Alpha 'Ground Pounder' MA-1 2000 XL

[bn1966]

Just picked up this curious thing:

Very late XL MA-1 (2000) if it is a service issue Ground Crew Jacket.

No country of manufacture on label, lining like a CWU 45P, feels like wool knits & short fit like it goes over a flight suit.

Zippers are marked 'Alpha' & have a civilian vibe though.

Condition is nearly mint shell wise, couple of minor moth nips on knits (easily darned).

Fits me a treat bar shoulders which are border-line snug & time will tell when UK temps drop again

 

[Flightengineer]

Lee congrats, good jacket.

 

[Peacoat]

Heed the instructions to "Dry Clean Only." There have been many a flight jacket shrunk beyond redemption because of a trip to the washing machine.

 

[Doctor Damage]

I've seen a few oddball tags like that and my *guess* would be it's a very early Alpha civilian jacket before they started branding themselves better for the civilian market (with the USA-made tags with three stripes which we see later). It's got the synthetic insulation, of course, but it's nylon not polyester, and the cotton backing is a military feature not seen on later civilian jackets (I've seen the cotton backing on *transition* period Alpha N2B jackets too), so I suspect it is made to the last military spec but not actually issued to the military. My *guess* is that Alpha kept making military spec jackets for the civilian market or a while before altering/simplifying their products for civilian sales (i.e. dropping the cotton backing to the insulation and going with cheaper polyfill insulation). But I don't know for sure, it's just a conclusion I came to a couple years back to explain what I was seeing with used jackets.

 

[bn1966]

Has an SPO number and no tag on cigarette pocket..nice MA-1 this

 

[Doctor Damage]

Oh yeah, the date "2000". Too late for my theory. Maybe it's something Alpha made for a foreign market?

 

[bn1966]

Previous one similar I picked up was an '88, textiles felt cheaper on that one..curious thing!