Pappy Boyington

[marco77]

Hello Guys ,

I am looking for pics of G. Boyington with his flight jacket ..
Nothing with google ...
If someone can help !!
Thanks

el Marcooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chandler]

Not sure I've ever seen him in a FJ, even when I got to talk with him back in the early '80s.

Remember, the Black Sheep were in the Pacific and it was pretty warm, doubt they wore them too often.

And I'm racking my brain to see if I can remember seeing him in one as an AVG member, but nothing is coming to mind.

Chandler

 

[marco77]

I 've got a book on AVG with many pics of pilots wearing flight jacket but nothing with Boyington..

You're very lucky to meet him , what kind of person was he ?

 

[Chris217]

This was taken after Boyington was released as a POW in September 1945. Looks like he's wearing a M-422a.

 

[zoomer]

Might be more likely to find Pappy in a '422 while with the AVG than during his Marine service. Leather isn't of much use in the Solomons.

 

[Chandler]

what kind of person was he ?

At the time, he was very quiet. He was gracious enough to take a picture with me and sign my very beat up copy of Baa Baa Black Sheep. I got the feeling that he was really unimpressed with all the attention. Gracious, but unimpressed.

Chris -- nice shot, never seen that one. I have doubts that he had the jacket through his time as a POW, I imagine it was issued to him on his liberation. Might even make it an ANJ. Might even belong to one of the other Marines in the image?

Chandler

 

[fleet16b]

I seem to recall seeing a picture of him from his AVG days wearing an early A2.
Back in /82 I saw him signing books at the Conferderate Air Force Airshow in Harlingen Tx
You could tell he could care less about the book signing.
Every time an aircraft flew by, he was leaning forward over the table and trying to look out of the hanger to see what was flying by.
Even in his 70's he was still an airplane nut.
Old crinkled leather skinned face but still looked as tough as nails.

 

[Chandler]

I seem to recall seeing a picture of him from his AVG days wearing an early A2.

Like to see it. All the Tigers books I've seen him in just shows a flight suit. As a Marine, I'd wonder where he got an A-2.

Back in /82 I saw him signing books at the Conferderate Air Force Airshow in Harlingen Tx

That's about the time I saw him in S. Wisconsin. He didn't seem as excited about the planes as I was. Was situated in the back of a van with the side door open and actually looked kinda' tired. Would'a been June, I imagine, but not sure. Nice, sunny, warm day, but he was just seemed a little out of sorts.

Here's a great article with a classic image: http://www.warbirdforum.com/gregboy.htm

Chandler

 

[marco77]

a very interesting website in french with many pics of boyington with his flight jacket

http://boyington.blogspace.fr/r28179/PAPPY-BOYINGTON/1/

click on the different page to see that !!!

I think it's definitively a m-422....

What do you think about boys ?

el marco !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks for the link. There are some very interesting pictures of Pappy there. His jacket is certainly a naval goatskin flight jacket, but it appears to have a thin collar strap which is not the normal strap for an M422a. I'm wondering whether its a private purchase jacket.

 

[Chandler]

but it appears to have a thin collar strap which is not the normal strap for an M422a.

On what page did you find a detailed image of the jacket with the collar strap?

I paged through to about page 11 and didn't see many detailed pics.

Chandler

 

[Roughwear]

but it appears to have a thin collar strap which is not the normal strap for an M422a.

On what page did you find a detailed image of the jacket with the collar strap?

I paged through to about page 11 and didn't see many detailed pics.

Chandler

Page 4.

 

[Chandler]

Page 4.

Don't see the collar strap.

Or are you just talking about the width of the collar itself, not the throat latch?

Chandler

 

[Roughwear]

Page 4.

Don't see the collar strap.

Or are you just talking about the width of the collar itself, not the throat latch?

Chandler

It may just be a fold on his left upper chest, but it does look like an elongated coller strap.

 

[Chandler]

If you mouse-click on the picture it pops-up to a separate window and a pretty decent resolution image. You can see those folds pretty well.

And actually, in that same resolution, it looks like a typical Navy jacket of the time -- whether it's an M422A or an ANJ-6552 is difficult to determine, but this was late 1945.

Chandler

 

[marco77]

I read Pappy's bio and when he comeback in U.S quicly after China , he says when he watched a football match , he doesn't wear his usmc uniform and only wear a flight jacket with "flying tigers" patch . But no precision on the flight jacket
Should I presume that it was an A-2 or a M-422 .... really have a big big doubt .....

 

[dav3469]

I recommend "The Black Sheep" by Bruce Gamble as a good read for anyone wanting to get a good idea of Greg "Pappy"Boyington beyond the TV show myth.

While much of the information accepted about Boyington and the Black Sheep is myth (The squadron of screwballs is the biggest I think); They were a strong unit, and Boyington was a great pilot-beyond the myths (some of which he helped to endure).

The same author also wrote "Black Sheep One", which is a more in depth look at Boyington himself.

 

[Maverickson]

As seen http://www.tributes.com/show/Norman-Anderson-86716942 in the spirit of this Pappy Boyington's thread, Pappy's meal ticket to the Flying Tigers has passed.

 

[rb3586]

All the years I saw Mr. Boyington at the Reno Air Races, he either wore khakis or a blue leisure shirt/khaki combo. He usually was next to "The Jap who shot him down", as we refered to it, in the day. It was strained at times, between the two. I witnessed a heated argument one time about the "facts" between the two. This was just after the TV series took off. It probably was more about sales than reality, I would believe in retrospect.

He was always crusty, and brooked no nonsense about wearing wings, jackets and such from "fans". I imagine like so many personas, the same question or variation thereoff, got rather old very quickly. I did get a copy of Baa, Baa, signed by him. I think it was the year before he died. He was a harcore drinker, even up to the end and it showed.

Reno was always fun. I recall seeing Gordon Cooper with Deke Slayton together on the ramp, the year before Mr. Slayton passed. Alot of Nevada memories.