Aero Vs Eastman A2

[Johnny English]

Who's the daddy for A2's ?
I've got a 1940 patern Irvine from Eastman , which is superb, and was going to get one of their A2's but heard that Aero are just as good ?
Does anyone have the answer ?

 

[MudInYerEye]

Eastman trounces Aero.

 

[Johnny English]

Eastman trounces Aero.

in what way is the trouncing delivered

 

[MudInYerEye]

Attention to detail, pattern reproduction, epaulet length, zippers, snaps, knit accuracy, lining, etc.
Aero does offer the advantage of choosing which leather/knits your jacket will be crafted from, and that is a big avantage over Eastman, but in general they have an apathetic approach to true accuracy while Eastman has bent over backwards with their latest jacket, the '33 Werber, outdoing even the Japanese fanatics.

 

[Johnny English]

Attention to detail, pattern reproduction, epaulet length, zippers, snaps, knit accuracy, lining, etc.
Aero does offer the advantage of choosing which leather/knits your jacket will be crafted from, and that is a big avantage over Eastman, but in general they have an apathetic approach to true accuracy while Eastman has bent over backwards with their latest jacket, the '33 Werber, outdoing even the Japanese fanatics.

Is the werber the best one to get then ?
I've seen a good deal on the standard ELC seal A2 and the werber is £115 more. But is it worth it ?
Also Aero have a brown A2 for only £200 ?
I also like the look of the Aero unkown contract A2 , is this the only A2 with a lining on the neck ?

 

[MudInYerEye]

There a variety of A-2 jackets with the neck lining or "collar stand", the most famous being the Rough Wear variety (Eastman make two different RW contract models and the Japanese have produced several more).
Any jacket from Eastman or Aero will be pretty damn good, but yeah, the Werber looks like it's worth it.

 

[Johnny English]

There a variety of A-2 jackets with the neck lining or "collar stand", the most famous being the Rough Wear variety (Eastman make two different RW contract models and the Japanese have produced several more).
Any jacket from Eastman or Aero will be pretty damn good, but yeah, the Werber looks like it's worth it.

The Werber does look the business, I've just had another look on the Eastman website and it does look quite distinctive too.
Does anyone have any photos of the eastman standard or RW A2's , as their website only seems to have the 1950's style drawings.

 

[greyhound68]

Check out this link to the Acme depot on reproductions. You can get a look at some of the Eastman A2s.
http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/eval_dir.shtml

Having owned Eastman, Aero, Real McCoys New Zealand, and Buzz Rickson. I would say Buzz is the best but hard to get new or even on the secondary market. Real McCoys NZ is next but are a bit expensive also and I am torn between Aero and Eastman. I love some of the Aero leather but that Werber is really cool. Good luck it is a tough choice.

 

[Johnny English]

Check out this link to the Acme depot on reproductions. You can get a look at some of the Eastman A2s.
http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/eval_dir.shtml

Having owned Eastman, Aero, Real McCoys New Zealand, and Buzz Rickson. I would say Buzz is the best but hard to get new or even on the secondary market. Real McCoys NZ is next but are a bit expensive also and I am torn between Aero and Eastman. I love some of the Aero leather but that Werber is really cool. Good luck it is a tough choice.

Does anyone have any experience of the Eastman "Pearl Harbour" A2's?

 

[Matthew Dalton]

I would say Buzz is the best but hard to get new or even on the secondary market.

Do we have Japanese-speaking Loungers? With the demand for Buzz Rickson that seems to be here perhaps someone could act as a buyer for us and make a few dollars in the process themselves?

 

[greyhound68]

Does anyone have any experience of the Eastman "Pearl Harbour" A2's?

I have seen them first hand and they are pretty good jackets. Give a very good "50 mission" look. But if I had the choice and the money I go with the new ELC Werber. I think it beats the PH ELCs. But let me show some photos of RMNZ Jackets and Buzz to see what you think.

RMNZ Dubow after some hard wear

Buzz RW fairly new

RMNZ RW after a few years wear

 

[greyhound68]

Do we have Japanese-speaking Loungers? With the demand for Buzz Rickson that seems to be here perhaps someone could act as a buyer for us and make a few dollars in the process themselves?

This site will do orders for folks outside of Japan. I have not used them but folks that have rate them top notch. They do have some BR stuff in stock but as usual with BR the larger sizes are hard to get. But if you are a 38 or 40 no problem.
http://www.mil-mil.net/top.html

 

[Johnny English]

I have seen them first hand and they are pretty good jackets. Give a very good "50 mission" look. But if I had the choice and the money I go with the new ELC Werber. I think it beats the PH ELCs. But let me show some photos of RMNZ Jackets and Buzz to see what you think.

RMNZ Dubow after some hard wear

Buzz RW fairly new

RMNZ RW after a few years wear

Fantastic Jackets ! I really like the RMNZ Dubow . What price are they ?
I checked out the mill mill website & the BR they have is nice, but wow ! very pricey !

 

[greyhound68]

Here is their website which is not very good.
http://www.realmccoys.co.nz/

An A2 runs 1300 NZ dollars which is 463 pounds or 894 US. Now as you can see that is expensive. However, they sometimes have a sales rack where you can get new items at reduced prices. For example, I got a brand new goatskin RW A2 for just a little over 650 US. Quite a bit of savings over the other price. If interested I would contact them directly and speak to Paddy she is excellent and great to deal with.

 

[scotrace]

Greyhound, those are really beautiful jackets! It has been awhile since anyone posted pics of their stuff, glad you did. I really like that Dubow!

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Mike K.]

Who's the daddy of A-2 jackets??

The greatest jacket is definitely the new ELC Weber.
Wait a minute...just a few months ago, the greatest jacket was the Aero front-quarter horsehide.
Wait a minute...several months ago, the greatest A-2 was the Aero "real deal."
But wait, there's also the RMNZ jacket.
No, actually I think it is....

As I'm sure you'll soon discover (if you haven't already) everybody has their favorite brand, contract number, etc. Each jacket has its own pros and cons. One maker fits somebody perfectly but not some one else. One person's ELC/Aero/RMNZ/USAuthentic/etc. is the greatest thing since sliced bread, while another person's just doesn't measure up.

The point is that there is no holy grail of A-2 flight jackets. The "daddy of A-2s" is the one that works best for YOU.

 

[scotrace]

Mike K, that's the very best A2 advice ever offered on this or any other board. :eusa_clap

 

[HoosierDaddy]

AbsoAeroRealDealHerkyJerkyRussetlutely!:eusa_clap
HD

 

[Marv]

I have a ELC house A2 in goat and it's a smashing jacket apart from.....you all guess it, the knits.
These are in my opinion still too thin and flimsy, Aero's knits are much better....not sure whether ELC has addressed this issue and made changes to the knit on their Werber.

 

[greyhound68]

I have a ELC house A2 in goat and it's a smashing jacket apart from.....you all guess it, the knits.
These are in my opinion still too thin and flimsy, Aero's knits are much better....not sure whether ELC has addressed this issue and made changes to the knit on their Werber.

Marv,
Having purchased and sold a recent ELC Monarch I think the knit problem may have been solved. I have owned other ELC jackets and concur with the knits. The Monarch's knits appear to be better made so perhaps the same with the Werber.