This short article is intended to give you some basic reference points for the colours to use when painting your U.S. Airborne troops for the tabletop. Following even these basic guidelines should help you turn out a respectable force for North Africa, Sicily, Italy and the early part of the Normandy campaign.

U.S. Airborne Uniforms

The basic uniform of the U.S. Paratrooper consisted of a khaki/tan windproof and water repellant cotton cloth two-piece jumpsuit. The colour was very light as demonstrated in our illustration, and many troops found this to be a problem given the terrain they were operating in. In Europe, the M1942 jump uniform was often modified by adding knee and elbow reinforcements (as in our example), and the uniform was often oversprayed with stripes of olive drab or black paint.

Headgear consists of the olive/olive drab general issue steel pot helmet with its special leather chinstrap to help keep the helmet secure during jumps. This makes for the familiar sight of the paratrooper with one of the straps left hanging undone, as in our example model. Finally, there was a leather strap over the brim of the helmet to hold in netting for camoflague, which this model is wearing.

Another distinctive aspect of the Paratrooper uniform were the long 11 eyelet russet leather boots. These were very popular, and became commonly known as the Corcoran after the most famous of several manufacturers of the boot.