US M1943 Airborne Uniform question

Afternoon ladies and gents I'm new to the forum but I've been a WWII buff since I was 5, anyway I've noticed in some pictures of US paratroopers during operation market garden that sometimes the Jacket of the M1943 uniform was a lighter shade of green than the pants or vice versa. Could someone please shed some light on this? Thank you

 

Absolutely.

 

That was my first guess but I've asked around a few other forums and was told that color variation was very common from the get go but was never really told why

 

Well, the color of jackets & pants would vary with production, this could be due to variety of reasons.

 

Thank you do you happen to know any of those reasons?

 

Your using dye, so if a production facility mixing the OD#7 dye, there might be a little more of this color in the mix and a little less of that color.
At the production facility dyeing the cloth - The beginning of the cloth bolt will be darker as the dye solution is in equilibrium, however, as the cloth is run through the dye bath, the more and more dye will be taken out of the solution, so the end of the cloth will be lighter than the beginning. Unless, of course, that the dye is being replaced in the solution as the dyeing process goes on. But, then again, what if more than the required dye is added as replacement, or less dye is added as replacement.

 

Thank you the reason I'm asking this is because I'm a big 1/6 hobbyist and I'm currently working on a 1/6 82nd airborne paratrooper during operation market garden and the trousers for the figure are from one company and the jacket is from another

 

Go with the color variation. It adds interest to your figure and would be historically accurate. Also try to vary the colors on the web gear for a more accurate appearance.

 

Thank you I appreciate it that's all I'm really after is historical accuracy

 

There was a uniform change after Normandy with the US Army. When the 82nd and the 101st jumped in at Normandy, they were wearing the early war style uniform, which was a dark khaki in color. Later, prior to Market Garden, the Army change to a more OD green color to match the forest green of NW Europe. The 504 PIR missed the D-Day festivities altogether, and when it came time to jump into Nijmegan, they kept their early war khakis. The rest of the 82nd and the entire 101st were issued the newer darker OD green uniforms.

Here's some good reading on the subject.

United States Army uniforms in World War II - Wikipedia

 

Thanks I appreciate it

 

It was often accidental. Different batches made by different manufacturers had variations in shade. And the pants and jacket could have been made in separate batches. The goal was mass production and you had a wide variety of color and hue variations in various clothing items.

 

Plus fading caused variation between items in the same dye lot. Trousers wear more and fade more than coats because they're worn more, think removing jackets for working parties, or boots, tee shirt and trousers for PT. Also trousers have the additional wear from kneeling and sitting so wear out and are replaced more frequently.