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MA-1 variations

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Seen an MA-1 for sale, Alpha, looks pukka, size xl on a mil label.
Got me wondering if there is a book that deals specifically with nylon flight jackets ?
MA-1's started with a green lining and ended with one. Were they still being issued as late as 1985 ? How long were the orange lining years ? Who made which contract ? I have been told only issued to ground crew after the nomex cwu came in .
 

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
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Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
So a very late issued jacket then ? Great, i got a deal then.

Flt Engr, do you think the pocket flap addition was because of FOD risk with jacket being used by maintainers ? Makes sense to me.
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
You have to be careful with Alpha Industries jackets. Alpha was a Government Contractor, but they also made jackets for the civilian market...some identical to the mil spec...some not so much so. Especially later in the 1980's and 1990's...
 

Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Absolutely Uncle.

When did they finally go out of service and was it ground crew ?

What does the label of the one above tell you? Issue or not ? I remember in the late 80's seeing a few like this for sale that came from the base i now work on.
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
I don't know enough to say what this label translates to, but Alpha was putting essentially fake labels that looked real in their civilian market jackets. Later jackets had Ideal zippers, but earlier on they had Scovills. These were not sold on base, but guys in the service did buy them, and then wear them. Even in the 1980's these came in fashion colors...black was especially popular with British Punk Rockers.

As to when the MA-1 fully went out of service...I think that was later than you might think. A friend of mine was in the USAF Reserves, and was in a Maintenance Unit. He sat behind a desk doing paperwork on his drill weekends, and wore a patched MA-1 that he had from his active duty days....but with his current unit's patch Velcroed to his chest. That was in the late 1990's to early 2000's. I think the answer basically comes down to these were worn until someone cared enough to tell the wearer that they were not part of the uniform anymore. A lot of units got fully outfitted with new current gear at the time of the Gulf War, and I suspect that was about when the MA-1 fully went away...though I am sure there were still some outliers.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
So a very late issued jacket then ? Great, i got a deal then.

Flt Engr, do you think the pocket flap addition was because of FOD risk with jacket being used by maintainers ? Makes sense to me.

It's hard to say what USAF were guided by adding or removing flaps.
Flaps appeared on the MA-1 even when it was with an orange liner and was used by flight crews. And on L2b they were initially and then disappeared (and epaulets too). Both jackets have come a long way with different variations.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
Absolutely Uncle.

When did they finally go out of service and was it ground crew ?

What does the label of the one above tell you? Issue or not ? I remember in the late 80's seeing a few like this for sale that came from the base i now work on.

Your jacket has a government issued judging by the label (DLA 100-85-C-0505) , but this jacket issued for ground crew acording spec. MIL-J-8279F. If you take a close look at the scan from the book that I quoted earlier you will see there it was, the jacket continued to serve in USAF but from the name disappeared "flying " and after the appearance of the nomex CWUs for pilots.
According to open sources, after this was 2 another ground specification Mil-J-8279G and Mil-J-8279G-1 and production of this famous jacket was discontinued in 1989 or 1990.
 
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Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
I'm glad that I was able to help you a little. About the patches - ground crews also used them. In addition, with the exception of the liner, these jackets differ little from those in which used by pilots.
And most important is their good quality. Modern commercial "МА-1" jackets including Alpha today are garbage :)
 

917_k

Well-Known Member
Hey all, I'm thinking of purchasing an Excel Garment Mfg Co MA-1, so this thread is helpful, not being especially clued up on how to decipher the jacket label data, is this: 'Order No. QM (CTM) 4621-C-60', referring to a jacket dating from 1960? Thanks
 
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