The USN jacket “paint” thing

[Nickb123]

Now I’m thinking I may be approaching this through ‘California-centric’ lenses. The notion of wearing a coat to paint a house is kind of a moot point here, as we have our summers, but plenty of places elsewhere in the US and around the world where it’s chilly all the time. I can see someone just having an old flying coat around and throwing a utilitarian jacket on for utilitarian work. Maybe that’s it. But I’m still not convinced. I just don’t believe everyone is that sloppy of a painter, but what do I know? I just ruined a shirt yesterday painting one of my birds. Maybe I’ll throw on an old G-1 next time Haha.

 

[mulceber]

Oh, I could see them getting paint on the jackets. Keep in mind, they're not just in danger of getting paint on their jacket while they're applying the paint, but also just by moving around the area while the paint is still drying. It wouldn't be hard to accidentally brush up against the wet surface.

plenty of places elsewhere in the US and around the world where it’s chilly all the time.

Yep, in my neck of the woods, about a third of the time it's too hot to wear a jacket while painting, a third of the time it's too cold to paint at all, and a third of the time it's warm enough to paint, but you'd need a jacket.

 

[Chandler]

Can't imagine it to be N-3B weather and painting a house. Paint would freeze before it dried and crumble off the house.

 

[Dumpster D]

Lots of fresh paint to keep an Air craft carrier from rusting, just a wild theory. I've got a G-1 I think has a couple spots of paint too, now that you mention it.

 

[John Luder]

My dad had an A-2. My mom said he cut the sleeves off and wore it to play beach volleyball at Santa Monica in the late '40s.

 

[mulceber]

My dad had an A-2. My mom said he cut the sleeves off and wore it to play beach volleyball at Santa Monica in the late '40s.

Why would you tell us things that are just going to make us sad?

 

[John Luder]

Why would you tell us things that are just going to make us sad?

Just another, and painfully personal example of how those young men used their crappy old surplus stuff as throw-away scraps.

 

[CBI]

yep - these were just work clothes for vets when they served. Many just didn't care. Although sad for some, it puts these items into realistic perspective.

 

[Chandler]

Why would you tell us things that are just going to make us sad?

Or scoff.

Leather vest with a zipper in Santa Monica? While jumping up and down exerting yourself?

Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[Southoftheborder]

My dad had an A-2. My mom said he cut the sleeves off and wore it to play beach volleyball at Santa Monica in the late '40s.

My father cut up an Irvin to make slippers for us at the beginning of the fifties. I was only small but I thought it was a shame even then. The arms had already gone by the time he got it and he just said it was no use for anything else.

 

[John Luder]

Or scoff.

Leather vest with a zipper in Santa Monica? While jumping up and down exerting yourself?

Pictures or it didn't happen.

My dear Chap, I can only repeat what my sainted mother told me. Maybe he put it on between sets, or when they retired to the bar at the Del Mar Club, at the bottom of Pico Blvd. It does get breezy and chilly in the afternoon, it's a south-facing beach.
However, having grown up in the Santa Monica/Pacific Palisades area, I have no doubts. I have the numerous skin cancers to corroborate long days at the beach as a red-haired and feckless youth.
The LA Basin is one of a few geographic areas that experiences May and June gloom and cool weather. If you watch (go ahead, I dare you) episodes of Baywatch, you'll be able to see the different seasons of filming.
That beach was on Pac. Coast Hwy. between Chautauqua Blvd. and Sunset Blvd, mostly Will Rogers State Beach near the bottom of Temescal Canyon Rd.
Obviously overcast episodes filmed in May and June, nice sun in July and part of August. Blazing white-hot sun in August, September, and October. Sunny in November, and foggy is December and January.
We normally have rain January and February, and it's for a day or two.
That means that we have outdoor play weather 350 days a year.
Photos? Alas, no. A DUI on the way home one evening, yes. But those records would be long gone by now.
See you at the beach bar, I'll stand you a pint or two.
John

 

[Nickb123]

Stating my hypothesis here until proven or refuted: it’s not paint, but rather some weird tanning effect. There are just too many of these for me to believe every one was an accidental paint smear.

 

[Erwin]

 

[Nickb123]

SMH. Or aliens.

 

[Chandler]

Stating my hypothesis here until proven or refuted: it’s not paint, but rather some weird tanning effect. There are just too many of these for me to believe every one was an accidental paint smear.

The smudge on my Monarch was definitely paint.

@Thomas Koehle -- do you have it handy to snap a quick pic? Otherwise I'll dig up some of my old ones.

 

[CombatWombat]

Ahh I can chip in on this.....
My goatskin gets "salty spots" when it dries after I've worn it 12 hours straight on a 30+ Celcius day.......
But that "splotch" definitely looks like primer paint to me

 

[MikeyB-17]

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck-sorry, I see no reason to believe that it’s anything but paint, from guys using old ex-military jackets for dirty jobs . And as we all know, the bloody stuff can end up anywhere.

 

[Nickb123]

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck-sorry, I see no reason to believe that it’s anything but paint, from guys using old ex-military jackets for dirty jobs . And as we all know, the bloody stuff can end up anywhere.

Happy to rest my head on the laurels of being the resident non-paint conspiracy theorist nutter until it is proven beyond a doubt in Gary Eastman’s Type G-1 manual through various lab tests.