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Measuring for the A-2 / G1 jacket fit

bfrench

Administrator
Hi, Folks,

I was visiting the Fedora Lounge and helping a new comer getting some measurements for a properly fitting A-2 - his first purchase.

Now realizing that there really is no such thing as a perfect fit, I thought I'd go along the lines of what today's people are used to today in the way a jacket fits with jeans.

First of all, trouser rise or where the waist line fits is much lower today than when it was when the A-2 / M-422a jackets were designed in the 1940s - so let's be realistic and make this jacket adapt to the jeans / trousers we wear now.

A good place to start is to find a jacket that fits well with the clothes you wear and apply the following measurements to it.

Armpit to armpit - if you have a size 44" chest a skin tight fit would give an armpit to armpit measurement of 22" - that is, the chest size halved.

So you want a little room to wear a t-shirt, dress shirt and maybe a sweater. The minimum extra slack would be 2" making your armpit to armpit ( 22" +2") yielding a 24" armpit to armpit measurement. Of course this is going to be a very tight jacket with the T-shirt, dress shirt and sweater underneath.

A more reasonable approach would be to add 4" to your basic armpit measurement to make it 26" armpit to armpit. This would be a reasonable fit.

The largest you would want to go would be 5" giving a 27" armpit to armpit - I would recommend this for sizes 46 and above only.

More to follow tomorrow.
 

deeb7

Gone, but not forgotten.
bfrench said:
... A more reasonable approach would be to add 4" to your basic armpit measurement to make it 26" armpit to armpit. This would be a reasonable fit.

That's 4" doubled, Bill ... that would be huge.

Stick with the first example, 4" (total) up from the actual chest size, and forget about the sweater.

With repros like Aero, BR, or Eastman, buying your actual chest size, about 4" up is what you would get. For RMNZ go up one size.
 

Jaydee

New Member
I can't comment on the A-2, but I have tried on many new and old G-1 Jackets and have found that the size is correct for me. I wear a size 40 flight suit, a 40 sport coat, and a 40 G-1 fits me the best. By fit I mean the shoulders drop down where there supposed to, and there is not much extra room in the pits, chest and arms. I can comfortably wear a tee shirt and flight suit under the jacket, and I can wear the jacket with only a tee shirt and still have a good fit. I have noticed some slight variance between different manufacturers of the G-1, with a 40 being just a bit bigger in the chest and maybe and inch or so longer in the arms, but this has been with only a few jackets. All the Repros I have tried have been at least a whole size bigger than marked. Let's face it, these jackets ( the real ones) were designed for a phisically fit man to sit down and fly comfortably in. So it should be no surprise that you have to pull them down off of your pants every time you stand up, or that it doesn't fit over your beer gut properly. Consequently, when I wear my jackets with a flight suit the riding up problem does not occur, because there is nothing for the waist band to get caught on. I would say if you want a true military fit, go with your size, otherwise maybe you should go with a "Stylish" Repro, Metro Man! :lol:
G-1front02-1.jpg
 

kevlarg

New Member
A couple of months ago I bought my first G-1 jacket. I wear a modern day 38 and I am trim and fit. I was surprised at how form fitting the jacket was (it was a 1968 Brill Brothers).

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