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a-2 pocket placement. lets make some definitive answers.

A

Anonymous

Guest
Tim P said:
no no no no no.
two pages and not one comparison measurement.
I am genuinely interested in the pocket spacing issue and not, I have to say, in who knows more than who (in their opinion) I was hoping just for a civil compilation of stats to improve the knowledge base for all. can we strive for that?
Please?

the documentary is unkown to me as I caught it a few minutes in. It was on UK sky 531 military history channel.
Tim- I have only one original at this point for comparison- a Roughwear 18091 size 46. The pockets are around 3 1/4" from the center of the windflap. On my Eastman 1401ps (I had four of them) the pockets were 4 to 4 1/2" from the center of the windflap on a 44. Wrong IMO. Gave the wearer a pot bellied appaerance. My LW Dubow size 46 had pockets 5 1/2"! yes that's 5 1/2" from the center of windflap! Dubows are actually noted for a small distance between pockets. There's a start for you.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
rich said:
What is that in your avatar Rotte? I'll guess Russia 1941 or Vietnam 1965? Sorry, eyes ain't wot they woz.
BTW, I'm not attacking you over it!
Russia 1941...
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
I think we can all benefit from the Good Wear website over this discussion (thanks John) and his links to the Doolittle Raiders portraits. I jumped over there just to peruse them once again and am just amazed at how many different configurations of jackets and their components can be seen.

http://www.goodwearleather.com/pages/links.html

Group 16, the fella on the far right, hiding behind the Captain, makes me sort of sorry I gave my old Avirex to my nephew a few years back. But the Captain's jacket himself shows that pocket spread I'd seen more often at the time I ws growing tired of the Avirex.

Group 10, OTOH the pocket config on the forward flyer to the left is so out of balance as to really make you shake your head. The two front flyers also sporting that lower, "pot bellied," sort of baggy look that my ELC Star tends toward.

Lot of support for any and all A-2 variety of differences. Did someone say this was a "uniform" item?

Chandler
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Chandler said:
I think we can all benefit from the Good Wear website over this discussion (thanks John) and his links to the Doolittle Raiders portraits. I jumped over there just to peruse them once again and am just amazed at how many different configurations of jackets and their components can be seen.

http://www.goodwearleather.com/pages/links.html

Group 16, the fella on the far right, hiding behind the Captain, makes me sort of sorry I gave my old Avirex to my nephew a few years back. But the Captain's jacket himself shows that pocket spread I'd seen more often at the time I ws growing tired of the Avirex.

Group 10, OTOH the pocket config on the forward flyer to the left is so out of balance as to really make you shake your head. The two front flyers also sporting that lower, "pot bellied," sort of baggy look that my ELC Star tends toward.

Lot of support for any and all A-2 variety of differences. Did someone say this was a "uniform" item?

Chandler
Good to see you're studying period photos... that being said there's still not a lot of support for details of various contracts being off wily-nilly. The wide pocket spread (16) is still probably under 3 1/2" and the very close Avirex looking spread is on I would guess a Dubow which in very small sizes has pockets close to the windflap. Many of the jackets in these photos are Aero 16160s mixed in with Dubows, Roughwears and possibly a Werber or two (I know I'm guessing). The 16160 and Aeros in general often seem to have offset pockets. I'm still not seeing any justification for 4" pocket spread using the pocket width as a guide.
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
rotenhahn said:
Good to see you're studying period photos...

LOL!! I'll ship my library to your house some time. Books are more an addiction than anything else in my life other than SWMBO.

and possibly a Werber or two

There are one or two with, what look to be, very small pockets, but there's no way you can tell between 3.5 or 4 inches from a photo. Besides, it's more in the "look" than anything -- just *look* at all the different examples.

Chandler
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Chandler:
but there's no way you can tell between 3.5 or 4 inches from a photo. Besides, it's more in the "look" than anything -- just *look* at all the different examples.
I agree it's about "the look"- that's what I'm getting at! The jackets in the Doolittle crew photos are probably mostly small- 38s, 40s, and a 42 or two. The jacket with the "pocket spread" you refer to in photo 16 is a Roughwear I'm 99% sure and I know Roughwears have pockets around 3" from the windflap seam- 3 1/2-3/4" from center of windflap. I know there would be slight variance but I really don't think a small Roughwear's going to have pockets much further apart than that. The problem for us today is that there's a tendency to make the pockets too far apart as the size gets larger- IMO destroying "the look" and actually creating "the repro look". The jackets in photo 16 with the very close in pockets are collar-stand Dubows I'm pretty sure. What I'm getting at is that where you see a hodge-podge is often because of the different characteristics of different contracts- in photo 16 there's at least three (Roughwear, Dubow, Aero).
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Chandler... what is it with the Avatars? You feeling important or academic?
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
Tranquility Base said:
You feeling important or academic?

