In dimensions larger than 3 a modified field strength for Rarita–Schwinger type fields is constructed whose components are not constrained by the field equations. In supergravity theories the result provides a modified (supercovariant) gravitino field strength related by supersymmetry to the (supercovariantized) Weyl tensor. In various cases, such as for free Rarita–Schwinger type gauge fields and for gravitino fields in several supergravity theories, the modified field strength coincides on-shell with the usual field strength. A corresponding result for first order derivatives of Dirac type spinor fields is also presented.