Ten years ago...

[442RCT]

In the early 1990's when I was 'accumulating' flight jackets from Avirex, etc., I might have bought this jacket,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... SS:US:1123

 

[Tim P]

dire even for avirex, some of which isnt far short of the mark and inoffensive.. that one though
Blaargh

 

[MikeyB-17]

Hot damn! I sure do like those lil' ol' Eighth AF collar tips! Funnily enough I was in a surplus store yesterday, saw a set of A-2 box-stitched epaulettes on a jacket on a rack, and got quite excited for a second-until I saw the map on the liner. Mind you, I remember being in a shop in Covent Garden many years ago, and seeing a whole rack of Avirex's, and thinking how cool they were. Little did I know!

 

[rich]

Did you ever see the Avirex shop in Oxford Street Mike? It had a full-size (I think) fibre-glass P-51 Mustang in the window - Avirex, to theuninitiated at least, was something to aspire to back then......... they seemed very well made jackets.

 

[jacketimp]

Did you ever see the Avirex shop in Oxford Street Mike? It had a full-size (I think) fibre-glass P-51 Mustang in the window - Avirex, to theuninitiated at least, was something to aspire to back then......... they seemed very well made jackets.

is it still around........seems ages ago.......

 

[rich]

Did you ever see the Avirex shop in Oxford Street Mike? It had a full-size (I think) fibre-glass P-51 Mustang in the window - Avirex, to theuninitiated at least, was something to aspire to back then......... they seemed very well made jackets.

is it still around........seems ages ago.......

Not for many years now Imp, I think it was there in the mid 80's........? Seems ages ago - was ages ago....

 

[jacketimp]

Did you ever see the Avirex shop in Oxford Street Mike? It had a full-size (I think) fibre-glass P-51 Mustang in the window - Avirex, to theuninitiated at least, was something to aspire to back then......... they seemed very well made jackets.

is it still around........seems ages ago.......

Not for many years now Imp, I think it was there in the mid 80's........? Seems ages ago - was ages ago....

that's waht i thought tho i haven't done oxford st for years......

thanks for update!

 

[MikeyB-17]

Did you ever see the Avirex shop in Oxford Street Mike? It had a full-size (I think) fibre-glass P-51 Mustang in the window - Avirex, to theuninitiated at least, was something to aspire to back then......... they seemed very well made jackets.

No Rich, never did-I'd have been all over it like a rash if I had. I spent a fair amount of time in London in the later 80's-I assume it must have been gone by then-or I wasn't observant enough. Similar to the one they had in New York, I imagine. Stuff like this fascinated me even then, although I'd yet to find out about Eastman/Aero or acquire any knowledge of 'proper' flight jackets. I saw the Avirex's somewhere down near Flip in Covent Garden. The chap who used to cut my hair (when I had some) remembered Ken Calder's Thrift Shop in Battersea! Now that's a place I'd like to have seen.

 

[johnwayne]

Hi guys
Yep I remember Avirex's shop - it was the Tottenham Court end of Oxford Street on the south side. Didn't last long I recall but the P51 had 2/3 of one wing chopped to fit it in - the wing 'disappearing' into the wall. All over red livery I recall and it was fibre glass. It was themed on the 'Cockpit' in New York (they had a T6 or Harvard hanging from the roof) which I also visited but have to say both were a little disappointing I thought and the stuff they sold was a bit pricey - both were really just a fashion store using flying apparel and logo's as a theme and anyone whose read 'Cowboys of the Sky' will get an idea of what they were trying to do.

I can also claim to have visted Ken Cadler's Thrift shop in Falcon Road Clapham many years ago now! This is where I got my first real sight and taste for everything A2 - he always had 3 or 4 A2's in the window, often nicely painted ones too but the only trouble was they all seemed so small - think I must have got his details out of 'Exchange a Mart', the only means pre-internet days of sourcing 'Militaria'. I seem to recall they were always in excess of £150 at a time when that was over a months money!! For my sins I ended up buying what must be one of the first ever repro's from a company in Islington - cost me £80 and they made them for the TV series 'We'll Meet again' - B17 Sally B's first serious film roll I think. By todays standards it was poor, synthetic knits, thin too dark brown leather etc and I was never really happy and then............ Eastman's came on the scene, my first decent A2 and the rest is history!!!!!!!

 

[Tim P]

Ahhh quartermasters at the angel

 

[Anonymous]

Hi guys
I can also claim to have visted Ken Cadler's Thrift shop in Falcon Road Clapham many years ago now!


I went to Ken Calders shop in Battersea ,I dont think it was in Clapham .I bought my first G1 there and remember seeing lots of A-2s hung on the walls ,all of them were 300 pound and up .I was a size 42 chest at that time but he did not have any that would fit me .One jacket that I do remeber was a painted back G1 with ON 2 Target painted on the back and I remember also an A-2 with blood chit and ATC patches it was around 700 quid .This was 1974 and I was earning 30 pound a week as an aprentice at Hawker Siddeley way out of my price range .This is when my interest started in A-2 jackets before this I only knew about USN jackets .I bought my first jacket in Kilburn London a Monarch A-2 horse with colonel rank and a name tab E.H .Kaeppel ,found it in the Exchange an Mart.This jacket was sent out to San Antonio to my friend Mick Prodjer who sold it for me to a collector out west in 1991 .I paid 125 pound for it in 1981 and sold it for $900.

All the best Jeff .

 

[johnwayne]

'I went to Ken Calders shop in Battersea, I dont think it was in Clapham!!'

Jeff you're right - it was Battersea now you mention it (on the fringes of Clapham though!) Must have been around the same time and like you I was an apprentice (in the print for my sins) and I remember always feeling a bit sheepish about asking the cost or trying one on knowing I couldn't afford it plus, my Mum and Dad would have gone banana's at me for buying and 'old' jacket for that sort of money!! I used to go just look in the window, often in awe. As an aside story on my way back from one visit I got to Charing Cross still with about £100 in my pocket and outside was a guy doing 'the 3 card trick' and yes you've guessed it - I blew most of it. For some reason my Dad found that funny but I've never really gambled since!!!

I also remember a little militaria shop in the Camden Passge arcade in Islington - he often had A2's, again always small but stupid money like £5/600. At that point I assumed everyone in WW2 was small and I gave up thinking I'd ever get one to fit me or that I could afford.

Cheers
Wayne