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Question re: patching an Apollo jacket...

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
So, with @DiamondDave making these cool new Apollo L-2 jackets, I was initially going 100% PATCHLESS.
Seeing them done, I have to say it only looks right with the patches.

The question: deciding on NASA patch is simple. But what about the name tag? Put a real Astronaut's name on it or your own? I feel dicey both ways to be honest, leaning towards a name of a legit flyer.

Thoughts? I'm on my 3rd book this spring about the Apollo (and prior) missions, and thanks to Space-X, it's all cool again. I want to get something vintage as that was my era, just not sure about the patches...
 

Persimmon

Well-Known Member
Always go for your own name.
You are not a famous astronaut. Sadly.

If the jacket gets lost or stolen it’s got your name on it. Easy to say that’s my jacket !!
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. It may seem trivial, but really, I want to pay homage and not be a poser. I guess by default wearing one I am, but less of a poser maybe??? :)
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
I would use a real Astronaut's name. It would be a tribute jacket and no one would mind that at all. I would be careful about pairing your name with Wings or Rank that was not earned. You could always just have the wing badge like has been done in the past.

I just found this company headed by Astronaut Al Worden that was working on a reproduction back in 2013 with an infamous company that is no longer in business. It looks like a great effort using all period correct materials and hardware. Looks like they are seeking a new maker for this jacket. Diamond Dave comes to mind.
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-120313a.html
Al's site:
http://www.alworden.com/jacket.htm

Regards,
Jay
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Ehhhh......... Not sure if I would consider wearing an Apollo jacket with the original Astronaut's name tag.
Let's look at it from a little different perspective.
Would you wear an A2 with Clair Chennault's or Chuck Yeager's name tag?
What about a Eastman Luftwaffe with Eric Hartmann's or a Irvin with Douglas Baders' name tag?
Great people in there field, just like the astronauts were great in theirs, but I wouldn't consider wearing a jacket with their names on it.
Just my opinion, no criticism intended.
 
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Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
A name is one thing but when you start pairing your name with wings or rank that was not earned, that is a slippery slope to travel IMO.
This topic has been batted around on this forum before.

As a pilot that worked my ass off to earn my wings, I would be a bit disenchanted to find someone who is wearing pilot wings with their name who wasn't a pilot. It just seems wrong and kind of brash to me. Just food for thought to consider from the prospective of a guy who is a huge aviation and jacket fan.
 

Tommy

Active Member
I would go with the Nasa Patch alone personally. I'm a huge fan of the Gemini to Apollo era, with some great hero's of mine amongst the Astronaut Corps. But I would never want either a pilot or my own name on any jacket myself.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
I get all the points above, hence posting this as I respect people here.
My family have many mil and pilots and I am very aware of wearing things not earned.
There IS a difference between trying to pass oneself off as something and just a tribute. I mean, I have a closet filled with football and baseball and hockey jerseys with names on the back of famous players. Nobody will confuse me with Alan Page, Roberto Clemente, Wayne Gretzky, etc.

Aesthetically, the jacket looks killer with both patches. I think I could get away with just NASA though.
I only ever had a jacket with a real patch, and it was my Dad's USAF bombing unit. My brother, USMC, even mocks me and my reenactor friends, but he wears jerseys LOL.
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
Unless you put Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin or possibly John Glenn on it, your average bloke on the street probably won’t know you’ve got an astronaut’s name on it. Pete Conrad, Alan Shepard, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman-most people have never heard of them. The world kind of lost interest in Apollo after the first few missions.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Unless you put Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin or possibly John Glenn on it, your average bloke on the street probably won’t know you’ve got an astronaut’s name on it. Pete Conrad, Alan Shepard, Gene Cernan, Frank Borman-most people have never heard of them. The world kind of lost interest in Apollo after the first few missions.
Can you even imagine? When we were kids, you'd have had to be a total recluse to not know most of not all those names.
Makes me sad, but that's life. Another reason I was leaning towards a named tag. I must admit to this though - I did get some of the names wrong on who actually landed on the moon - not the first time, but overall.
 

DiamondDave

Well-Known Member
Can you even imagine? When we were kids, you'd have had to be a total recluse to not know most of not all those names.
Makes me sad, but that's life. Another reason I was leaning towards a named tag. I must admit to this though - I did get some of the names wrong on who actually landed on the moon - not the first time, but overall.

You could always do the wings with NASA-MSC and leave off the name. Just another option. These were made with the wings to match whatever service they had been in. So as a tribute to Jim Lovell you could do the Navy wings.

DD




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
There IS a difference between trying to pass oneself off as something and just a tribute. I mean, I have a closet filled with football and baseball and hockey jerseys with names on the back of famous players. Nobody will confuse me with Alan Page, Roberto Clemente, Wayne Gretzky, etc.

Aesthetically, the jacket looks killer with both patches. I think I could get away with just NASA though.
I only ever had a jacket with a real patch, and it was my Dad's USAF bombing unit. My brother, USMC, even mocks me and my reenactor friends, but he wears jerseys LOL.

Exactly my point. If you put a name on it, make it a famous astronaut. Then it is a reproduction or tribute jacket, as it sounds like you want it to be anyway. I don't see anything wrong with wearing wings if they are worn in this manner. It's historically correct and it's a reproduction jacket. You are not putting your name under a set of wings. That is a different thing altogether in my book.

As you say it just doesn't look 100% correct without the badge.
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
You could always do the wings with NASA-MSC and leave off the name. Just another option. These were made with the wings to match whatever service they had been in. So as a tribute to Jim Lovell you could do the Navy wings.

DD

Thanks all! DD, I cannot find a lot of pics of these that are good. Aside from Navy, do you have examples of other services on the tags? Or were they all Navy? In spite of reading all these books, I don't want to make any assumptions on the details. I actually like that idea...
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
Here's Jim's badge. It is a bit more than just USN wings. It has a added symbol in the middle and is named "US NAVY Pilot Astronaut Swept Wing"
Jim-1.jpg

Lucky for you they have them at Nametags4U. A great online badge maker I have been purchasing from for over 10 years. You can get just the wings, or you can add whatever name you want. I typed a quick sample on their online designer with Jim on there. See below:



Jim-3.jpg
Jim-2.jpg

https://www.nametags4u.com/designer/leather/?pid=4563

Regards,
Jay
 

CBI

Well-Known Member
IMO, the older I get the more the idea of a tribute jacket is less appealing. I think at a certain point/age you just gotta stop dressing up. Nothing wrong with the jacket itself but tread lightly on the extras. Now, every reenactor on the forum is going to give me grief. I used to LOVE wearing patched jackets, now, rarely. All just IMO.
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
Here's the only other one they have at nametags. It is the Air Force Astronaut wings. No USMC or Army Astronaut wings on the site. Not sure if they exist. Here's the AF one:
Air-astro.jpg

Regards,
Jay
 
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