Just posted this also on the collector's showcase page. It took me 20 years to complete this guy, with the Normandy camo helmet, the gauntlets, the belt, gravity knife and soldbuch coming from US veterans. The rest cost a lot, in terms of time, money and trades. But I finally got it done.

Sweet! Please show us some more pics!

Yes....more pictures please !

Very nice !

Regards,
Steve

Here's a closer view of the helmet. It was taken at Hells Corner near the la Barquette lock above Carentan, France on 7 June, 1944.
An officer of the 501PIR, 101st Airborne kept this as a souvenir of the defeat of the 1st Bn FJR6. 150 jagers were killed, 350 taken prisoner and only 25 escaped by circling around the long way to Carentan. They had walked into a large U-shaped ambush above Hells Corner.

On another subject-the grouping pictured here was taken 1/2 mile north of Dead Man's Corner on 7 June, 1944. Retreating German troops circled a hill, which had a supply depot cut into the side of it. In it were crates of ammunition and canned meat. Barney Becker a paratrooper of 1/506th chased two Germans into this maze of crates and dispatched them with a B.A.R.
His buddy Rich Brinkley, thinking it was now safe, wandered in there and was fired upon by a FJ officer armed with a Luger. Brink shot him with a Thompson SMG and liberated the items shown here-a officer's peaked cap with bullion insignia, a pair of FJ gauntlets (he lost one side of the pair after the war), the officer's byf41 Luger with holster, and the officer's Luftwaffe issue wristwatch. Having no place to carry the cap, he crushed it and stuffed it into the cargo pocket of his jump trousers.
I own all these items now and much of the stitching in the cap is broken. Brink wore the dead officer's wristwatch for many years after the war and had the original straps replaced.
He also wore the officer's ring, which has since been lost.
Because we know the location and date this happened and we know the officer was a member of FJR 6 because of the FJ gauntlet, I'm hoping someone who attends the FJ reunions will be able to learn the name of this officer.
The 506th withdrew to Beaumont, France that night but re occupied the same area the following day. At that time, the three bodies had been removed, as well as the ammunition. The meat, which was in blue metal cans, was still there. We surmise that the 2 retreating Germans knew this officer was in amongst those crates on June 7th and they detoured in their retreat to warn him that American troops were about to overrun the area. This cost them their lives. There couldn't have been too many officers from the 6th Para Rgt killed that day, so, knowing the location and circumstances, it should be possible to discover his identity.

Geez, 20 years..That is a very long time.

Yes, but assembling a quality collection is a lifetime project. So many new collectors today think you can "point and click" your way to a collection in a year or two. In fact, networking and decades of learning and effort are the only things that work.

The reason my mannequin took so long to complete is that I didn't just go shopping with a lot of cash-I was trying to get all the components directly from US veterans. I knew a 502nd officer that had a FJ helmet and TWO camo jump smocks. For 15 years he assured me I would someday get them and told me to be patient. Then he died and his family seems to know nothing about where his WW2 stuff went.
Finding real FJ ttousers and boots proved to be difficult and I'd guess that even a collector with the requisite money in hand would have to wait awhile before a pair of either of those items becomes available. I got both via some costly trades and it just took a long time for things to come together.
Hell, even finding an enlisted fliegerblouse with flight-colored tabs and piping in a human size (large enough to fit a mannequin) took awhile.
None of these items grows on trees any more. Anyhow, I began this project around 1984 and finished it around 2004.

Great job though!

I am still working on mine, sadly I had THREE frikin' pairs of FJ pants over the years, and I got rid of them about a year before I decided to do a manaquin (I never thought I'd get a smock, but I fell into that one) Boots are tough too, for now I am using a well worn set of US Army LPC's.

Very Nice Mark

Thanks for sharing the photos and the history.

Matt

Very nice Sometimes it takes time to complete a grouping!Congratulations! Geoff.

Any other Fallschirmjäger mannequins out there members would like to share?

Here is mine.

very nicely done guys,thanks for sharing,,,,robert

Beautiful, Gerd! I love the Fliegerbluse, too.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris M:
Beautiful, Gerd! I love the Fliegerbluse, too.

Thanks! I'll post some more views later this day.

You can see, that I'm not a mint collector. I love the real "battle" look, so the smock shows wear and has some (period) repairs as 99% of my other field gear.

I tried to fill the pockets with period goodies.

So the FJ display-dummy has all what I soldier would need....from ammo, PO8, 98K, stick grenades, down to cigarettes, pictures of the girlfriend, personal papers and last but not least dog tag.

Smock and helmet came out of the Hürtgenwald area.

Here some more

..

last

Super set-up Gerd ! Love the used look too .

Regards,
Steve

Those elbow pads are fantastic, and really rare!

Very nice mannequin Mr. bando!! Have you got a good photo of the face, it looks really really nice!!

thanks in advance
rene

Hi outstanding group....what is a mint/un-issued 1944 dated pair of gauntlets worth? I saw a worn pair sell for $1400.00 on Collectors Guild. Thanks and cheers, Ryan

How I can enjoy these pictures! Wunderbar!

Very nice !