Enigma1938
Well-Known Member
Hey folks,
We talk about all kind of jackets (mostly ww2 related) here a lot on a daily basis, but what I'm curious about are the same questions which are presumably in the mind of all our wifes also:
Why the heck are you collecting jackets, why do you have so many, why spending so much money on them, where does this interest come from?
Well my personal story is that I was interested in ww2 and history since my early childhood. My father had a lot of books about ww2 and some artifacts from then and visited various museums with us kids over the decades. I also learned a lot about the history and the archeological places in the surrounding area were I've grown up. There are a lot of celtic remains like burial mounds, remains of their fortifications, even of a whole city. The romans left their traces also all over the countryside, remains of ancient streets, forts, temples and agricultural homesteads. Then there are all that ww2 traces and stuff all over....
I was always interested in newspaper articles when they discovered something ancient or unearthed a ww2 fighter for example etc..
The house in which my family lived and that was built in the 20s by my great grandfather was the only one in the village that was damaged in the war by artillery fire . My father kept an iron fence post that was impressive hit by an shrapnel.
Another thing what have me deeply impressed were the regularly airshows on nearby aerodromes. There was a huge show every two years on an airfield called "Hahnweide" in Kirchheim Teck with lots of aviation oldtimers, warbirds, bombers etc.
Over the decades I have collected all sorts of history related stuff with main focuses on roman empire, ww2 uniforms and equipment - especially US and Germany, and same kind of stuff from the Vietnam War.
Vintage watches are another hobby I enjoy, including repairs and maintenance done by myself. I've wasted a lot of money in the past for stuff others could only shake heads at and have grown such a collection that I have serious space problems since years.
I always loved wearing jackets, they're spending protection, warmth, they're useful and depending on the type you look pretty sharp in them.
So one day I bought my first 'historical' flight jacket, an old avirex A2 because I always thought this jacket type looks cool and because of the historical background of course, something that you can actual wear but links you with those long gone special times - you know.
Then I wanted a Repro of a German flight jacket also, ended up with a noble house recreation of such a jacket. But one day I wanted something more accurate, more true to original, so bought my first eastman A2, then a second hand goodwear and so on and so on. Every few months for some reason I've thrown an eye on another type of jacket and so one thing lead to another, it's a bit like a addiction admittedly. Maybe ten jackets ago I decided to not buy a jacket anymore but what can I say... the temptation always catches up with me again. There are various military related jackets now in my closet, leather, cloth, nylon... US ww2, US Korea, US Vietnam, german ww2, airforce, navy, Army, together with various famous civil vintage jackets... I'm aware that I have too many of them and that I cannot give a proper use to all of them but I have a hard time to part with them also - there's the collector in me to blame.
So that's a shortcut of my motives in collecting / wearing vintage jackets and stuff, would love to hear more stories behind your hobby and the big WHY!
We talk about all kind of jackets (mostly ww2 related) here a lot on a daily basis, but what I'm curious about are the same questions which are presumably in the mind of all our wifes also:
Why the heck are you collecting jackets, why do you have so many, why spending so much money on them, where does this interest come from?
Well my personal story is that I was interested in ww2 and history since my early childhood. My father had a lot of books about ww2 and some artifacts from then and visited various museums with us kids over the decades. I also learned a lot about the history and the archeological places in the surrounding area were I've grown up. There are a lot of celtic remains like burial mounds, remains of their fortifications, even of a whole city. The romans left their traces also all over the countryside, remains of ancient streets, forts, temples and agricultural homesteads. Then there are all that ww2 traces and stuff all over....
I was always interested in newspaper articles when they discovered something ancient or unearthed a ww2 fighter for example etc..
The house in which my family lived and that was built in the 20s by my great grandfather was the only one in the village that was damaged in the war by artillery fire . My father kept an iron fence post that was impressive hit by an shrapnel.
Another thing what have me deeply impressed were the regularly airshows on nearby aerodromes. There was a huge show every two years on an airfield called "Hahnweide" in Kirchheim Teck with lots of aviation oldtimers, warbirds, bombers etc.
Over the decades I have collected all sorts of history related stuff with main focuses on roman empire, ww2 uniforms and equipment - especially US and Germany, and same kind of stuff from the Vietnam War.
Vintage watches are another hobby I enjoy, including repairs and maintenance done by myself. I've wasted a lot of money in the past for stuff others could only shake heads at and have grown such a collection that I have serious space problems since years.
I always loved wearing jackets, they're spending protection, warmth, they're useful and depending on the type you look pretty sharp in them.
So one day I bought my first 'historical' flight jacket, an old avirex A2 because I always thought this jacket type looks cool and because of the historical background of course, something that you can actual wear but links you with those long gone special times - you know.
Then I wanted a Repro of a German flight jacket also, ended up with a noble house recreation of such a jacket. But one day I wanted something more accurate, more true to original, so bought my first eastman A2, then a second hand goodwear and so on and so on. Every few months for some reason I've thrown an eye on another type of jacket and so one thing lead to another, it's a bit like a addiction admittedly. Maybe ten jackets ago I decided to not buy a jacket anymore but what can I say... the temptation always catches up with me again. There are various military related jackets now in my closet, leather, cloth, nylon... US ww2, US Korea, US Vietnam, german ww2, airforce, navy, Army, together with various famous civil vintage jackets... I'm aware that I have too many of them and that I cannot give a proper use to all of them but I have a hard time to part with them also - there's the collector in me to blame.
So that's a shortcut of my motives in collecting / wearing vintage jackets and stuff, would love to hear more stories behind your hobby and the big WHY!
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