Discussion: “A Better Fighting Garment…” - A Beginner’s Guide to the US Navy’s WWII-era and later Intermediate Flight Jackets

[MikeyB-17]

I wasn't there for that discussion way back when, but if the only evidence for it being a PX jacket was that it had the weird back seam, then that seems like pretty scanty evidence to me.

There was this:-
Thread 'G-1 PX Purchase Jackets: Are They Military or Civilian?'
https://www.vintageleatherjackets.o...e-jackets-are-they-military-or-civilian.7154/
And this:-
Thread 'My anomalous new G-1'
https://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/my-anomalous-new-g-1.711/
Note input from Porkchop, former Naval supply officer. And the date-2008!

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Thanks for digging those links out Mikey. Porkchops comment does explain some of this and this is worth adding to our list of edits (which will probably never be closed )

 

[Ritchy]

This photo seems to indicate that Avirex had a contract for the 7823E in 2000. Is it true ?

 

[mulceber]

This photo seems to indicate that Avirex had a contract for the 7823E in 2000. Is it true ?View attachment 108923

See the contract data in the 7923E post:
https://www.vintageleatherjackets.o...iate-leather-flight-jackets.30031/post-390991

 

[Spitfireace]

Not true.

 

[Wedge417]

Great read thanks a lot! What a gold mine of information y'all are. Now you guys need to make a page about best repros on the current market. A-2s get plenty of attention I feel USN jackets repros are less commonly reviewed.

 

[ZuZu]

Jan- I saw your latest addition to the "Better Fighting Garment...etc" thread. Have you addressed the whole FEC thing? Star Sportswear made issue jackets for the PX or whatever- the models followed pretty much the current design of the day- from the 50s through the 70s. The early ones are indistinguishable from the Star 55J14. The later (70s) ones were more caca. There were many models in between- often only different from the issue model by use of a brown Talon zipper. If I dig I could find many pics.

 

[mulceber]

Anything you can find, we'd be happy to add. I confess, I don't know much about it - that post was actually created by @Lord Flashheart, and I just added it as I was going back through the BFG and editing out a whole bunch of minor errors.

Speaking of which, we just finished the latest round of edits, based on feedback from 2.0. I've also gone back to the original posts in this thread and grayed them out, with a link to 2.0, just so no one is left thinking 1.0's information is the latest and greatest.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

If you've got some more depth on that Jeff please do share it here.

Since we re-drafted BFG into BFG 2.0 we were keen to keep this thread open to flush out more about the Navy jacket story. That way we can thrash out the picture here between members before editing the Sticky.

 

[CombatWombat]

Ahhh I've got a question.....was the G-1 EVER made in black....with a black detachable fur collar?
(I've got a distinct memory of seeing a USN guy swanning around FleetBase East (Sydney) in a black G-1 yet he had "Waves" rather than "Wings" on his name plate

 

[ZuZu]

If you've got some more depth on that Jeff please do share it here.

Since we re-drafted BFG into BFG 2.0 we were keen to keep this thread open to flush out more about the Navy jacket story. That way we can thrash out the picture here between members before editing the Sticky.

I'm working on it. I'll post some pictures and then you guys can make it official in the 2.0.

 

[B-Man2]

Ahhh I've got a question.....was the G-1 EVER made in black....with a black detachable fur collar?
(I've got a distinct memory of seeing a USN guy swanning around FleetBase East (Sydney) in a black G-1 yet he had "Waves" rather than "Wings" on his name plate

Hi CW
To the best of my knowledge there was never a USN issued black G-1 with a detachable collar in the US Navy inventory .if you saw something like that recently are you sure you didn’t see one of the new Surface Warfare Jackets that the U.S. Navy is now issuing to ship board officers ?

 

[Spitfireace]

Otherwise.. private purchase Schott for instance?

 

[Chandler]

Otherwise.. private purchase Schott for instance?

L.L. Bean had a version with a detachable collar, didn't they?

 

[ZuZu]

If you've got some more depth on that Jeff please do share it here.

Since we re-drafted BFG into BFG 2.0 we were keen to keep this thread open to flush out more about the Navy jacket story. That way we can thrash out the picture here between members before editing the Sticky.

I think I'm going to do an FEC thread and then you guys can take the photos and text as needed and incorporate it if you think it's OK. Unless you want me to just put it in the discussion thread. Let me know!

 

[Spitfireace]

L.L. Bean had a version with a detachable collar, didn't they?

More than likely.

 

[Mr. Mike]

@Lord Flashheart @mulceber: first of all thanks so much for the extra effort put into bringing BFG 2.0 to life. This is beyond doubt one of the most relevant base within this forum, and a fair counterweight to Gary's A-2 bible
Because of this I wondered whether you plan to extend it also to cover Navy's heavy winter issues (in particular the M-444 - M-445 A-B)? I know that you classified your collection as Navy's 'intermediate' flight jackets, but it would be a valuable round-up on the Navy (leather) flight jacket perspective.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Thanks @Mr. Mike .

A very good question. Jan and I have talked about other possible topics. Personally I'd be interested to see a beginners guide to the history of the RAF Irvin but it's all open for discussion (and offers of contribution/ authorship).

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Flying and other jacket histories - what other guides or resource information would you like to see on the Forum?

In the BFG Discussion thread @Mr. Mike asked whether @mulceber and I had any plans to widen the scope of that USN reference sticky. It's an interesting question because I suspect a lot of us have areas of interest in these jackets which we've dug into over time and probably we all still have...

www.vintageleatherjackets.org

 

[CombatWombat]

Hi CW
To the best of my knowledge there was never a USN issued black G-1 with a detachable collar in the US Navy inventory .if you saw something like that recently are you sure you didn’t see one of the new Surface Warfare Jackets that the U.S. Navy is now issuing to ship board officers ?

Well a Surface Warfare jacket would make sense, since the guy had "Waves" rather than "Wings" on his name plate (didn't know anyone outside of aviation wore them)
Honestly looked more impressive than the fuzzball collar Brown G-1s