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Mint M445 Monarch pictures
- Thread starter bazelot
- Start date
Miles_Archer
Member
Nice carpet.
bazelot
Well-Known Member
I will wear it sparingly. It is in so much better shape than I expected that I will be afraid to damage it. As this woman so eloquently said, I squeezed, pinched, stretched....and the shearling does not flinch. It's perfect fit so I will ask my better half to take a picture of me wearing it. Too bad the weather here in California is already so warm.
zoomer
Well-Known Member
Fortunately there is no demand at airshows for winter-clothed naval aviator impressions. So M-445 and -446 should last awhile with good care. Great find, baz.
PS - the -446 trou look a lot like the AAF A-5s but these have patch pockets added. Any other diffs we know about?
PS - the -446 trou look a lot like the AAF A-5s but these have patch pockets added. Any other diffs we know about?
hacker
Active Member
bazelot said:
My own 2cents on it........I have owned many of these jackets over the course of 30 years and now don't keep them anymore. The last one I sold to a friend was an absolute mint, unworn M445a from a decorated Marine F4U pilot that unfortunately was worn a few times after I sold it and sure enough blew out the left shoulder!.....These jackets are just too fragile anymore and are time bomb for tearing no matter how good they look. I would recommend for display use only to play it safe.
Hacker
Peter Graham
Well-Known Member
That's a beauty Tom. I would find it very hard not to wear that jacket. I would also try to think of an excuse to wear the pants. 
dujardin
Well-Known Member
bazelot said:
maybe a stupidity but is there nothing to see with ''salted water'' ????????????????????????????
i remember that when i was into navy, my leather combat shoes became ''matt and dry (cracky)'' if i don't play the shoeshine boy at least one time a week.
who knowssss ???????????????
bye the way Baz, really splendid. you know that navy jackets are my favourites
bye marcel
bazelot
Well-Known Member
Peter Graham said:That's a beauty Tom. I would find it very hard not to wear that jacket. I would also try to think of an excuse to wear the pants.
I wore it last night. It was a bit on the warm side but I could not resist. The warmth of this jacket is incredible!!!!! I have a 90s repro (one of those Avirex ones with the slash pockets on the side) and this M-445's shearling is at least twice as thick. My 90s jacket looks like a bad joke now
As far as the pants are concerned Peter, I don't think I will ever come up with a good enough excuse to wear them, especially here here in California so I have to sell them probably as space is becoming an issue in my place and the pressure from above (the wife) is such that I am going to sell a lot of my stuff soon
Maybe salt had to do something with shearling going bad. I have a lot of M-422's though and the leather is in really really good condition. You can really tell that it was there but the leather is still strong (I even got one with sand in the pockets!!!). I would rather lean towards the dying process and salt protection methods as the number one culprit. I may be wrong though.
Andrew
Well-Known Member
bazelot said:
I imagine it has something to do with the thickness of the skin and the tanning process. Perhaps they also shaved the hide to make it more flexible and less bulky. The skin on my early Irvins is very thick and it shows no sign of wearing through but it is bulky, whereas i've had later war Irvins which have had the same blowout problems and the hide on them feels much thinner and sometimes slightly crackly. It could also be the brand of sheep used- the later war fleeces are shaggy and most likely a different breed from the early stuff. Maybe the US shearling breed had something in common with late war Irvin fleeces.
zoomer
Well-Known Member
There are also the differences between goatskin and sheepskin. Goat is tougher all around and repels water better than sheep.bazelot said:
The AAC had a lot of trouble finding a workable waterproofing treatment for the B-3 class garments - if they've lasted longer, however, then perhaps BuAer settled on something different that weakened the skins over time (along with shaving them down or any other factors...)
BTW, the Navy did issue some all-goat flightsuits, but they were electrically heated, not fleecelined.
Peter Graham
Well-Known Member
I am the new owner of this fantastic jacket and it's just as Tom says, nearly mint. This will be my winter wearer. Much as I like my other shearlings, an Irvin and a D-1 they are just not very practical for daily wear due to the lack of pockets. I know some people have reservations about the durability of Navy shearlings but that's a risk I'm prepared to take. If it splits anywhere I'll be pissed off for a while, then get out the needle and thread ! Something Tom didn't mention is that it has a beautiful triple marked blackened Talon zipper.
bazelot
Well-Known Member
Peter Graham said:
Amazing Peter. fits you perfectly well. It's a shame it was too tight for me around the shoulders. It will come in handy during those cold Irish winters. The Talon zipper is indeed really nice. I love the blackened finish. THe pants have the same zippers as well. I will have to find an excuse to wear them this winter
