Are you a Flying Tiger ?

[Icarus]

Has anyone else had any jacket causing incidents like the one that happened to me ? I was over in Hong Kong for a few days before Christmas and took my Eastman Pearl Harbour A2 with an Aero AVG blood chit on the back. Whilst mooching about the airport waiting for my return flight an oldish oriental guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked, in haltering English, if what it said on the back of my jacket was true and had I infact "fought against our enemies" ? I thought "how old does he think I am" ? Anyway, I said that I wasn't a real Fei Hu Dui (Flying Tiger) but the guy didn't seem to believe me and shook my hand vigourously with lots of head bowing. It was then that I realised that the old Chinese national flag is still used by Taiwan and no mention of China appears in the text. I just thought it was my striking good looks that had caused a few odd glances over the past three days especially from the police.

 

[Anonymous]

I knew to some degree, Chuck Older, Bob Layher, and Tex Hill. I made squadron patches for them, got to know the Layher family pretty good. The AVG Flying Tigers are national hero's in China. At a time when the Japanese were literally slaughtering The Chinese in cities like Nan King, the AVG were at least a thorn in the side of the Japanese. They only destroyed about 300 plus planes, but considering they only had the supplies to get no more that 12 planes up at a time, they helped prevent numerous bombing raids. Wish they would do and HBO series similar to Band Of Brothers on these guys. I had a similar situation in Taiwan on a flight to Thailand. I was wearing an A-2 with a chit and an older couple asked if I knew someone in the Flying Tigers ( as I still look young ).

 

[CBI]

Who knows?

 

[Anonymous]

The only country that might be offended Japan? Taiwan, China, Thailand, no problems here.

 

[taikonaut]

Chinese folks understand the Nationalist flag was the official flag of all China before 1949 and fully understood its meaning. It does not necessary mean you have to be pro Taiwanese to appreciate it. In Kunming China the Flying Tiger museums would have many fnationalist flags from the war era.
Maybe the old guy is just appreciating that you chose to wear such a jacket and what it symbolise rather than if you had fought in the war.
I am wearing mine when I visit Japan cultural exhibition day. I have a number of Japanese friends as well as westerners who is taking part in the show, if anyone there has a problem then tough.

 

[taikonaut]

I don't think the Japanese has problem with AVG.
They actually very crazy about them.
RMJP has lots AVG jacket in the past.
My guess if you are American and you wear AVG that's fine.
But if you are oriental and wearing AVG in China you may have some problems!

Not sure I agree. If a young officer in China who dont have prior knowledge about the AVG and you are a westerner he might arrest you for campaigning for Taiwan just as much as a Chinese guy wearing one. I heard Chinese fighter pilots who flew with the AVG also wears similar chit incase they are injured and unable to speak.
However the most likely scenario the Chinese authority would most likely read it and know it is just a fad. Western media often portray an image of fear about China. I wonder how the US authority would react if I wore a chit with an Iraqi flag with Arabic inscriptions walking around the centre of NY? I might find myself getting on a one way flight to Guantanamo Bay.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how the US authority would react if I wore a chit with an Iraqi flag with Arabic inscriptions walking around the centre of NY? I might find myself getting on a one way flight to Guantanamo Bay.

Nah, they'd probably shoot you on the spot.

 

[roninja]

My God, how times have changed. Up until 30 yrs ago, almost no one in Taiwan wore a flight jacket with the Flying Tigers blood chit on the back. While the chit was well-known due to the history of WWII, if you wore it on your jacket, you'd be considered a laughing stock to most Taiwanese. However, this has changed. As recently as 20 yrs ago, miniature versions of this particular blood chit were beginning to be worn by Taiwanese Air Force pilots, usually on the right arm or on the back along with a bunch of other aviation patches. When I wore my G-1 Flying Tiger Jacket (with the large blood chit on the back) in Taiwan about 20 yrs ago, it attracted alot of eye-catchers. While most people thought I was crazy, there were those "in the know" who praised my attention to detail and historical accuracy.

While the blood chit has been available for sale for many years in the US, they were mostly made of cloth and if they were already sewn onto a leather flight jacket (the jacket was available with the chit already sewn on) such as a G-1 or A-2, they were usually sewn onto the inside. This gave the wearer an extra right pocket on the G-1, and a left pocket on the A-2 (the original A-2 didn't have an inside cargo pocket as it does today). After the release of the movie "Empire of the Sun" starring Christian Bale, the chits became available for the first time in leather. However, with few exceptions, there were no G-1 or A-2 jackets with the leather blood chit sewn onto the back. You had to take your jacket to an alterations shop to get it sewn on. Then in 1991, to celebrate the Flying Tigers receiving veteran status, US Wings released a limited edition Flying Tiger jacket with all the patches done in leather for about $800. Their first customers were former Flying Tiger pilots themselves and they were given a special discount (US Wings replaced Dick Rossi's G-1 for free after he donated his original reproduction to China). In 1998, US Wings started its own Flying Tigers Collection on their website, and currently sells the custom G-1 (they discontinued the A-2 version) starting at around $1300 and up. Since then, other companies such as Avirex, Cockpit, Gibson-Barnes, and US Authentic have offered the G-1 and A-2 jackets with all authentic reproduction patches for sale to the public starting at around $800 and up. Not a bad deal for the WWII reproduction jacket.

