A heart warming tale

[Peter Graham]

Fantastic story. Glad you’ve been reunited with your B-3 Mike. It looks great on you, but those shoes !! My old comrade Rich is a top bloke. Rich, if you’re still lurking on here, shoot me a PM. I’d love to hear from you.

 

[Dover]

Great story, great jacket. Hold on to that one, it's a beauty.

 

[A2 B3au]

Well Boys, in these troubled times, a tale to warm the cockles of your heart and restore your faith in the inherent goodness and decency of the human species.
Regular visitors to these pages will no doubt be only too familiar with me bemoaning ad nauseam that I wish I'd never sold my Aero B-3. Basically I bought it new, wore it for several years, then sold it on to finance the purchase of a bass guitar (which I still own). Soon I came to miss it, and I came to realise that selling it may have been a mistake. Financial troubles prevented me getting another. Thus followed a number of years of me repeatedly expressing my regret all over this hallowed forum, especially when somebody (usually John Lever) was selling one which I couldn't afford!
Now it came to pass that the chap who bought it from me, Rich, a former very active and well-respected member, whose interest in flight jackets had waned, and who no longer visited the forum on a regular basis, happened to drop in on one of the all-too-numerous occasions when I was again lamenting the loss of my B-3. Not being a member any more, he couldn't PM me, so thankfully he remembered the name of my band (always said that was a good name!) and contacted me via our Facebook page. Basically he told me he'd hardly worn it, and would I be interested in buying it back?
Would I be interested?? O goodness me yes. The woodland toilet habits of bears sprang to mind. However, my financial troubles now being somewhat eased, I had just booked our first holiday in five years, and it would not have been a good time to announce to the wife that I was buying a jacket! Thankfully Rich was quite happy to wait until I was in a position to proceed, his principal interest being reuniting me with my jacket.
So to cut a long story short, my friends, I've got it back! I cannot tell you how great it felt to open that box and take out my old friend. Exactly as I remember it, and to my great delight it still fits! So now I am looking forward to the cold nights, November 5th, Xmas etc. when once again I have a sheepskin jacket to wear. I also have a pair of A-10 gloves to go with it, and my B-2 cap to complete the ensemble!
It has a few suede-y patches (they were there when I sold it) which I think I'll give a coat of shoe polish, and I'm intrigued by Ken's reference to Pledge, which I may try also.
So without wishing to embarrass the poor chap (I believe he's rejoined and plans to stop by occasionally, and I hope he does-Peter I was supposed to pass on Rich's regards), my eternal gratitude goes out to Rich, who could have made a lot more money from selling the jacket elsewhere, but preferred to see it go back to its original owner. There are still good men out there. Thanks again mate.
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Of course, you need some fine footwear to go with the outfit!
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Looks smart mate I love your maroon waisted a10s too and the hat really suits you sir , I can see why you were gutted to get rid of it but what a fairytale ending

 

[MikeyB-17]

Thanks Lads, it’s been getting as much wear as has been possible with the lousy wet weather we’ve had down this way of late. Art, the A-10 knits aren’t really maroon, I think it’s just a trick of the flash-AFAIK they’re the standard ELC A-10 knit colour. It’s not been cold enough for gloves yet. The B-2 I’ve had for years, bought new from ELC when you could get one for a sensible price! It gets worn every year and it’s nice to reunite it with the B-3. I discovered some fantastic stuff in a local shoe repairers for the suede-y patches on the B-3, Tarrago shoe cream, their dark brown is a bang on match for the seal brown of the jacket and has done wonders for it.

 

[A2 B3au]

Thanks Lads, it’s been getting as much wear as has been possible with the lousy wet weather we’ve had down this way of late. Art, the A-10 knits aren’t really maroon, I think it’s just a trick of the flash-AFAIK they’re the standard ELC A-10 knit colour. It’s not been cold enough for gloves yet. The B-2 I’ve had for years, bought new from ELC when you could get one for a sensible price! It gets worn every year and it’s nice to reunite it with the B-3. I discovered some fantastic stuff in a local shoe repairers for the suede-y patches on the B-3, Tarrago shoe cream, their dark brown is a bang on match for the seal brown of the jacket and has done wonders for it.

Show me what it looks like I think I need some nice one

 

[MikeyB-17]

This is the stuff, Amazon sell it but it’s available from plenty of online sellers. The Dark Brown is the one I use, which is a spot-on match for my seal brown Aero. You put it on with a cloth, let it dry for 15 minutes then polish it. It’s completely transformed the areas where the surface has been rubbed, like the inside of the cuffs. I went looking for normal shoe polish, but this seemed better, and I think it is.

 

[A2 B3au]

This is the stuff, Amazon sell it but it’s available from plenty of online sellers. The Dark Brown is the one I use, which is a spot-on match for my seal brown Aero. You put it on with a cloth, let it dry for 15 minutes then polish it. It’s completely transformed the areas where the surface has been rubbed, like the inside of the cuffs. I went looking for normal shoe polish, but this seemed better, and I think it is.
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Thanks hopefully this does the trick , I’ve got a few flakey areas and I was thinking of a paint but hopefully this helps as it’s not major on mine ....nice one Art

 

[A2 B3au]

Eastmans seal brown on my dual tone B3 may be a touch lighter but that actually seems to match yours looking at the stuff in the pot ...nice one Art

 

[MikeyB-17]

Don’t go by the pic, that’s black, I couldn’t find a pic of the dark brown. I asked for the darkest brown polish they had that wasn’t black, that’s what he gave me. It matches my Aero perfectly, if you put it on an undamaged area you can’t see it. Hope it works for you.

 

[A2 B3au]

Ok that explains that then ya Art