Does anybody know about parachute stuff?

I was at my favorite surplus store today and got to dig through an old shed. A lot of the stuff from the Shilo/Rivers airborne schools ended up there. However, poor storage conditions have made a lot of it non-usable. Plenty of
helmets, but on most of them the liners are either rotten or gone. Anyway, he had a bunch of the item I am illustrating. They have the post war inspection stamp on them, so after 1948. They are something to do with the parachutists. Photo below. Does anybody know what exactly they are?



I also bought a bunch of elastic straps from the same source a while ago, only to find they are not chin straps. I'll flash a photo of them a bit later to see if anyone can identify them.

Looks like a cargo bag of some type.

Mike

I was out in the shed last night, and folded it over so the loops would meet the grommets. It may well be a valise for the rifle. Which rifle I don't know, so I will have to try out a FNC! as well as a no4 rifle and see which fits.

There were NSNs on the boxes...kind of wish I had grabbed one now.

I'll show photos as I try both rifles out. The openings on the valise actually look like they lend themselves to the old GPMG, but that would be one heavy gun to jump with. I'll try one of those in it as well.

So I dragged it in and tried out a couple of the possible weapons. They are: FNC1, no4mk1*, a M1919 GPMG, and a Bren mk1. While all of them will fit, none of them give credence to why some of the holes are where they are, or what the long flap with snaps on the side are for.

I tried it on a 50 (barrel off), but there is no way that's going to fit.

Photos attached. I will post the same on a few other forums and see what pops up.

Wow, nice collection of weapons, what about a Thompson or a PIAT?

I'll give those a try, but they were not much of a post war weapon in Canada.

that's interesting, can I share your image, another airborne equipment forum I'm on might know, looks like you could be correct already?

Share away. I went back to the source and picked up a couple more, including one in a much browner material. Many of them had tape on them with rank, name and units on them. I also grabbed the label off the end of one of the boxes. It reads:
Catalogue section 4A, Catalogue number 307823, contents: VALISE A/B COMB. BODY ONLY. Dates were in the late 50s. Next time I am out there I'll have to see if there are earlier dates, otherwise, with t he dates of late 50s, it means FN family of rifles I suspect.

The valises were made by Irving Air Chute Company , Fort Erie, Ontario

I also dug a little deeper through some barrack boxes. A stack of 4 boxes proved quite nice. First box was full or regular mk2 helmets. The second box had some jump helmets, and a number of various dispatch riders helmets, ranging from early Spalding to the all steel version. The third box had more of the same, including one WW2 para helmet. The fourth barrack box was disappointing....stowed on ground level, everything inside (including a number of para helmets) were badly rusted.

wow sounds like you are seeing some great stuff, are the mk2's complete or just shells?

Complete, but the storage conditions are not ideal in that particular building. The second floor has partially collapsed, and the roof has wide open areas, which basically turn the building into a moisture trap.