USN Early Flight Jacket help - 371J Full Gear anyone...??

[ausreenactor]

USN on the chest gives a bit away, as did a quick google search. Full Gear is the book to look for, should go straight to MR. DEEB!! I think I saw a similar item on P114 of the book?? Anybody care to give a Cliff Notes abridged guide to what I just bought? P-p-p-lease!!!

Buzz Rickson copy in a fair size...probably destined for eBay like the rest...

What cap or helmet would have gone with this?? As in the base/non flying & in the cockpit modes??

Does anyone know of a cheap source for the book or is the US$200 it??

Many thanks for your time....

Couchy

 

[Anonymous]

I saw that jacket in the movie; Dive Bomber.

 

[bazelot]

That's a nice one. Are you selling it?

 

[deeb7]

...Does anyone know of a cheap source for the book or is the US$200 it??

That's it, Couchy.

Full Gear was self published by Aota Mituhiro ... Custom King was selling it for a while, but now it's only available from the author.

The jungle cloth 37J1 was the replacement for the leather 37J1, the Navy version of the A-1 .... with the high pockets. Asiamiles, and I were discussing it on the A-1 thread .....

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=315&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=360

Yes, page 114 of Full Gear, the 37J1 (A,B) jacket. Two contracts are noted, SWITLIK PARACHUTE, and SIGMUND EISNER CO. 1937,and 1939.

Also reproduced is the first page of the Navy Depatment specification for the 37J1b, dated 1936, and replacing 37J1a of 1932.

Both Buzz Rickson, and RM Japan, have reproduced different versions. The picture you posted looks fine, other examples have shown strong colours compared to the wonderfully aged original, illustrated in the book.

 

[ausreenactor]

Thanks for the info! Knew you would come through!!

I once took a look at 'Special Forces of the United States 1952-1982' by LT. COL. D. Sutherland(Retired) at a gun show here in Australia for AU$80. I thought the price insane and assumed eBay would be a cheap source for an old book. The only listed copy was at US$264.00. At a time when the Aussie Dollar was buying $0.48. In effect the book was under US$40. Shaking all Sunday, until I could get my father to head into Melbourne to purchase the book, I was thinking someone would have bought it, and my cheap prize would be gone. My father called me at work and stated they had the one I had seen for $80 or a new one in the wrapper for $100. I told him to buy both and ask if they had anymore. One @ $80 and two @ $100 in the wrapper. Slowly sold them and made AU$1300 profit over my initial buy...but it left me bookless. I am currently on my fifth copy of the book. Which will go when the price picks up or our dollar falls...

Just need to get 'Badges and Insignia of the Worlds Special Forces' by B. Ourari...Need to see the sensational Osprey-like colour plates. Chute and Dagger used them on the cover of the publications for a while...Anyone know of a copy I could borrow, have photographed and return for a nice fee??

Once again...thanks for the info on the USN Jacket... I just hope the tag is not something crazy like USCGR.

Part time puddle pirate just doesn't have the same punch!! NO OFFENCE to members of the US Coast Guard. Saw the Guardian and wanted a career move...but Alaska...??

You can see Russia from your house apparently??

Regards..

Couchy

 

[deeb7]

... I just hope the tag is not something crazy like USCGR.

HONAN, USN ..... you can live with that, Couchy.

And good thing you bought a 42, the chests on these measure out at only a little over the tag size.

 

[ausreenactor]

David..

You are the font of all knowledge?? Do you sit amongst a nest of monitors, headset on your head spinning between desks like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish?? Your hard drives must be "chockers" with pics like this?? Well done and a big thank you!!

Couchy

 

[deeb7]

Do you sit amongst a nest of monitors, headset on your head spinning between desks like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish?? Your hard drives must be "chockers" with pics like this??

You're welcome, and nah ... I hot-linked the picture. Just several hundred saved sites in folders, so I can find things.

 

[asiamiles]

USN on the chest gives a bit away, as did a quick google search. Full Gear is the book to look for, should go straight to MR. DEEB!! I think I saw a similar item on P114 of the book?? Anybody care to give a Cliff Notes abridged guide to what I just bought?

I have the exact same jacket, a Buzz Rickson's 37J1. You won't be disappointed.

I actually saw that auction on Yahoo Japan, which finished last night...so you were the winner! Congrats! How did you manage to bid on it, seeing as you're not in Japan?

