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Soviet air force vintage leather jacket from 1975

Silver Surfer

Well-Known Member
outstanding write up, dimity. I have always been fond of these jackets, and thought that they looked smart, and very practical. over theirs I have looked around for a pre '60s version, only to find that [as you pointed out] that the prices for clean, quality, examples have been a bit up there.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
outstanding write up, dimity. I have always been fond of these jackets, and thought that they looked smart, and very practical. over theirs I have looked around for a pre '60s version, only to find that [as you pointed out] that the prices for clean, quality, examples have been a bit up there.

Thanks Vic. Yes, this jackets from 60s or pre 60s are also expensive cause they are associated in the mass consciousness with Gagarin and other first cosmonauts. They are really hard to find in good condition for reasonable price. As usually say in US - they are rare as hen's teeth :)
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Hi Dmitry:)
I have a few questions about sizing on these jackets.
First: Do the sizes run small or large in these jackets ?
Second : What Russian size jacket would be equivalent to a US size 46 or 48 in this jacket.
Lastly : I’ve been looking at these jackets for a while and here in the US there are a lot of repros so what markings should I look for on an original Russian Air Force issued jacket.

Thanks in advance for any information on this that you can provide .:)
Cheers
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
Hi Dmitry:)
I have a few questions about sizing on these jackets.
First: Do the sizes run small or large in these jackets ?
Second : What Russian size jacket would be equivalent to a US size 46 or 48 in this jacket.
Lastly : I’ve been looking at these jackets for a while and here in the US there are a lot of repros so what markings should I look for on an original Russian Air Force issued jacket.

Thanks in advance for any information on this that you can provide .:)
Cheers

Hi Burt. Yes, they come in large sizes.
The Soviet/Russian size system works like this. Size in numbers it is half the circumference of the chest in centimeters.
My jacket is size 48. 48x2 = 96 cm or 96 / 2.54 it's about 38 inches. This means that even with fastened warm liner this jacket will suit to a pilot with a chest size of 38 inches (I have 39 chest and this jacket without liner fits OK, with liner it would be too tight for me).
US size 46 (if it's chest circumference) corresponds to 58 size of these jackets (46x2.54/2=58)
Also one important moment. These jackets, like all Soviet / Russian gear, also have several lengths (“heights”). For the USSR Air Force, they were typical from 1 to 5, but usually in the range from 2 to 4 due to cockpit height restrictions. My jacket is marked 48/3, which means 48 size and 3 height (up to 176 cm - although I have 181 cm = 5'11" it fits me perfectly).
I think you need 4 or 5 "height".
So if you want to use it without liner you may try 54/4 or 54/5 and with liner you maybe need 56/4 or 56/5.
But as usual, you need to ask from seller measurements of particular jacket to avoid surprises.
Hope this helps.
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Dmitry

Thank you for that......That's great information.....
I appreciate your help my friend.
Now is there a way to tell a military issued jacket from the repros that seems to be found here in the US?
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
I'm glad I could be useful to you.
The military jacket was made only at one factory Klara Zetkin in Moscow. I wrote about it above and it must be indicated on the stamp inside. Everything else is repro or copy.
Also usual all original jackets have high-quality soviet zippers as on my jacket. These are very dependable zippers comparable in quality to best of Talon's or Scovill's ones. Repro use another, lower quality zips.
You can always write to me if you finde some kind of jacket and I'll be happy to help you with advice.
 

kirova

Well-Known Member
Thx for the review flightengineer, I recall that back in the early 1990s, after the break up of the USSR, the market was flooded with a lot of Soviet military uniforms, but I have never came across anything like this jacket before, so definitely very interesting.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
There are lots of these jackets in a variety of sizes on eBay most are being sold from Ukraine. For example

These are the worn-out late versions of the 1990s (a two-part back) instead of onepiece back, they are cheaper, but worse quality.

After the mid-80s, these jackets gradually only worsened, as I wrote above.

And yes, the seller on your link also mentions Gagarin, but Gagarin never wore such a jacket :)
Although the price is of course very low, I agree.
 
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robrinay

Well-Known Member
These are the worn-out late versions of the 1990s (a two-part back) instead of onepiece back, they are cheaper, but worse quality.

Thank you for the information- every day is a school day! I must have realized there was something wrong with them as I didn’t like these as much as the ones in your posts.
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member

Nick H.

New Member
I want to buy one of these. I'm trying to lose 5 kg, so I have promised myself one on ebay as a reward. I told the seller, he probably thinks I'm an idiot.
 

GAPPON

New Member
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