View Single Post
  #187  
Old 25-08-19, 09:41
Chris Suslowicz Chris Suslowicz is offline
Junior Password Gnome
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: England
Posts: 814
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce MacMillan View Post
The manual I had for my M152 sigs van (C42/52 setup) lists 4 satchels. ZA27294 was "field pack, canvas, signal, No. 1, MK1/1. Manual was post WW2 dated 1961.

OK, a bit of "research" - basically plugging NATO Stock Numbers into Google (and noticing that both the level and accuracy of detail returned has fallen dramatically over the last few years):

8465-99-973-6154 - SLIDE,WAIST BELT,BR CN/AA.1629

8465-99-973-6226 - BELT,LINEMAN - still leather, I think. CN/AA.0130

8465-99-973-6253 - FROG,WIRE CUTTER - for barbed wire cutter. CN/AA.0960

8465-99-973-6254 - FROG,WIRE CUTTER - for sidecutting pliers. CN/AA.0980

8465-99-973-6260 - LOOP,LEATHER

8465-99-973-6262 - RUNNER,SWIVEL - probably the leather loop for clasp knife on the lineman belt. CN/AA.1595

8465-99-973-6264 - FIELD PACK - not signals related CN/AA.1616 Satchels, Battery Staff, R.A., Mk.2

8465-99-973-6828 - SLIDE,WAISTBELT - CN/AA.1619

8465-99-940-0047 - FIELD PACK - HAVERSACKS, NO.1 (Replacing Z1/ZA.6292 & Z1/ZA.27294 - SATCHEL, SIGNALS No.1 & No.1T)

8465-99-978-8792 - FROG,WIRE CUTTER - a later version (DPM IRR)

5140-99-428-9823 - POUCH, TOOL, LINESMAN - webbing belt pouch

5140-99-428-9823 - POUCH, TOOLS, LINESMAN - DPM version

5140-99-901-5108 - CARRIER, TOOL, WEBBING - Hellerman tool carrier

And my "Satchel, Signals" list, accumulated over the years:

Satchel, Signals
____ - ZA.6292
No.1 - ZA.11947
No.1T - ZA.27294 (Patt. 44 green or Patt. 1937 khaki)
No.2 - ZA.13347 (Shoulder strap stitched to bag at one end)
No.2 Mk.2 - ZA.21324 (Detachable shoulder strap, 'L' strap fittings)
No.2 Mk.2/1 - ZA.29367 (Tropicalized version of ZA.21324)
No.3 - ZA.14869 (Wireless Set No.46 backpack - without harness, etc.)
No.4 -
No.5 - ZA.22756 (For Detector, Mine [Polish] No.3)
No.6 - ZA.24242 (for Detector, Mine, No.4 or 4A)
No.7 - ZA.24805 (For Charging Set, Pedal Driven, 60 Watt - ancillaries)
No.8 - ZA.24907 (Under section Z5, so bomb location & mine detector?)
No.9 -
No.10 - ZA.26516 (For Wireless Set No.38 Mk.3)
No.11 -
No.12 - ZA.29004 (For Detector, Mine, No.6A)

The "Satchel, Signals" range started as a single webbing item, replacing the previous leather "Bags, Telephone Receiver" and "Cases, Message Book, Mark V" according to the 1940 VAOS, with a stores code of ZA.6292. This is the earliest listing I have of the numbered "Vocabulary Of Army Ordnance Stores", and must be pretty close to the initial allocation of code numbers.

So, we begin with:

ZA.6292 Satchel, Signals
ZA.11947 Satchel, Signals No.1 (which I suspect was simply a redesignation).
ZA.27294 Satchel, Signals No.1T (Tropicalised version, also known as Satchel, Signals, No.1 Mk.1/1 - these appear in standard khaki or light green (1944 "jungle" webbing canvas), but all on the same stores code.

Then the switch to NATO Stock Numbers:

Z1/8465-99-940-0047 Haversack, No.1 - listed in the May 1960 CES for WS31 as an alternative to Z1/ZA.6292 Satchel, Signals.

This was still being manufactured in 1990, and possibly later still.

Haversack, No.1 mainly appears in dark green tropic-proofed canvas, identical to that used for the 1958 pattern web equipment, but I think some earlier satchels were marked with the new NSN. It's entirely possible that the khaki version continued for desert and Indian issue, since the "Pouch, Tool, Linesman" appears in both 1937 and 1958 shades of webbing, under the same NSN (as, indeed, does the much later nylon DPM version)!

I'm looking for the missing "Satchel, Signals, No.4" (which I think is a backpack for a mine detector and has a large hole in the bottom for cable entry from the search unit), and numbers 9 and 11 (which I have never seen), plus any variants I don't already have.

(I do have some US and Canadian manufactured satchels, mainly from WS19 installations, by various makers. I haven't bothered to compile a full list.)

Web searching is getting less useful as the density of advertising outweighs the actual information content (and my current browser seems to want to take over the world on occasion: filling the disk with 2GB of temporary storage that I think is just advertising crap that requires a restart just to get rid of it and restore normal functioning). Also errors are creeping in, as you can see from:

8465-99-973-6253 - FROG,WIRE CUTTER - for barbed wire cutter. CN/AA.0960
8465-99-973-6254 - FROG,WIRE CUTTER - for sidecutting pliers. CN/AA.0980

which are wildly different items (the portion after the '-' is my research).

Argh!

Chris.
Reply With Quote