Albert Turner B-15C with reddish mouton...not the usual blue

[Dany McDonald]

Hi Nylon heads,

This is new to me and very interesting. I may be posting old news but what the heck.

I know that there are rare specimens of Albert Turner B-15C with different knits color like beige or tan.
This one has a reddish mouton collar instead of the usual very dark blue/black. It looks original to me. Would make a nice repros feature.
The collar latch has the usual mouton color!

What do you think?

Dany

 

[Smithy]

I had an Albert Turner B-15C during my infamous "B-15C Incident" back in 2013 Dany but it was nothing like that. Is there evidence of the fur having been replaced?

That's seriously unusual. Parts of the jacket show the usual "purpleling" from UV but the colour of the collar is seriously out there compared to what you expect for a B-15C.

 

[Dany McDonald]

I should have posted the Ebay link in my post...sorry.

It looks original to me and from the details of the collar, I cant see any repair artefacts like inconsistent sewing of misalignments.

look here maybe you'll find traces of repair.

Blue USAF Korean War Era Original B-15C Flight Jacket Size 42 Albert Turner & Co | eBay

Iconic Korean War issued USAF B-15C size 42, manufactured by Albert Turner & Co. Jacket material slightly shiny from wear, area where fur collar joins jacket body at the neck needs attention. Good white outlined stencils present. Shipping 25.00

www.ebay.com

What happened to your B-15's?

Dany

 

[bseal]

Looking forward to an imminent version from our eminent Headwind.

 

[Smithy]

What happened to your B-15's?

Dany

Very quickly gotten rid of/sold. Not my finest hour. I slept on the sofa for more than two months because of that.

 

[Pilot]

Nothing wrong with the collar.
It just faded lost its blue dye and came back to all natural. The nylon part is the same.. it can turn purple.
I sold sn N-2A here a few years back.. precisely the same color for the real mouton inside the hood as well as some nylon shoulder parts… precisely that.
Nice rare large B-15C and according to pics fully legit.

 

[Smithy]

Nothing wrong with the collar.
It just faded lost its blue dye and came back to all natural. The nylon part is the same.. it can turn purple.
I sold sn N-2A here a few years back.. precisely the same color for the real mouton inside the hood as well as some nylon shoulder parts… precisely that.
Nice rare large B-15C and according to pics fully legit.

What's weird though Brice, is that if it had experienced fading due to UV exposure you'd expect it to have excessive "purpleling" on the shoulders. What is really strange is that the back edge of the collar which isn't visible when the collar is down has the same universal "fading" as the rest of the front side of the collar whilst tellingly the mouton on the throat fastener shows virtually no sign of fading even though its top edge is only 1cm or so from the "faded" back edge of the collar mouton. My Albert Turner was in terrible condition and had experienced quite a degree of UV weathering but the mouton had not faded like that.

The uniformity of the "fading" on that jacket's collar is quite unusual and especially in contrast to the throat fastener.

 

[Pilot]

What's weird though Brice, is that if it had experienced fading due to UV exposure you'd expect it to have excessive "purpleling" on the shoulders. What is really strange is that the back edge of the collar which isn't visible when the collar is down has the same universal "fading" as the rest of the front side of the collar whilst tellingly the mouton on the throat fastener shows virtually no sign of fading even though its top edge is only 1cm or so from the "faded" back edge of the collar mouton. My Albert Turner was in terrible condition and had experienced quite a degree of UV weathering but the mouton had not faded like that.

The uniformity of the "fading" on that jacket's collar is quite unusual and especially in contrast to the throat fastener.

Hi Tim
agree with you, but as the photos show.. no double stitching lines ( collar repair or replacement).
The nylon batches used can be quite different in quality.
Maybe a washing/cleaning/ drying did go wrong?
One must have it in hands to confirm, but to me based on experience and photos all legit.

Edit… see the oxy mask tab fading …a total mystery.. but IMHO legit.

 

[Rutger]

Indeed the oxy mask tab, that looks weird. As if the jacket has been stored with something stuck on the tab exactly aligned yet not covering it along the total width. Or someone coloured it partially?

 

[Dany McDonald]

Brice,

One must have it in hands to confirm, but to me based on experience and photos all legit

I also think its legit and original. If its fading then its most probably due to a low resistance color fastness of the material used for the collar only as the latch should be showing some form of fading.

The uniformity of the "fading" on that jacket's collar is quite unusual and especially in contrast to the throat fastener.

It looks like the batches of material used were inconsistent but not necessarily in quality. Fading in the collar was probably not that important as opposed to durability or something in that vein.

Beside the fading I was also interested in the fact that Albert Turner B-15C have some legit jackets with non-blue knits, a feature outside of the regulation.

Thanks for the input guys it fun and appreciated!

Dany

 

[Dany McDonald]

Oh and forgot to mentioned that it would make a nice repros a la Mccoy!

D