Canadian transmission bag ?

[rob love]

Bruce: There is an emoticon for that:



I just noticed a number inside your puch at the center divider.....is that a ZA number?

[Ed Storey]

Bruce, what you have there is a standard Haversack and not a signals item. Rob, it is not a ZA number but a number but most likely a production lot number as they show up on other pieces as well.

Here is an example of a Signal Satchel with a ZA number.

Signal Satchel.jpg

[Bruce MacMillan]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Bruce, what you have there is a standard Haversack and not a signals item.

Thanks Ed,

Comparing it to my other 37P webbing I see what you say. It's interesting as it came with a complete WS58 kit. The battle battery box is a perfect fit. I wonder if it's just coincidence or had these been adopted after the cancellation of the UK order and Zephyr hadn't produced enough? We do know the Canadian Army and the Navy used these into the 1950s.

[Ed Storey]

It was probably either an official or unofficial substitution from the supply system. To the average person working in QM, a web bag is a web bag and generally only informed end-users and enthusiasts know the difference so it may have been an unofficial substitution when the kit was surplused.

On the other hand, there may have been a shortage of the actual WS58 web Satchels and the Haversack could have been deemed an acceptable alternative to the WS58 specific bag.