Recent content by FtrPlt

I suspect the ‘flame retardent finish’ probably was a theory to explain the finish differences between some jackets. My first issued jacket has a matte finish which is identical to my 1985 orange tag Cooper. I got another jacket a few years later which had a very wet-looking, shiny finish...

Curious if anyone knows (or even pondered) why USAF contract A-2s have Cooper on the spec tag but Saddlery labels while the USN G-1s are Coopers for both? The non-issue versions sport the orange or blue Cooper tags. Slightly different question: Does anyone know definitively if either the A-2s...

Early jacket with purple knits (same knits on 1988 contract Saddlery A-2s)

Post-1988 orange tag label

Early/original orange tag label — ~pre-1988

Here’s something I posted years ago at another site: Most here are probably familiar with the fact that, in 1988, USAF began to reissue the A-2 to mission-qualified aircrew. Saddlery (a division of Cooper Sportswear) was awarded the initial contract. What most folks don't realize is that the...

Gents, The CSN numbers on the Cooper jackets are not indicative of year of manufacture — ie “01” in the CSN is not the same as NSN I bought my Cooper orange tag new in 1985. It predates the USAF reintroduction of the A-2 by several years. It’s CSN is also “01” There are a few threads comparing...

I've never seen anything to suggest folded-over pocket flap corners were some type of trendy thing -- at least not on the aviation side. There would need to be a sizable sampling and/or photos showing them before I would be comfortable saying it was some type of functional modification.

The early versions did not have flaps for the pocket. They were added later

This is the typical Army flying uniform for the mid-1980s. This is a student at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Moved into the jumpsuit era? No. The standard Army flying uniform when I went thru flying training was the one-piece, sage-green nomex flight suit (same as the other branches) with the lightweight and cold weather jackets discussed in this thread. The one-piece flight suit had already been in...

It was a shirt/trousers combo. They're actually softer than CWU-27 nomex. I did my flight training in 1985 and the two-piece had already been replaced by the CWU-27. The two-piece remained authorized into the very late 1980s

Pretty sure the OG-106 reference is a carryover from the 2-piece flying uniform these jackets were supposed to go with. Depending upon timeframe and manufacturer, the OG-106 reference may or may not have been present. Note the "High Temperature Resistance" reference -- coming soon to a Cold...

OG-106 is that particular shade of green. It’s the same as the VN-era two-piece flying uniform. Nobody ever called them by that name. They were just flight jackets. Same as nobody says they’re going to be wearing a -36 or -45