ALL REPRO R.A.F. Irvin type jackets

[hippomaintenance]

Hi Capes,
I have no idea of the age of the jacket like yours but I will email the seller and ask him. I thought it was around 2007. I tried with the help of a guy here at work who is great with computers and no joy with posting the Pic. It's something to do with the administrator I believe. The best I could do is to take some photos and Email them to you.

Very sorry,
Dave.

 

[hippomaintenance]

Right Capes,

If you go to Ebay, next to the search box is an advanced box. Click that and enter 181295896774 as the item number, my jacket will come up. Just click on the small pic that says ended through it and you can view all pictures.

I have just done it.

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Capesofwrath]

Right Capes,

If you go to Ebay, next to the search box is an advanced box. Click that and enter 181295896774 as the item number, my jacket will come up. Just click on the small pic that says ended through it and you can view all pictures.

I have just done it.

Cheers,
Dave.

Right seen it now. I was searching Eastman completed listings and it didn't show up there. One of the mysteries of eBay us why sometimes things show in a search and sometimes not. They might think about investing some of their vast profits in bringing the site into the twenty first century.

I saw your's before and it does look like a very nice jacket. Not my size though. I am interested in what he says on the age. It looks like the same skin as mine but I'm not really sure if it is. Mine looked closest to Andrew's early Eastman so I wonder just how early yours is? I wonder that about mine too of course. The seller I bought mine off isn't a lot of use there really since I don't think it was his but a relative's.

Is your label like this or the other kind?

 

[hippomaintenance]

All the labels on my jackets are the same and are different to yours. I know my eBay one is early-ish because of the softer leather and longer fleece. I have sent a text to my seller asking the year he bought it. So as soon as I hear I will post it here. My label has a crown with A.M below it in the top right hand corner. I don't have the A & M in the middle or the code no. If you look at the pics of Smithy's jacket, his label is the same as mine
Cheers,
Dave.

 

[aswatland]

Here's a picture of the label used in the ELC 1940 jackets. It is clearly different from the one used in their 1942 jacket.

 

[hippomaintenance]

Thanks for that Andrew. That is the same as my labels in my early & broken grain jackets. Can you date these Eastman repros from their labels? They may have different labels they just put on, which would not give a date of the jacket? Capes jacket is a BoB Eastman but it does have a different label to ours Andrew. What do you think?
Dave.

 

[aswatland]

This label is used on the 1942 pattern jacket. You can't date ELC Irvins from the label as they used only one design for the 1940 jacket and another for the 1942 Irvin.

 

[Capesofwrath]

This label is used on the 1942 pattern jacket. You can't date ELC Irvins from the label as they used only one design for the 1940 jacket and another for the 1942 Irvin.

That's what I don't get about mine and why I PMed you about it last week. My label seems to be from a 1942 pattern but the jacket isn't.

 

[hippomaintenance]

I have had another look at capes new eBay jacket and it is an Eastman 1940 jacket but with a 1942 label.?????

 

[Capesofwrath]

I have had another look at capes new eBay jacket and it is an Eastman 1940 jacket but with a 1942 label.?????

Yep and that's what I've been trying to work out.

 

[hippomaintenance]

It's just the label though capes, everything else is spot on-probably just a mistake.
Dave

 

[Capesofwrath]

Yes probably. I did spot it before I bid and tried to find out if the labels were different earlier.

I've had an Aero with the wrong label on it too. But that was new.

 

[hippomaintenance]

As I've said, as soon as I hear back from the seller I will post the year he bought it. I really think that Andrew will be your best bet for telling you its age. All I could say was we know it's before the broken grain ones. If you find out when Gary started the broken grain type that will give you a starting point. The other thing is, when did they start using the all metal zips over the ones with the nylon end on the right hand side (wearing jacket) that slides into the box on the left hand side? Also, what did you think of your Aero?
Dave.

 

[Smithy]

Gorgeous Smithy, absolutely gorgeous.

Thanks HDRnR

 

[hippomaintenance]

Hi Capes,

I have just had a long conversation with the seller of my Ebay Irvin. He said he bought it over 15 years ago, wore it twice once for a flight in a Tiger Moth, gave up smoking, put on a bit of weight and the jacket wouldn't fit anymore. So it went back in it's box until the recent sale.
After many conversations with Gary Eastman regarding exactly what he wanted he met Gary at Duxford who took along a number of jackets in his size for him to look at. He fell in love with one and bought it and now it's been sold to me. It really is in amazing condition with not a mark on it and everything like new. The seller is a really nice guy who is mad on Irvins (he has a nice original) and flying boots etc and is going to Duxford again this year to buy another jacket from Gary.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Capesofwrath]

Nice to be able to get all the information from the seller. That was a good point about the nylon zip feed too, mine has that does yours? Does anyone know when that changed? I reckon mine is as old as yours if not a bit older. I know it was stored just not how long it was.

When did ELC start making Irvins I wonder? I know he started making A2s single handed in 1984, and stuck to that style for a few years even after he employed machinists.

It wasn't an Aero Irvin. I've had a lot of Aeros over the years and this was just one which had a lot wrong with it, including that small label thing.

 

[hippomaintenance]

Hi capes,
Yes mine has the nylon feed and my broken grain jackets have brass ones. The seller also said that he used to repair original Irvins by hand years ago as part of his job. I found that really good cos he said that the Eastmans were really close to the originals.

 

[Capesofwrath]

Hi capes,
Yes mine has the nylon feed and my broken grain jackets have brass ones. The seller also said that he used to repair original Irvins by hand years ago as part of his job. I found that really good cos he said that the Eastmans were really close to the originals.

I heard from the bloke I bought mine from and he says his brother in law bought it in he thinks the early nineties. He says he was too fat to wear it so it stayed in the wardrobe all this time. He may be out by a few years there though. I've been told that they only started much later in the nineties, but that the 1942 pattern was first made in about 1990.

I wish someone could pin down when Eastman did start making 1940 Irvins definitively. I suppose I'll have to email them and see if they can be bothered to answer.

 

[hippomaintenance]

Well, when ever I Email Gary Eastman he always replies quite quickly so I'd give it a go. Also if I ring them about anything they are always very willing to chat. You don't get the impression that they are trying to get rid of you like some places. Best of luck anyway

Dave.

 

[alsendk]

The weather is perfect Irvin weather these days...here equipped with a hardly suitable MIG15 chinese helmet, but what the heck[huh]