British Flight Gear Circa 1927

[deand]

From the LIFE image archive http://images.google.com/hosted/life from a series of photos, titled as showing
British Flight Lieuts, Carr & Gilman at Cranwell Aeodrome from where they hope to start a non-stop flight to India, 1927.

dean

 

[John Lever]

Brilliant photo and what a pose !
The cross over closure always reminds me of jackets worn by Dragoons or Hussars.

 

[deand]

What are these constructed of? Fabric lined with Alpaca? Certainly not leather, are they? These are adventurous men, every bit as dashing as I've heard Spitfire pilots were viewed as being.





dean

 

[John Lever]

They look like heavy canvass with a fur lining to me.

 

[zoomer]

Was there a water/windproof fabric then? Ventile did not exist till the WW2 era.
(I mean other than oil or wax cloths - these don't look like either.)

I agree about the dashing factor. It's too bad peacetime aviators don't pull the mystique they used to.

 

[rich]

What are these constructed of? Fabric lined with Alpaca? Certainly not leather, are they? These are adventurous men, every bit as dashing as I've heard Spitfire pilots were viewed as being.
dean

Dean, going off on a tangent, I read that Spitfire pilots and sheepskins didn't get on - at least in the air. But in the roomier Hurricane cockpit .............

 

[deand]

Those guys look confident. Fighter pilot temperament. You have to be, I guess.




dean

 

[Falcon_52]

What are these constructed of? Fabric lined with Alpaca? Certainly not leather, are they?

I think John Lever is correct. I believe that these early flight suits were made from heavy cotton lined with beaver fur.

Noel

 

[John Lever]

Nice beaver...