20th Century 1963 Airborne marking on Jump bag...ID needed please

[skinsfan]

Hello, cant ID this symbol...It came in a large lot of mostly 60's -1980's equipment....Thanks,Scott

[Fallschirmwomble]

Initially, I almost mistook it for the RMP Provost unit - but that's a red diamond on blue square. (and I've never known any of them to be P Coy or jump qualified) I'd associate the colours with an artillery unit, perhaps a small subunit. I THINK there was a light armoured unit in 16 or 44 Para Bde in the 1960s/70s that had a triangle within the square DZ. I suspect them, more than artillery.

 

Within a parachute battalion, each company has it's own recognition colour/s. These often aren't associated with the regiment or battalion and most troops wouldn't know the colours used by other battalions - storemen might. In the support arms parachute units, they might use variations of shapes within their colours.

 

These markings were to help recognise unit members when arranging troops within their sticks pre-drop and also to return kit to their units when collected from the DZ on exercises when parachute kit was discarded upon landing. In the late 1980s, these markings were seldom seen on jump kit.

 

I know that that's not very helpful, but the more that I think about it, the more I think it's that light armoured unit. I expect the number "08" to indicate the stores number of the soldier.