Recent content by m444uk

Group Captain John Hemingway is now officially indestructible. He shot down a He 111 and Do 17 in the Battle of France. Then shot down twice during the Battle of Britain and twice more during the war and now 103 years old.

Battle of Britain pilot John Hemingway, 2nd left, turns 101 this week. Great photo of him standing in front of an 85 Squadron Hurricane here. Look at the guy on the far right... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/surviving-pilot-battle-britain-last/

I recently had a 46 R .50 cal up on ebay, you can see the measurements here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163927780845?ul_noapp=true The zips do free up with wear and work fine. Put some pencil lead on the tracks for lube Very solid jacket, I was sorry to see it go.

In general, wouldn't it be straight forward to get the shears out and trim 3/4" shearling to 1/4" ?

They did until Aero Scotland pointed out the trademark ownership....

3 or 4 years ago Son of a Stag had a sale and I got a bit off an Eastman m-422a. They had a lot of A-2s in the Dray walk branch. Things change so I don't know the situation now https://www.sonofastag.com/

Back in Sept 2000 Eastman faxed me their price. Time flies. The B of B RAF, which I'm guessing had recently been introduced, was £ 525 for a size 46 which inflation adjusted is £867. Today they charge £845 1942 RAF £423 =£699, today £825 The ANJ-4 size 46 was £505, adjusted £834, today £950...

Almost disappeared these days as retired army majors check out: the British warm coat as worn by Monty. To bulky and hot for today's lifestyle... In the Irvin is Air Chief Marshall Tedder who was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander for Overload in Jan 44 beneath Supreme commander Eisenhower.

The consumer price index inflation calculator includes leather goods in the basket of goods and services. £137 GBP in 1986 is the equivalent to circa £375 and £182 over the last decade(2006-2016) The adult minimum wage is £7.50 ($10.40) hr.

Being really anal, I dug out a McCoy catalogue from 2000 and the anti-moth tag is sewn under the makers label, Same with Buzz where they have them. The 'original' appears to have it above the label.

Private purchase shearling probably dark brown

I don't think black fleece B-3 existed. When shearling production was really ramping up the fleece seems to of been universally dyed shades of yellow. You can't do that with really dark brown or black wool. Plenty of dark shearling was used by the Germans as coat linings. Here's German ace...

Here's one with a bit of wear tagged The Few Specialist

I rather like this. The black will wear thin on the horsehide facings giving a good patina with the brown underneath. ... Pics from https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp There always seems to be tons of used Rickson, McCoy and The Few shearling for sale there but little Eastman