G-1 Collection: 55J14 - 7823D

[917_k]

Evening All,

Having been a long-time lurker and (apologies) very occasional poster, this pandemic lockdown has given me the opportunity to finally sort through some photos of my jacket collection, which I thought I'd share with the forum. I've been collecting US military jackets of all types since 2017, when I happened upon a Real Mccoys catalogue in an independent magazine shop in my hometown, Brighton. I'd collected militaria as a kid (now In my early 30s) and had mostly left it behind, but I'm now truly hooked on this. I've got a growing collection of different pieces which I'll share, but I thought id start with my favourite flight jacket: the G-1.

From left to right: A Pritzer & Son's 55J14, 2x Cagleco Sportswear 7823(AER) & Brill Bros 7823D.

The 55J14 is I believe a 1951 contract year and is in fairly decent condition, with the mouton fur mostly intact and what appear to be original knits, although the zipper is bust. I actually picked this up in a junk shop and whilst the price wasn't especially cheap, I was really happy to add one of these rare jackets to the collection.

The two Cagleco Sportswear G-1's are I understand from 1957 (N383-39321A). The first one is in pretty good condition, with all original knits and the mouton collar in a reasonable state (sadly no close-up photos of this). The second, which I picked up as it's a size 40 (the first is a 38 and far too small) turned out to be in a pretty ratty state (Ebay purchase), so I had Ben at Hangup Vintage in London sort it out for me. It's had new knits, buttons and the lining repaired (the top of the liner was a shredded mess, so the label was removed and re-fitted to a new piece of fabric). At some point the original zipper was replaced, badly, which Ben managed to rectify fairly nicely for me (we decided to leave the zipper rather than replace with an original Conmar). I was seriously impressed with Ben's work, so when this lockdown ends I'm hoping he'll be able to take a look at repairing the zipper on the 55J14.

Interestingly, this Cagleco Sportswear jacket has both the USN print on the collar as well as the USN perforated wind-flap. I've tried to do some digging online, but can't find much information about this, so can only assume it's a feature of some of the final jackets they produced??

As I said, the G-1 is my favourite 'vintage' flight jacket and I love wearing them for everyday use, but didn't particularly like the idea of wearing out these rarer earlier jackets. So the final one in this line-up is a 1971 Brill Bros 7823D, which I picked up for next to nothing as an every day wearer. As it happens, since I took this photo last year I've now added two more to the collection: a 1976 7823E and an unlabelled, but most again most likely 7823E jacket; the latter is now my everyday wearer, and all the properly labelled jackets are in storage. In the Autumn/Spring I tend to wear a G-1 a fair bit, so I'm happy to trash the unlabelled 7823E and keep the others in the collection.

I suppose there should be a ‘fit-pic’ as well, so here’s me in the restored Cagleco at last years Goodwood Revival:

Thanks for looking guys!

Rob

 

[B-Man2]

917
Great post and photographs.!
No doubt about it the older model G-1s have great character and yours are awesome.
Thanks for posting them .
Cheers

 

[ausreenactor]

Outstanding post Sir. Thank you!

 

[MikeyB-17]

A 55J14 in a junk shop? In the UK? Stone me, there’s still hope. Hell of a collection. I like G-1’s too, had many over the years, the earliest being an L.W. Foster 7823 (AER). Most were 60’s/‘Nam era, which sadly you don’t seem to be able to pick up cheap any more. The only one I have now is label-less, later Dynel collared cowhide job which has better leather than all the previous ones. Some early G-1’s had both the stencil and windflap perforation, as the USN transitioned from one to the other. Cagleco are highly regarded. Never done the Goodwood Revival, although I’ve done the Festival of Speed a couple of times.

 

[917_k]

Thanks very much guys.

Mikey: I picked this up when I didn’t really know much about them, so initially walked away from it, it was only when I Googled the spec no. I realised it was special. Lucky find, but they are out there. I’m hoping I can eventually find an A & B series 7823 (reasonably priced), to complete the collection.

p.s. the Revival is great fun and well worth checking out. Probably the best ‘period’ racing event around.

 

[Brettafett]

Awesome to see your collection!

 

[MikeyB-17]

Thanks very much guys.

Mikey: I picked this up when I didn’t really know much about them, so initially walked away from it, it was only when I Googled the spec no. I realised it was special. Lucky find, but they are out there. I’m hoping I can eventually find an A & B series 7823 (reasonably priced), to complete the collection.

p.s. the Revival is great fun and well worth checking out. Probably the best ‘period’ racing event around.

Best I did was an L.W. Foster 7823 (AER) which I found at Duxford on an Aero jumble stall for £75. Like all the others, I sold it and wish I hadn’t. I also had a stunning RMCJ M-422a, which I was a damn fool to sell. Story of my life, I’m afraid.
Really must do the Revival. Probably not this year!

 

[Flightengineer]

Nice jackets!

 

[Silver Surfer]

Nice herd ya got there, brudda. Perhaps it’s time to turn your attention to the m series navy jackets, as their availability in good wearable condition is becoming harder to find.......and, the prices for them Are creeping up.

 

[917_k]

Nice herd ya got there, brudda. Perhaps it’s time to turn your attention to the m series navy jackets, as their availability in good wearable condition is becoming harder to find.......and, the prices for them Are creeping up.

Thanks buddy! The M series are on my radar, but these seem to be hard to find in the UK and for reasonable prices. I do own an M-69F Air Transport coat, which is sort of like a G-1 on steroids; totally impractical, but an amazing coat.