For some time I've been thinking of adding one of these to the de Havilland Museum's Horsa glider display. Although they're famed for the 'commando' connection, these Bergens were issued to the Glider Pilot Regiment . After landing,the Glider Pilots were expected to fight wherever needed without immediate specific Regimental or Divisional support, and so needed to rely on their own 'kit'.
Anyhow, I wanted one ! They turn up quite often on e-bay but are often priced in the £100-£200 range. This one was listed very fairly as being 'poor condition' but repairable,and is the earlier tan-coloured version. It was very reasonably priced and on arrival, despite being utterly filthy, is actually much better condition than I expected - a missing strap and drawstring and a couple of small holes. A quick scrub with warm, soapy water and this morning it's dried out nicely. I can now continue working on it at leisure before adding it to a corner of a genuine Horsa cockpit......
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