Quick anatomy of a Luftwaffe or cyclists jacket.

[JDAM]

Little tidbit of info:
note the main zipper on this jacket starts at the bottom hem of the jacket while those of JDAMs jacket and those in the wartime photo have zippers that start above the buckle. Another theoretical indicator of postwar manufacture?

I agree that the bullion pilots badge and wings, buttons and boards are recent additions. Ignoring these obvious faults for the moment, it remains difficult to determine whether the jacket itself is wartime or post war. There are so many contradictions in hardware/zipper placement.

I have been attempting to find a better quality, hi-res version of the photo above showing the pilot leaning against the car. No luck so far. Does anyone have any ideas? If indeed the zippers do close at the armpits it would at least challenge some conventional thinking and muddy the waters again.

Here is a link to a less than credible 'Luftwaffe' jacket. But look at the copyrighted photo half way down the auction. Is it a period photo? Zips all over the place, every which way, including chest zippers closing towards the armpit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIG-GERMAN-LUFTWAF ... 321wt_1141

I am not sure we will ever know the whole truth. It has been said before and will be said again but unless you are buying direct from a vet there will always be questions.

 

[FtrPlt]

Here's the same type but with bling in the collection of the AWM.

http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/REL/18105.001?image=5

In case anyone was curious, these jackets were not made with purple collars. They were blue once. Sixty years of fading at work!

 

[FtrPlt]

I agree that the bullion pilots badge and wings, buttons and boards are recent additions. Ignoring these obvious faults for the moment, it remains difficult to determine whether the jacket itself is wartime or post war. There are so many contradictions in hardware/zipper placement.

I have been attempting to find a better quality, hi-res version of the photo above showing the pilot leaning against the car. No luck so far. Does anyone have any ideas? If indeed the zippers do close at the armpits it would at least challenge some conventional thinking and muddy the waters again.

Here is a link to a less than credible 'Luftwaffe' jacket. But look at the copyrighted photo half way down the auction. Is it a period photo? Zips all over the place, every which way, including chest zippers closing towards the armpit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIG-GERMAN-LUFTWAF ... 321wt_1141

I am not sure we will ever know the whole truth. It has been said before and will be said again but unless you are buying direct from a vet there will always be questions.

The zipper closing direction I referenced has circulated for years. Please bear in mind, it was only in reference to the French cycling jackets. Other wartime photos can be found showing various styles of leather jackets with zippers opening in either direction.

The double-breasted jacket in the auction is, in my opinion, a 1950s/early 1960s motorcycle jacket.

 

[JDAM]

Please bear in mind, it was only in reference to the French cycling jackets.

Here you go, photographic evidence of zippers closing at the armpit. The wonderful thing about the internet and digitization of imagery is that it continues to debunk urban legend and theory.

 

[FtrPlt]

Excellent photo!!! Clearly a very similar jacket with no doubt about it being a period photo!

Provenance is everything with these jackets.