old British Army sizing

[batonroundcollector]

maybe somebody here will know about this... I'm wondering how British Army sizing works - what sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc correspond to in actual measurements... there must be a table somewhere? not sure when NATO sizing was adopted instead, but old numbered sizes are found alongside NSN numbers in labels (when Britain had already been NATO member for decades) - maybe in the '80s? I'm wondering specifically about sizing for the Cadet Smock as looking to get one - to further complicate things sizing might be different for ACF clothing given that they were intended for teenagers (given cut of smock they'll easily fit adults and I read they were in fact popular in the British Army as windproof item).

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

When I joined up (Army Apprentices College, Chepstow, 1978) we were sent to the stores to get our kit. The stores wallah, a long in the tooth WO2, just eyed us up and down and had his staff put stuff on the counter for us, with a look that said `That'll do.' Nothing was too small; Some things were too large. Some had hung around for decades, e.g. hairy, itchy woollen underpants dated 1954, waiting to be issued (I held a 30th birthday party for them in Germany in 1984 - needless to say I got p****d). Some had been issued several times over, e.g. 37 pattern webbing dated 1937. After I had been there a year or so I started wearing out socks and took them to the stores for exchange. Said stores wallah looked at me with a manic grin and handed over a ball of wool. I never had a clue what the size codes meant. They were another language. I once found the NSN for a Chieftain tank turret and wondered, since I was in Belize at the time, whether one would be delivered if I put in an order. I didn't, just in case one might have arrived, as we had no tanks in Belize, only armoured cars and the expense of shifting a useless heavy object would have outweighed the humour of the order.

 

[LCplCombat]

I once found the NSN for a Chieftain tank turret and wondered, since I was in Belize at the time, whether one would be delivered if I put in an order.

Theres a system in place to check if a unit is scaled for spares. Your demand SHOULD have been rejected if you had submitted it. HOWEVER. When I was at SS 2Fd Wksps in th Falklands, a team was sent next door to the Engineers to do a stocktake and someone found part of a cooling system for a Chieftain tank!