Well, self-importance doesn't need to be a bad thing (Foghorn is important?) -- right up there with self confidence, and I do have a college degree -- so I guess I can be as acedemic as I please (barring any resemblence to the perceived view of the Fedora Lounge), but unless you've been following closely; ask no questions till you know more. If you have been following closely, you might get a clue. One small step for man, and all that.

Chandler

(changing avatars ain't rocket science -- sheesh)
(BTW -- anyone who IDs the fine, upstanding gentleman at left wins my admiration, a drop of fine whiskey, and a kewpie doll)
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
rotenhahn said:
The jackets in the Doolittle crew photos are probably mostly small- 38s, 40s, and a 42 or two.

Crews 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, & 16 -- there are flyers there who have to be bigger than 42s.

What I'm getting at is that where you see a hodge-podge is often because of the different characteristics of different contracts

And how many of those crew do you suppose knew what "contract" he or any of the other guys had? I guess my point being, we're all too hung up on that devil detail, when we should be seeing the bigger picture.

Chandler
 

Vcruiser

Well-Known Member
Chandler said:
Tranquility Base said:
You feeling important or academic?

Well, self-importance doesn't need to be a bad thing -- right up there with self confidence, and I do have a college degree -- so I guess I can be as acedemic as I please (barring any resemblence to the perceived view of the Fedora Lounge), but unless you've been following closely; ask no questions till you know more. If you have been following closely, you might get a clue. One small step for man, and all that.

Chandler

(changing avatars ain't rocket science -- sheesh)

Well..I guess we could use another snob....but really...I may not have been following that closely. :eek:
Hey...I keed.... :D
VB
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Chandler said:
rotenhahn said:
The jackets in the Doolittle crew photos are probably mostly small- 38s, 40s, and a 42 or two.

Crews 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, & 16 -- there are flyers there who have to be bigger than 42s.

What I'm getting at is that where you see a hodge-podge is often because of the different characteristics of different contracts

And how many of those crew do you suppose knew what "contract" he or any of the other guys had? I guess my point being, we're all too hung up on that devil detail, when we should be seeing the bigger picture.

Chandler
First- The guy in 3 may be a 44 but he's got a 40 jacket on! :D The jackets in these photos do not really justify any of the far apart pockets on current repros- I studied these photos obsessively for a month when I got my GW 16160.
Second- We go through this "WW2 air crews wouldn't care what contract they had" scenario every couple of months. I personally want a WW2 A-2 jacket that I can wear- not some "bigger picture" inaccurate crap. The devil IS in the details- as the details get closer the jackets start to look the part. If not an accurate copy- what is the "big picture"? 20 feet away? Get a US Authentic and be happy! I'll keep buying jackets (I can get 'em now!) that look like WW2 A-2s new in the box...
 

Chandler

Well-Known Member
rotenhahn said:
Chandler said:
First- The guy in 3 may be a 44 but he's got a 40 jacket on!

I happen to be reading The First Heroes by Craig Nelson, all about the Doolittle Raid, that's Shorty Manch:

“The officers bunked in one giant room, and what I remember to this day about that is Shorty Manch and his record player,” said navigator Frank Kappeler. “Shorty would be co-pilot for crew number three. His real name was Jacob, and he was six feet, seven inches tall. Shorty had a record player and a collection, but it seemed like he owned only one record, “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” He played “Deep in the Heart of Texas” upon getting up in the morning and three or four times prior to turning the lights out at night.”

At 6'7", I imagine he's probably wearing the jacket that best fit his shoulder breadth, but probably couldn't find one with sleeves that matched.

Also interesting knowing the height of one flyer to compare with the others, there are definitely some bigger guys in that group.

Chandler
 

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
Tim, Here are the measurements in inches from eight originals in my collection:
Make .. size .....Left pocket spacing from windflap ... Right picket spacing from leather(not zip)
Star 42............... ...... 5 ............... .. 4
Aero 21996 44 ............ 4,3/4 ............ 3,1/4
Aero 21996 44 ............ 4,1/2 ............. 3
Sheeplined 42 ............. 4,3/4 ............. 3,1/2
RW 1401p 42 .............. 4 .................. 3, 1/2
RW 23380 42 ............. 4, 1/2............. 3, 1/2
Poughkeepsie 44 .......... 5 .......... .. ..... 4, 3/4
Perry 44 ............. ... .. 4, 1/2 ............. 3,1/4

My new Eastman
.50 Cal by way
of comparison 42 ............. 4, 1/2 ................. 3, 1/4 (please note how similar the spacing is to the original Aeros above!)

This list is only a very small sample but it does suggest variations both between makers and from the same maker.
 

Tim P

Well-Known Member
exactly what I was after. thank you for taking the time. So 1/2 inch (maximum) out, especially on my 48 dubow is hardly a deal breaker at that is it? all roughly a 42 and all between 4 and 5 inch spacing.
These measurements are on originals that are unaltered. I want to to get a straw poll from the 3 inch brigade now (no innuendo intended) to balance things out because opinions are one thing and they can be polarised but facts are facts.

again thank you.

Tim
 
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