For me personally, however, I've been able to find ways to save some money (but unfortunately, as of 2017, this will no longer be possible). I bought my G-1 and A-2 jacket directly from US Wings for approx. $200-$300 apiece. I would then buy the flight patches on Ebay for about $5-$30 a piece (depending on the size and material). The blood chit alone costs around $25 for cloth, or $30 and up for leather including shipping. I would then buy a custom A-2 jacket name badge from Mardon Co. for about $12 including shipping. I would then take the jacket and patches to my local shoe repair shop and have them sew everything on for about $50 or so. Thus, my total cost would be approx. $300-$400. Not bad a deal. However, this past year, the prices of G-1 and A-2 have almost doubled in price (the starting price of an A-2 is around $450, and the starting price for a G-1 is $520). While US Wings still sell a few A-2's made by Alpha for about $250, and G-1's for about $290, these are in limited supply. Once they are gone, they are gone.

I hope you find my posting helpful. Please post any comments or questions below. Thanks.

 

[Roughwear]

Welcome to the forum roninja. The G-1 jacket was never worn by the original AVG as the G-1 designation was post War. Members of the AVG were issued with M422 jackets and some A-2s. You can still pick up a post War G-1s for much less than a modern repro one. Here is a near mint one I bought last year for much less than a modern reproduction.
http://vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/cagleco-g-1.19580/

 

[Ole]

I think they know what a blood chit after 40 episodes of this: "The Blood Chit"

 

[Steve27752]

Welcome the VLJ.

 

[DJS48]

I am not sure about the "blood chit", but my feeling is many older Chinese know "The Flying Tigers". I have seen a few documentaries on Chinese CCTV devoted to the AVG from time to time.

 

[roninja]

Welcome to the forum roninja. The G-1 jacket was never worn by the original AVG as the G-1 designation was post War. Members of the AVG were issued with M422 jackets and some A-2s. You can still pick up a post War G-1s for much less than a modern repro one. Here is a near mint one I bought last year for much less than a modern reproduction.
http://vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/cagleco-g-1.19580/

Congrats Roughwear!!! I know what you mean that the G-1 wasn't called that until post-WWII. And yes, the AVG were issued M422's. The only difference with the M422 and the G-1 is the left pocket where the pen holder is. On the M422, the left pocket's about 1 cm wider to have the pen holder be on the right side adjacent to the pocket, thus causing the extra 1 cm width difference. With the G-1, the pen holder was moved 1 cm to the left and 1 cm down so both pockets would remain the the same size and still retain the pen holder. Other than that, there's not really much difference. I've heard that the M422 was looser fitting than the G-1 and more comfortable. Yet with so many companies manufacturing jackets during the war, it would've been a hit and miss. Some jackets came a little longer and some came a little shorter. Who knows??? A perfect example is in the movie "Top Gun" with Tom Cruise. In some scenes, his G-1 jacket looks like it's too small for him, yet in some scenes it looks like it fits a little bit large. Go figure.

 

[roninja]

Here's a image of the pocket.

 

[Roughwear]

I agree about the fit of these naval jackets.Like original A2s the fit was all over the place in spite of the tagged size. Other differences were the punched wind on 1950s G-1s, the colour of the lining, and of course the model of zips used. I have owned many G-1s and Wartime naval jackets over the years and currently have M422a jackets by Fried Ostermann and Gordon and Ferguson in my collection.

 

[Grant]

Other differences I've noticed was the quality of the goatskin used on the early USN jackets. The pre-war Willis & Geiger M422 and first pattern G&F M422a have this beautiful translucent finish to the goatskin that almost looks like an analine finish. Also, the sleeves of the W&G M422 are oddly short compared to the later M422a.Both M422 and M422a are cut longer in the torso compared to the later 55J14 a and 7823 series G-1.

 

[roninja]

Oh, I agree with you about the goatskin quality. Alot of these were chrome-tanned and from what I know about the process, the leather keeps looking better as it ages.

 

[B-Man2]

I agree.
The 422's I have seen and owned have all had a beautifully finished goatskin that looks like it just was issued .

 

[Monsoon]

Several guys I know have said that if you ever want to break the ice with Chinese, mention the Flying Tigers. They love to chat about them schwacking Japs back in the day.

 

[dmar836]

I have a name tag on my A-2 but I can't really imagine wearing a fully patched with chit, decked out jacket out in public unless I had my own personal story to tell about each patch. Double that hesitation in a foreign combatant country.
Just me I guess,
Dave