When you do find the right ruck, add some reinforced shoulder strap pads to prevent shoulder pinch pain. I loved my NI pack, the straps dug in when carrying weight. A good pack is used abused and cherished till it retires to the cupboard.
Erbswurst, perhaps you could also look for an old hippy rucksack for me? The ones we used in the 60's and came with an external frame?If you have time, I can look for you in Germany for such German stuff.
Perhaps I have myself one left. I have no Idea, what I own currently. I had one, that's sure. But I don't know when I can look in my shed. May be Christmas...
I will watch out for this too.
BUT this first plastic fabric outer frame rucksacks had been the first trials with that fabrics and zippers and aluminium frames.
Usually they were made in bad quality and the first owner broke them within the first years of use.
In Germany they came out of fashion in the late eighties and were replaced by internal frame stuff, because that's better in car, train or airplane and for car stop too.
Such rucksacks you look for I don't see often in Germany and usually broken somehow if I see one.
In my opinion you should ask Janne to help you, because such rucksacks had been in use longer in Sweden and Norway.
I think he can tell you the correct names of the models and the spelling in Norwegian and Swedish. So you can look for them at Ebay, but in Scandinavia.
And Fjällräven produced such rucksacks in cotton too, I guess Helsport and others as well.
Cotton rucksacks can easily become 100 years old if well treated. Plastic rucksacks usually don't become so old. (Cordura rucksacks perhaps are an exception)
Did you look at the Norwegian and two different sizes of green Swedish army rucksacks?
They have external frames and are made in long lasting qualities. Both exist in plastic and cotton versions. They are relatively cheap, only the big size of swedish army rucksacks is relatively expensive.
What was an ‘Luftwaffe Elite Gebirgsjäger’?