Today on Gus’ Gear I present a British Royal Navy uniform that is a combination of two groupings. The first grouping I acquired was named to H. V. Donald. I was able to find a Henry V. Donald listed in British records as having been born in 1896. The jumper, trousers and a collar are named to G. Wilson, a very common name that I have not been able to definitively identify as a specific person.
The jumper, trousers and collar came in the same group, the collar is named to G. Wilson. On the left breast are two ribbons, a 1914-1920 Service Medal and WWI Victory Medal. The jumper and trousers are not marked or dated, but are the cut used during the Great War. On the right sleeve is the rating of an anti-aircraft gunner 3rd class (as near as I can determine). The cap, dicky and scarf are from the H. V. Donald grouping. The lanyard around his neck is for a deck knife.
A close up of the rating on the right sleeve.
The cap shown on the mannequin has the tally of H.M.S. Vivid, which was a Royal Navy land based training station at Portsmouth that was closed in 1914. If H. V. Donald had been born in 1896, he would have been old enough to have been trained there before it closed.
The collar and scarf were also in the tin bearing H. V. Donald’s name.
The collar and scarf were also in the tin bearing H. V. Donald’s name.
Two ditty bags
And a very rare dicky, an interesting bit of kit that only serves to cover the exposed chest while wearing the jumper. Much cheaper to produce than an undershirt.
An item that came with the G. Wilson grouping is a money belt, not an uncommon item as there were few places a sailor could keep his pennies safe on ship.
And lastly, because Joe made a special request for a photo of a Pterodactyl, here I am flying my Pterodactyl in the early 1980’s. The aircraft in the back ground is my uncle’s Piper Comanche, he wanted a photo of it in flight and I managed to snap a photo of me taking a photo of him as he passed by at 180 knots. It took two passes to get the photo as I was only flying about 35 kts, so he went by rather quickly.