Avre Friday Briefing #80
Batch No. 5 - the Avre Windak
Thank you to everyone who responded to our announcement of Batch No. 5 - the Avre Windak. We were overwhelmed with messages of interest! If we haven't got back to you yet, please bear with us as we work through the backlog. We'll respond to everyone, but we're a small team so it takes a little time.
We only had around 50 pre-order slots available and after We Have Ways Fest 2026 and the announcement last week we were sold out around 24 hours after last week's blog post. Sorry to those who were interested but missed out on pre-orders. We'd have liked to extend the run, but we were limited by the amount of fabric we could get hold of. For those who have placed their orders, we're aiming to ship your jackets this side of Christmas, all being well.
To those who missed out on pre-orders, fear not. The General Release for the Windak is happening in late November.
Special Commission
The Windak was a special commission by the Air Ministry, alongside the standard issue Denisons. There were only ever around 150 units made and all seemingly went to a small number of senior officers, among them (below, L to R) Brigadier James Hill of 3rd Parachute Brigade, Major-General Eric Bols who commanded the 6th Airborne Division, General Sir Miles Dempsey of Second Army and Field Marshal Montgomery, all pictured below wearing their Windaks.
Bols, Hill, Dempsey and Monty in Windak Smocks
Operation Varsity
On 24th March 1945 those men put the 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine in the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location. On a single day, over 16,000 men were inserted by glider and parachute into western Germany. Around 8,000 of those came from the British 6th Airborne Division, flying aboard 243 C47 aircraft and 440 gliders, 683 aircraft in total.
So this is why we're only making 683 Avre Windaks, to honour the men that flew in those 683 aircraft, many of whom didn't return.
C-47s and CG-4A gliders before take-off, 24 March 1945
March 1945: C-47 transport planes release hundreds of paratroops and their supplies over the Rees-Wesel area to the east of the Rhine
An update on Batch No. 4, the 1940 pattern Battledress
This week we've also been busy with production of the bespoke Batch No. 4 Battledress. We had a slight delay earlier in the year where we had to wait for the Merino wool cloth to be made, so we could satisfy all orders. So thank you to those who are still patiently waiting for their garments, some of whom purchased back in March. We expect to complete the majority of current orders during the week commencing 12th October. We will still need to do our final quality checks and prepare them for fulfilment, but it shouldn't be too long to wait now.
