What inspired you to purchase your first jacket?

[coalman]

Hi everybody,
First off sorry if this subject has been covered before elsewhere, I am asking you all what inspired you to purchase your very first flight jacket, was it a film, your favourite actor wearing it, a TV programme or simply your interest in the period it was worn by Aircrew/ground crew.
I purchased my first original Irvin which was a 1941 jacket complete with label sewn, all because of the TV series Airline broadcast here in the UK all about a ex wartime RAF pilot starting his own airline, set between 1945 and 1948 it showed plenty of period clothing both service and civilian.This first purchase was followed by 10 years of collecting as much as possible original RAF flying clothing consisting of helmets,boots,uniforms,sidcot suits,mae wests etc etc...now only if I had a Tardis :lol: :lol: :lol:


Regards


John

 

[Roughwear]

No worries. This is a good post. I was inspired to buy my first original Irvin, a 1941 Wareings in a size 5, after seeing some originals worn at a Duxford Airshow years ago. I think it was the re-make of the Memphis Bell that got me into buying my first A2-a Cooper, but it was soon passed on for an Eastman! From then onwards the hobby really took off as I bought original Irvins, A2s and B-3s.

 

[ausreenactor]

Natural progression from a mint C-1 vest I scored off eBay in 1997. Found an Eastman ad in a Flightpath magazine (I think it was Flightpath) and bought a seal Aero horsehide from Mark at Aero USA, sold it to Jim and god knows where it is now. Good post!

Couchy

 

[Roughwear]

Here is a pic of the first original Irvin I bought. It was made by Wareings of Northampton in 1941 and has miss-matched horizontal seam tapes on the front. It now resides with Andrew B in Australia.

 

[Silver Surfer]

my first wasnt a buy, but a gift from my next door neighbor. when i was a kid in the mid- late 50s, i used to zoom around on my bike pretending to be a fighter pilot [there were still lotsa b&w film being shown on tv about wwll to jazz me up, not to mention movies]. my neighbor, peter ramuzzi was a bomber pilot that flew b-17s out of england, and still had his a-2. [keep in mind, that a lot of guys still had them at this time, and wore them as chore jackets]. well....one day he asked what i was doing on my bike, buzzing around and and going ratatatatatat, eeeerryyoooo, boom, clang, bang. when i told him that i was being a pilot, he said that he had something for me. that my friends was my first a-2. it had petes name on the front, but thats about all i remember about it. pete was a small guy, but bigger then a kid, so the jac was big on me. never the less, it was cooler then all get out. what happened to it????dunno, as my younger brother adopted it after i moved on to base ball, and girls. some years later, i had heard of an outfit in a loft on lower broadway, nyc, that was making replicas of the type of jac that i had as a kid. this was "the cock pit", and the jacs were being made right there, with a coupla of them on hangers, and a little table with a cash register, and some vintage jacs laying around. i bought one of these repo a-2s, and i believe that was in the early 80s. the jac was sold to me by jeff, and it cost a whopping $200+. at this point, i would have to say that the addiction was begun when i was a kid. no jac will ever bring that childhood back, but wearing an original, does bring back memories. i wear the repros so as to not wear out the originals, or the memories. also, with repros, we create new memories.

 

[Dr H]

Priceless - great memories.

 

[MikeyB-17]

I always loved aircraft from an early age, living not too far from an RAF base the sky was full of Phantoms, Lightnings, Vulcans, Nimrods, Shackletons and Canberras, but the picture of a B-17 on an Airfix kit box first brought the Flying Fortress to my attention. Many years later my Dad got Kaplan and Currie's 'Round the clock' out of the library, and the pics in there of 8th AAF crews in A-2s and B-3s got me thinking that I fancied some of that as well. Soon after that I started buying mall jacket A-2 lookalikes until a chap I met at work, a pilot, told me about Gary Eastman, whom he knew, and showed me his early steerhide A-2. So I started saving up for my own, until in November 1997 I drove up to Ivybridge to be fitted with my own seal brown steerhide A-2, which I still have. A couple of years later I got a computer, and discovered jacket forums, and then the rot really set in.

 

[Anonymous]

As a kid loved WW1 aircraft, then graduated to WW2. My parents owned an antique shop in Orange California, and I would see painted A-2 jackets in the other shops, but at the time had no clue, just liked the art. (this is the early seventies, thay were aroud 150.00 and out of my price range as a kid). What pushed me over the edge was working at downtown Disney California about 9 years ago. I managed a shop that sold leather flight jackets, the wood models you see from asia, and art work by John Shaw. The Flying Tigers I think did it for me at the time.

 

[flyboy]

First of all my father told me how RAF had helped the danish resistance during WWII by dropping weapons, explosives and agents to them.
(My father was in the resistance himself)
He always had a great admiration for RAF and is still very grateful for what they - and United Kingdom - did during WWII and the occupation.
That made me read all the books I could get my hands on during my early age.

Later - in 1968 - it must have been the Battle of Britain (movie) that sparked the interest again.
A few years later I bought not the very first - but certainly one from the first production - Irvin that came out of Aviation Leathercraft, Andover.
It stayed with me for several years and I actually sold a lot of Irvins from ALC on to friends, colleagues and others for several years - working as a sort of "agent" for Simon at ALC. (My father still has the one I bought for him - and it certainly looks different and more original than the ones they do now.

Much later I turned to A2's - especially the pinup/noseart ones - bought a couple of replicas. And still have two. But Irvins are my favorites.

