POST WAR ISSUED IRVIN

[Roughwear]

I recently bought a late War multi-panelled Irvin. Its the 10422 contract which on the basis of the AM contracts was issued to Links no later than 1945 (I have a picture of a higher numbered AM contract label with a 1945 date). I asked the seller about the owner of the jacket, his grand mother's first husband and got this sad reply:

The pilot, whose name appears on the jacket's label, is James Jason Phillips. I have his original Pilot's Log Books, which indicate the squadrons he flew with. He appears to have got his "wings" in October 1947 at RAF Tern Hill. After flying with a couple of OCU's, he started flying with 264 Squadron in July 1948 flying the Mosquito, with some occasional flights on the Oxford. From September 1949 the squadron reference changes from just 264 to 264/79 and this continued up until October 1951. There is a slight gap, as the next log book starts at August 1952 and he is now working for Airwork Services Ltd. He was based at Hurn (Bournemouth) airport with the Fleet Requirements Unit (FRU) that worked exclusively with the Fleet Air Arm. Over the next 5 years he flew the Mosquito, Hornet, Sea Fury 2, Meteor 7, Attacker, Sea Hawk and the Firefly. On November 15th 1957 he had been on a training exercise with HMS Bulwark flying a Firefly TT4 that was towing a target drone for gunnery practice. It is believed that he was involved in a mid-air collision with another aircraft towing a drone. There were no witnesses and all four aircrew involved were killed. Some of the wreckage was recovered but only the body of his winch operator was found.

He has sent me the original accident report to back all this up. There has always been a mystery to me about the production of Irvins from 1945 to 1950 when they were no longer issued to RAF aircrew/pilots. The information on Phillips seems to suggest late war contract Irvins either continued to be produced after the war or there were sufficient quantities still in the stores to issue to pilots after the War. Phillips was most likely issued with his around 1947-8.


Here are some pics taken by the seller which show the remarkable condition of the jacket.

 

[Peter Graham]

Andew,
A sad story but very interesting. For some reason I never imagined that Irvins's were used post war. I'd love to see a photo of a Meteor pilot waering an Irvin. Does anyone know if the Americans used shearlings jackets post WW2 ?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

There is evidence that at the end of the war there were vast stockpiles of equipment, uniforms etc. Thus though Irvins may not have been supplied to the RAF any more, they could still be issued from the surplus. Or the pilot may have inherited the jacket. Or bought it himself from a commercial dealer in military surplus.

Is there any info about exactly when the supply to the RAF ceased? Such as a letter ordering "no more orders"?

bk

 

[rich]

Can you squeeze into a 4 Andrew? I saw this auction but the size was never going to work for me. Nice piece for your collection regardless.

 

[Roughwear]

I have never seen a late War multi-panel Irvin larger than a size 5 and obviously aircrew and pilots were much smaller by the end of the War! Rich, i can wear it. The sleeves are fine as is the length. It is a snug fit for me over a jumper, but I usually only wear an Irvin over a shirt. I prefer these later War jackets to have a closer fit than earlier ones, perhaps the horizontal seam tapes and smaller panels look better IMO when an Irvin a a snug rather than a lose fit.