Spitfireace
Well-Known Member
Recently bought this N-1 on eBay. Shell was ripped, in poor condition. All else surprisingly good shape. Interior wool clean and good condition, collar not worn through like most are. Label intact and good condition. Cuffs look like new. Talon zip is a replacement from around eighties, these are close to forties appearance if you don't know the difference (rectangular, or Hershey Bar). Oddly the shell is poor. Forearms are shredded, and a couple of vertical tears in the front. Most of these WW2 cloth jackets are in variable not great condition. Even the best I don't think you would wear on a regular basis. So I decided this was a good restoration project. I've restored the sleeves by getting some cotton twill in olive drab, close to the original shade, but the original fabric has faded over 78 years so it doesn't match. So I've glued this in behind the original fabric to repair it. This is probably the only way to do this, as sewing would look bad, and also would be a heck of a lot of work. I'm calling it a field repair. I'm pretty close to finishing the patching. Now I just need to sew a couple of button holes by hand. As I say, it is wearable now, but I don't think anyone would wear even the best example as a daily wearer. I was looking at the best example on Etsy, and the guy want's $1730 for it, and it has some flaws too. The label on mine is better, and so is the collar. I only paid $200 for this. Not sure why I did it, actually, just that now I have an original example of a WW2 N-1. The contract is Birk-Ray out of NY awarded by the US Navy in February 1945.