 

[better duck]

Found an Eastman ad in a Flightpath magazine (I think it was Flightpath)
Couchy

Must have been FlyPast. Same magazine that I first saw an ad by ELC in. That's how I got to know about Gary and his business

 

[Stony]

My interest in military history, specifically WWII aviation history. My first vintage flight jacket was an A-2 belonging to a co-pilot that flew B-24s in Italy. It had a really cool squadron patch, American flag on the shoulder and his name tag. It was a Poukeepsie.

 

[Silver Dollar]

The first jacket I ever bought was a Cockpit jacket when they first opened up and they were the only maker of repro A2s. I had just gotten into the Air Force and was bitten by the history bug. I originally wanted a B3 but my wife at the time talked me out of it. I went back a couple of years later and got the B3 anyway. The repros weren't the most authentic repros but they were the only ones at the time and weren't that expensive. The last leather jacket I bought was an Eastman. I'd love to get a Goodwear A2 and a good M422a repro but the funds just aren't there.

 

[Jason]

As a young boy, I was fascinated by all things aviation, especially GA.
As a teenager, my very first pay was used to go to the local flying school and undertake a trial instructed flight, and soon after I was on my way to achieving a restricted private pilots licence.
Then as a young man, practical priorities set in: buy a house, start my own family. With only one income, flying took a back seat in my life.
It was around this time that I wanted to do something that I could keep me in touch with my aviation interests... finding a flying jacket seemed like a fun choice. But finding such a thing here in a regional area is not easy, so what's a guy to do? Get on to the internet of course!
Ebay wasn't much help for a newbie, with its plethora of choices, each claiming to be 'authentic'. I found the VLJ Yahoo group, and the bug started bite. On one of my trips to Melbourne, I did happen to find a shop there that was selling some flying jackets... and the best choice they had was a Cooper, which I ended up buying. Oh well, it filled a void for the time being.
From there, a Lost Worlds repro came on to the scene, then a ELC 1401P, and finally a Perry.

So, an early onset mid-life crisis of sorts, the internet, and a languishing interest in aviation led to the purchase of my first jacket.

 

[RCSignals]

some great stories.

So from some of what I'm reading here, the current company 'Cockpit' which was previously 'Avirex' actually started as 'Cockpit'

 

[deeb7]

So from some of what I'm reading here, the current company 'Cockpit' which was previously 'Avirex' actually started as 'Cockpit'

History ...

http://cockpitcollector.blogspot.com/

 

[RCSignals]

So from some of what I'm reading here, the current company 'Cockpit' which was previously 'Avirex' actually started as 'Cockpit'

History ...

http://cockpitcollector.blogspot.com/

Thanks The wording in that is somewhat confusing.

I suppose this part "The company was firstly named as Avirex Ltd. which means "king of the sky," in honor of the aviators who set their hopes in the boundless atmosphere."
Indicates Avirex was first, but the wording leads one to believe 'Cockpit' may have been first. Maybe the first retail outlet of Avirex was called 'The cockpit'?

added:

From here is somewhat more clear:

http://trendmill.com/editorials/380-tre ... ockpit-usa

You are the founder of two lines, Avirex and Cockpit USA. Which came first and what happened along the way that made you start the other?
Avirex was launched in 1975 and Cockpit USA was created in 1979. Cockpit USA was originally our authentic military line offered in our mail order catalog. It was also the name of our first "theme" store in New York and later in LA, Seattle and London.

Subsequently we put more emphasis on Avirex but decided to revive the Cockpit USA name for the upscale fashion line and the flight jacket line in early 2005, launching the new Cockpit USA fashion line for Fall 06.
At what point did the decision come to start focusing more on Cockpit USA?
When we realized that our basic and authentic flight jackets needed to be separate from the fashion Varsity Avirex collection.

So it seems 'Cockpit USA' did exist in some form but was not emphasised until Avirex was sold. Also my assumption above about it being the name of the reetail outlet was correct.
I know I've seen USAF A-2 jackets labeled with 'Avirex' as teh contractor, presumably now replaced byt the name 'Cockpit USA'

 

[dujardin]

as many of you, always interested by aviaton and aviators
when young boy, some days after a meeting in Florennes; my father bought me a jacket with aviator look.
she was a daily wearer for a long time.
pitty i have not this jacket anymore, not for his value, it was not made of leather; just for the memories
a photo of the, if i remember well it was around 1977

after that, he gave me his old biker jacket, with a look of luftwaffe.
this jacket is still in my hand.

than when i was a little bit older, i was 17; after sawing a movie, i decide that i want a flight jacket.
a good opportunity made me jump on a repro of Irvin.
jacket of high quality but surely not a good copy of the original and legendary Irvin
also still have this jacket

you wish to know the movie????
heuuuuuuuu

Top gun

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[deeb7]

you wish to know the movie???? heuuuuuuuu ... Top gun

That'll do it.

 

[Roughwear]

So what inspired you Deeb to purchase your first jacket? Please tell us.

 

[dav3469]

In my case, I have been a fanatic about aviation and aviation related gear since I was about 10. I remember sitting in the aisle at the grocery store magazine section checking out Air Classics, Flying, and some of the other early Warbird type magazines, Between that and shows like "Tales of the Gold Monkey", old movies like "They Were Expendable", and "Air Force" I knew I had to have a Flight Jacket!!

When I was older and driving, I would make the hour drive a couple times a week from our small rural community to the "big city" (40,000 population vs 3500) to attend CAP meetings. After we would go to the book store at the mall. I would snap up every new "The Cockpit" catalog I could find. I couldn't afford a thing in it, but could plan out exactly what I wanted!!

I was so nuts for aviation, that when I got my Varsity Letter in football, that Christmas my choices were between an A2 made by Golden Fleece from the Army/Navy store in said "big city" or a Varsity Letterman Jacket. It was a no brainer. The old A2 is here in my office on display, and the Varsity Letter is in a frame on the shelf.....