Australian winter tankers "Pixie" coveralls

**Thanatos** · 12-30-2014, 03:53 AM

G'day all,
Whilst not WW2 era made these winter tankers coveralls (Pixie suit) are I believe identical to the late WW2 British made examples with the exception of colour (OD vs Khaki ).

The hood is a late 60's construction but the coveralls may be earlier. Alas the retrieval straps have been cut out.

Australian winter tankers "Pixie" coveralls

Top tag is off the coveralls second is the hood

These images I believe are from the late 50's early 60's showing the Australian OD "Pixie" suit ( and a black one) in use. Love the bottom photo. A scenic view of a Victorian winter past complete with 20 Pounder Type 2 gunned Centurion tank.

I am aware of GB, Belgium and Australia using this classic WW2 designed suit post war but were there any other users ?

Thanks for looking

All the best

Dave
Not sure how this photo ended up down here. It's the winter one I mentioned with the black "Pixie".

**Adrian Stevenson** · 12-30-2014, 10:19 AM

Hi Dave, thanks for showing these pics.

Just goes to show "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule applies to any well designed piece of kit. I have seen Brit ones before (post war dated) but never seen an Aussie made example before.

The retrieval straps often get cut off.

Cheers, Ade.

**reneblacky** · 12-30-2014, 10:32 AM

Love the pics Dave, not a set I've seen before and near on the money on my '44 pixie set

**Thanatos** · 12-30-2014, 10:25 PM

by Adrian Stevenson

Hi Dave, thanks for showing these pics.

Just goes to show "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule applies to any well designed piece of kit. I have seen Brit ones before (post war dated) but never seen an Aussie made example before.

The retrieval straps often get cut off.

Cheers, Ade.

Hi Ade,
My pleasure mate.

Agreed they are a well thought out and constructed garment for sure. The best thing is their my size.

All the best Ade

Dave

**James C** · 12-30-2014, 10:30 PM

very nice set dave ,thanks for showing

**SteveR** · 12-30-2014, 10:39 PM

Does it have a wanking hole or was it sewed up ?

It gets lonely on the front lines.

**Thanatos** · 12-30-2014, 10:48 PM

QUOTE=reneblacky;1350986]Love the pics Dave, not a set I've seen before and near on the money on my '44 pixie set[/QUOTE]
G'day Rene
Cheers mate.
What do you think of the white tag, has that 50's look about it to me.
Here's something interesting I stumbled across a month or so back

"I agree it is only conjecture that they were issued but my old boss shoed me documentation on military clothing issues and exports during WW2 relating to the tanksuits. At the time I was trying to find some more info on our ones and when they were adopted for Australian Service. These documents showed shipments of these from an Ordnance depot in Melbourne to the UK along with Battledress and Greatcoats in Sept 44. Unfortunately I only thought it interesting at the time and never took a copy. I'm sure a copy of the documents will be in the AWM archive somewhere."

If this shipment did happen in 1944 I wonder what colour the suits were and what design. I believe the tan suit winter went into Brit service early 1944 followed by the cam version later that year.

And this.

"The Australian supplied suits were in the same shades as the Denim Overalls. I was uncertain as to whether the Australian supplied suits saw service but a picture in a recent thread shows two distinctly different colourings between suits where the Tan suit really shows up as different to the others. It is possible that the "Tan" one is dry and the others are wet but it really looks to be different."

If the images refered to in the last paragraph were black and white the OD Pixie suit if clean would appear lighter in colour than these black ones in this image hence the Tan/OD assumption made above.