Korean era jacket ?

[deeb7]

On page 316 of Suit up there is a postwar Navy AL-1 heavy flight suit that ticks all the boxes.

Weird Suit Up font ... it's actually page 346.

 

[watchmanjimg]

Jim. It still doesn't look like nylon but I'll defer to your superior experience however I think I've found the source of the vintage trends jacket. On page 316 of Suit up there is a postwar Navy AL-1 heavy flight suit that ticks all the boxes. Mouton collar, chest pockets, black and gold label and what looks like an alpaca liner.

Great research, Peter. Now that we know the origin of the VintageTrends piece I did some looking around, and while in some pics the AL-1 suit appears to have the gloss of nylon there are others where I'm not so sure. I'd like to think the folks at VintageTrends would know the difference between nylon and cotton, but then again where did they get the 1944 date from? :?

In any event you've at least solved one mystery for us.

 

[deeb7]

If it's of any interest, the Full Gear listing for the AL-1 contracts is headed up as follows ...

• 55S37 suits (WN-1 Flight Suit or AL-1 Coverall)

The two WN-1 Flight Suit contracts are dated as FY 1947, the following AL-1 Coverall contracts from 1949-1952.

 

[Peter Graham]

I've just noticed that vintage trends actually have an AL-1 flight suit on their site. You can pick up the whole suit for $175 as opposed to half of it for $375 !

http://www.vintagetrends.com/military/i ... ight+Suits

 

[watchmanjimg]

And interestingly they're calling the suit nylon as well. I've never seen one in person so it's tough to say, but there was an AL-1 cold weather flying jacket that was obviously not made of nylon:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... 788784214+