At the beginning of the 1950s the US was gearing up for the Korean War so the US Army required large amounts of cold weather field gear that was easy and relatively inexpensive to produce. The concept of the Fishtail Parka design was to offer flexible extreme cold weather protection through the detachability of all parts and the "fishtail" was designed to be tied around the legs for extra insulation. The rear drawstrings also benefited airborne divisions as when jumping out of planes it could be tied so not to flap up and about. The first mass production of the fishtail parka was in 1951 and hence the M-1951 Fishtail Parka, commonly known as the M51 was born. Another distinction of the M1951 fishtail parka were that it featured shoulder epaulettes that could be buttoned down to hold hats or other light items.
