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A remarkable photo from early September 1940 clearly shows the damage from the blast that a German bomb could do. The bus (thankfully empty) was blown up against the building in London. Various ARP services are in attendance. Two individuals are wearing civilian clothes and have the Civil Defence armband, while the individual to the right has rank chevrons on his blue overalls. I suspect he belongs to a rescue squad. Not quite sure what he has on his hip, but it's probably his respirator. It would be interesting to know if the building still survives.  September 1940 London Bombing
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Adrian and George Blake have published Volume II of their Helmets of the Home Front. As with Volume I, this is a privately published labour of love and includes 377 pages of in-depth analysis and colour photos of rare helmets. The section on Control and Controllers helmets is fantastic. It's a must-have for anyone with an interest in the British home front during the Second World War. To get a copy, search for the authors on Facebook groups or online.  Helmets of the Home Front II Soldier of Fortune is now selling reproductions of the ARP 41 Bluette Overalls. Considering how rare and expensive originals are, these are priced at £100 and come in five different sizes. From the pictures, it appears they have done a pretty good job in replicating the overalls. You'll need to swap the buttons, and you'll have a decent piece of re-enacting kit. I've just ordered a pair. Note: There are specific buttons for the front closure of bluette overalls, and these are the chromed dish buttons; these have a concave rear and were attached with small split rings (so the buttons could be removed for washing). But this level of detail is one for the stitch Nazis... The shoulder epaulettes and chest pockets had small standard ARP buttons (again attached with split rings). The leg pocket and cuff buttons are black-painted four-hole metal dish buttons on the originals (and were not removable). Original bluette overalls can be viewed here.  Reproduction ARP Pattern 41 Bluette Combination Overalls A rare badge issued by the firm R.W. & Co. Ltd. for their internal ARP 'First Aid' squad. I imagine that if they issued a First Aid badge they also issued others for Wardnes, etc. The badge is made by Thomas Fattorini and the design of this badge was used for a fake ARP badge. That fake replaced the company name with "COVENTRY" and it stills crops up on eBay and auction sites from time to time. I have not been able to identify the company.  R.W. & Co. Ltd. First Aid ARP Badge |
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