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New Issue French AF Flying jacket

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Just picked this up. Original. Near mint. Complete. Reasonable price. Seller took some nice pics so i thought i’d share them . More to follow when i get it.
Dave

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Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Looks brand new.. You will get a lot of years out of that. Small zipper for flying gloves...

Enjoy...
Thanks Couchy. I hope years of wear too. I guess they think putting gloves on is the last thing you do before dashing off in one’s Mirage ;) Zipper is bigger than a Talon though & i could add zipper pulls i suppose.
The French jackets have an internal knit cuff which should be less prone to damage than an A-2 and works better with larger wristwatches as well as my grey Luftwaffe gloves.
With the detachable liner & collar, should be a great all-season jacket for my wife’s MX-5 and 2-seasons on my motorbike. I’ll soon give it some wear :cool:
 

ausreenactor

Well-Known Member
Thanks Couchy. I hope years of wear too. I guess they think putting gloves on is the last thing you do before dashing off in one’s Mirage ;) Zipper is bigger than a Talon though & i could add zipper pulls i suppose.
The French jackets have an internal knit cuff which should be less prone to damage than an A-2 and works better with larger wristwatches as well as my grey Luftwaffe gloves.
With the detachable liner & collar, should be a great all-season jacket for my wife’s MX-5 and 2-seasons on my motorbike. I’ll soon give it some wear :cool:

Yeah, you are pretty committed once you have the relief pack fitted and the zoom suit is zipped up.
'Convertible' jacket for the convertible car. Brilliant!
 

Cocker

Well-Known Member
Ok, I have a confession to do... I hate those jackets! From the plasticky looking leather to the lack of elastic cuffs in the body and the sleeves, including the velcro closing pockets...

There, I said it!! Pfew...

But nice catch you got there, and as you said, it's a pretty versatile jacket!
 

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
sigh .... ya know what moma said ....
Jacket has no velcro pockets
When they get proper wear, they do get grain. You are too used to jackets that have saved you the bother of wearing it into them.
Knits are a proven weakness.....
A-2’s aren’t good for layering - y’all like ‘em like corsets.
You need two jackets to give you one with a mouton collar & one without
You are so fixated on the “WW2 Look” that you have narrowed down your wardrobe options.
I have A-2’s too in my wardrobe .... but not only A-2’s
Your comments are all your personal preferences - good for you & thanks for sharing them. :cool:
There are more colours than dark brown & russet ;)

Happy thanksgiving !
 

Cocker

Well-Known Member
sigh .... ya know what moma said ....
Jacket has no velcro pockets
When they get proper wear, they do get grain. You are too used to jackets that have saved you the bother of wearing it into them.
Knits are a proven weakness.....
A-2’s aren’t good for layering - y’all like ‘em like corsets.
You need two jackets to give you one with a mouton collar & one without
You are so fixated on the “WW2 Look” that you have narrowed down your wardrobe options.
I have A-2’s too in my wardrobe .... but not only A-2’s
Your comments are all your personal preferences - good for you & thanks for sharing them. :cool:
There are more colours than dark brown & russet ;)

Happy thanksgiving !

Aaaah indeed, everything I said was a personnal preference, never tried to say it any other way, but I had to get it off my chest ^^

Having no grain is not an issue for me, my 5 Star 55J14 doesn't have more grain than this one (well, it's starting to develop a bit after a couple years). I think it's more a matter of color. I would probably see it another way if it's was really black instead of grey/blue. Same for the removable mouton collar or WW2 look, I also have one "modern" leather jacket (which was made in the 90s) with removable fur collar.

A point I disagree with is the layering under an A-2 jacket. I don't see what's the issue with wearing a thick sweater or a thick shirt under one? Agreed, it's still not much more than a leather windbreaker in terms of warmth provided, but still can help increasing the wearable temperature range.

Regarding the pockets, I though the pencil one on the arm had a flap with a velcro closure, my bad!

And yeah, agreed, wool knits can be a weak spot (even if I never had any issue with mine for the last 5 years), but here it looks like the sleeves are unfinished, like something is missing. No tapering, nothing.


Out of curiosity, how much do these one go for?
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Thanks Couchy. I hope years of wear too. I guess they think putting gloves on is the last thing you do before dashing off in one’s Mirage ;) Zipper is bigger than a Talon though & i could add zipper pulls i suppose.
The French jackets have an internal knit cuff which should be less prone to damage than an A-2 and works better with larger wristwatches as well as my grey Luftwaffe gloves.
With the detachable liner & collar, should be a great all-season jacket for my wife’s MX-5 and 2-seasons on my motorbike. I’ll soon give it some wear :cool:
Dave
Any chance of seeing a few fit pictures as this is a pretty rare bird on this side of the ocean.:)
Also : What is the purpose of the small pocket on the left chest area of the jacket?
 

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Aaaah indeed, everything I said was a personnal preference, never tried to say it any other way, but I had to get it off my chest ^^

Having no grain is not an issue for me, my 5 Star 55J14 doesn't have more grain than this one (well, it's starting to develop a bit after a couple years). I think it's more a matter of color. I would probably see it another way if it's was really black instead of grey/blue. Same for the removable mouton collar or WW2 look, I also have one "modern" leather jacket (which was made in the 90s) with removable fur collar.

A point I disagree with is the layering under an A-2 jacket. I don't see what's the issue with wearing a thick sweater or a thick shirt under one? Agreed, it's still not much more than a leather windbreaker in terms of warmth provided, but still can help increasing the wearable temperature range.

Regarding the pockets, I though the pencil one on the arm had a flap with a velcro closure, my bad!

And yeah, agreed, wool knits can be a weak spot (even if I never had any issue with mine for the last 5 years), but here it looks like the sleeves are unfinished, like something is missing. No tapering, nothing.


Out of curiosity, how much do these one go for?

We are of the same view mate. ;)Variety is the spice of life. It just sometimes feels like VLJ is a one-trick (A-2) pony.
It’s a shame that real flying jackets get forgotten in the rush for WW2 US ones - cool as they are.
My move to other jackets is a general boredom having for decades been focused on WW2 jackets only.
Cheers
Dave
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
I’m not familiar with this type of jacket so I’d like to know how to be able to tell an original issued French Air Force jacket from a repro one ?
Thanks for any replies
 

Cocker

Well-Known Member
Dave
Do you have a place you can suggest for purchasing a pair of these gloves?
Thanks

Look for Bundeswehr gloves, or german army gloves. They are available almost everywhere and are usualy very cheap!

@Officer Dibley indeed, it sometimes feels a bit monothematic in here, or at least focused on flight and military jackets almost excusively. I'm still dreaming about an Aero Hooch Hauler!
 
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