I faded the name on the tag of mine by repeated sticking a piece of sellotape to it.

 

[ausreenactor]

G'day...

It was actually a recent contact in Japan..I call him "Mr. 16%". Found him via a Drifter guy at work. Hirotake is a Parts and Car exporter who thinks I am insane buying jackets other people have worn and paying a fortune for it..There are just some weird and varied versions not normally seen. I bring in one for me, and pop one on eBay to help fund it..And bought a new steering wheel and indicator switch for my J54 Jeep to let him know I am normal like everyone else and need car parts shipped.

Miles, you must have access to some great stuff...

Waiting for someone to pop up a 335th Dick Keener model in 40 or 42. Picked up a 4th Fighter Wing patch identical to the right chest BR one(my eBay one is an original). Might commission a leather version of the 10.75" 335th patch using HPA's almost 1:1 picture on the website as the basis...Saves buying another jacket just to the get the $50 patch or a $500 jacket from Milwaukee in Japan...

I think the American market has died down. ALL of my jackets bar one have gone to Europe in the last two weeks..Only Nat's 334th L-2B went to the US...

So the international jacket market is my hobby at present...until it dies in the bum..I now know...Only buy my size or bigger, in case no one wants it...And nothing over $500, cause only a brand new Eastman with heaps of grain and a Crown zipper will pull that, and they dont pop up all that often..

Regards..

Couchy

 

[zoomer]

I think the American market has died down.

Time to tool up for a popularly priced 37J1 repro. Whoever does would find it worth their while.

BTW, what's this about jungle cloth? I thought they were Bedford cord. But jungle cloth would be a much catchier tag line.

 

[deeb7]

BTW, what's this about jungle cloth? I thought they were Bedford cord. But jungle cloth would be a much catchier tag line.

That's what it says, I looked it up ....

Jungle Cloth - A trade name for heavy, closely woven, cotton fabric made with more than 300 picks per inch. It possesses good wind-resistant qualities. Formerly it was used as winter cloth by the U.S. Navy ... Burlington Textiles Library

And if you want catchier, there's also the lining.

C-2 The material for the lining shall be airplane cloth .....

 

[zoomer]

k3wl...here's a definition of airplane cloth:
1. a strong, plain-weave cloth of linen or cotton, originally used for airplane wings
2. a similar cotton cloth used for shirts, etc.

Another source says it's "heavier than pima but not as heavy as duck."
So the 'J1 must have been a pretty good all-season garment.

Was the 'J1A the cord and the 'J1B the jungle cloth?

37J1A, 1932

 

[deeb7]

Was the 'J1A the cord and the 'J1B the jungle cloth?

Ha! I've solved that one .....

At first I thought that the fabric may have been misidentified in the Heller's Cafe auction (pictured above).

But along-side the 37J1b specs reproduced in Full Gear, there is also a page from a 1935 Air Associates catalog. This shows a civilian fliers jacket stated to be made to Navy Air Corps specifications, and the text reads in part ....

The outer shell is of genuine Navy Jungle Cloth in a Bedford Cord weave.

 

[zoomer]

oof! Good luck finding anything like that today. BC is now strictly a dress casual fabric.

 

[asiamiles]

oof! Good luck finding anything like that today. BC is now strictly a dress casual fabric.

Levi's do Bedford Cord jackets.

 

[oose]

Hi,

I grabed these pics off ebay last year some time, flightsuit of the period, just thought it would make a nice comparison, don't know much about prewar flightware. hope its of some interest. Is this Bedford Cord?

yours stu

 

[deeb7]

... hope its of some interest. Is this Bedford Cord?

Thanks Stu, great zipper, and yes ... type B jungle cloth.

This Switlik Parachute Co. contract dates from 1935/36, and is probably the 37S3a. Like the 37J1 jackets the 'a' suffix doesn't seem to be recorded on the labels.

 

[ausreenactor]

Demand for a 40 on Yahoo Japan saw one fetch $390 last night??

http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t89953641

Might sell mine after all..

That is a lot for a jacket I did not know existed??

Couchy

 

[deeb7]

Might sell mine after all..

How does it fit, Couchy?

Looking at the measurements, they seem narrow in the body, but quite long .... nearly 27" on a size 42.