment (LBE) and the drill sergeant told him to reload his weapon and the kid was fumbling with the rain coat. THe drill sgt then told him he'd been killed because he was too slow and made him write a letter to his parents explaining why he was dead. It was pretty funny although the Army probably wouldn't get away with that today (This happened in 1996, when the Army was less touchy feely and there was no such thing as a stress card.) Needless to say, the lesson stuck with me.


Brian S Colonna

[Pat Holscher]

Is the raincoat designed to be worn over the gear, or the slicker, or both?

A slicker is all encompassing by definition. It's supposed to go over everything, save your head, and include parts of your saddle. Or at least the archtypical yellow civilian cowboy slickers do.

I actually lack a slicker, although I'd like to have one. I have two of the Australian "Dry As A Bone" oilcloth coats, which are similar. However, slickers look more effective. Was the Army slicker made of the same type of material that civilian ones were?

Additional, if a person were to do a search under the term "Ludlow" here they'll find photos of the 6th Cav at Ludlow Colorado prior to WWI. In at least one, there's a good example of a cavalryman in rain gear.

Pat

[Kurt Hughes]

As Pat mentioned the slickers were intended to be worn over everything, keeping the trooper and his equipment dry.
The 1912/13 has a pocket for where the rifle can pass through for when being carried on the M1912 cartridge belt. There is also a cantle flap.

I do not know what modern slickers are made from, but the 1907 was made from cotton "coated with the proper oiled mixtures" the 1912 is only described as waterproof sheeting olive drab, there is a detailed description on the compound used in the material. My particular slicker is "Duktex brand".

Brian, I understand your concern, but it would not have been too much of a problem for the style of combat envisaged then, the slicker is slightly different to a modern waterproof jacket, it can be removed fairly quickly due to the four easy fasteners, probably much quicker than a modern zip, unlike the overcoats the slicker is much more loose fitting, the cartridge belt is still quite accessible.

Kurt.

[jeaninepitts]

I just posted an original US WWI military rubber coat on e-bay if anyone is interested. I got it with a trunk load of things at a farm/estate sale recently and don't have a place for it in my home, as neat as it is.

[draws]

I realize that this topic is several years old. However, additional information may be available since then so I would like to re-open this topic for further discussion.

Per Brian's recommendation, I have purchased the WW1 Khaki Army Raincoat from Schipperfabrik and find the quality quite nice. I have also looked at the mounted raincoat at Tombstone Clothing as well.
http://www.tombstoneclothing.com/page6.html .

Does anyone have any experience with the Tombstone Raincoat? If so, what was the quality and/or drawbacks? Did it serve the purpose and are they resilient for mounted use? How much cover do they provide for the saddle Pommel and Cantle?

Are there any other vendors that I should be looking at who market the Khaki mounted raincoats since last post here?

Your comments are appreciated.
Dennis

[draws]

Bump

[steved409]

There were mounted and dismounted version of issue raincoats. The mounted version had a passage 'window' to draw the saber (among other differences). The book: UNIFORMS, EQUIPMENT and WEAPONS of the AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES in WORLD WAR 1 by Bret Werner has some good photos of the mounted version. These raincoats were actually a layer of rubber sandwiched between two light canvas layers. The dismounted version came into use about January 1918 in France. Before that the similarly made poncho was used, which had buttons placed so that one could make it into a kind of sleeping bag. If you ever run across a bedding blanket from this era, with white straps sewn to it, those were so the blanket sides could be tied together to use with the poncho as a sleeping bag. I have seen maybe three/four such blankets over the years.

I couldn't get the Tombstone link to work, so I tried direct which got me to the site but it seems empty. As far as I know there is no one making the WW1 era mounted raincoat. As stated earlier Schipperfabrik has a good dismounted version, as well as the poncho.


SteveD

[Pat Holscher]

Ludlow Colorado, 1914:



Photograph courtesy of the Denver Public Libray, Western Heritage Collection.