Cockpit jackets

[Imahomer]

I've been looking at the Avirex and the Cooper cockpit jackets and plan on buying one soon. Those are the jackets with the nose art on the back. To me, they look about the same, but I'm wondering if others have some information they might like to share as to one being better than another. OR... is there another company that I should be looking at?

Thank you.

 

[sunflo9968]

I have had a cooper jacket since 2002. It's not authentic by any means. However it's well made and i seem to get a lot of compliments when i wear it.

 

[Imahomer]

I have had a cooper jacket since 2002. It's not authentic by any means. However it's well made and i seem to get a lot of compliments when i wear it.

Ok. I don't need it to be an exact copy of anything. Was it pretty easy to get the correct size for the Cooper? Did it looked somewhat aged when you got it and has it gotten that broken in look now?

 

[AARP]

I love my Cooper G-1 for the price. I got it almost brand new on ebay for $100.

 

[sunflo9968]

I got a size 40r. It fits well. It gives enough room for a sweater. The fit would be a modern type fit. The jacket is the regular brown color that they have.
As to wear, This jacket i have to say wears like iron. It looks close to new and i have worn it quite a bit. The leather has a crisp quality to it, by that i mean it's soft but has some body to it.( if you know what i mean). It's hard to discribe. Like i said before out of all my jackets this one gets the most comments.(all positive). Some people love as authentic as you can get, but for me if it fits well i'll wear it and it won't sit in the closet waiting for an ebay sale. Speaking of ebay, go on and look at the coopers and if you like them you can get a great deal!

 

[Imahomer]

Just scanning Ebay, it looks like the Cooper jackets I see are pretty reasonable.

 

[kojax]

cooper is now out of business to bad they made a nice jacket for the money........i have two jackets from gibson-barnes both nice jacket a-2 and a g-1

 

[johnnyjohnny]

nOt 'authentic'???

hi, i must point out a common fallacy when folks claim cooper jackets aren't 'authentic'...

by their own definition, they are exactly accurate...they are nOt ww2 replicant jackets such as eastman, chapman, and the like make...

they were newly issued 80s jackets made to CURReNT day (of the 80s) military specs for issue to the military...so the label of them not being accurate is a misnomer...it's like saying a ford mustang is not authentic to a model t

please note, this little vituperage is definitely not aimed at the i'm-sure beloved sunflo, but rather the many detractors of current day a-2s, saying they aren't authentic

notwithstanding that defense of the so-called authenticity of the 80s/90s cooper, i must say as an a-2, my personal opinion is they stink...well, they are an icon...let's just say i do not care for them...the reasons being that they have about the thinnest leather around (about as thin as the milspec requirements allowed at the time), and they have the disco-huGGGe pointy collars that would look better on andy gibb or john shaft (can u diggit?) rather than on someone in the u.s. military...also you better have a pretty big neck, the neck hole is sized more for mr. ed than for wilbur...a good 2-3 inches bigger than any other a-2 out there

avirex, on the other hand, while having thicker leather and better jacket design, can truly be said to nOt be authentic...meaning not even authentic to what they were supposed to be...

all the painted or mil-patched avirex of the day (not talking about the actual milspec ones, which are great) were apparently made for the civi market, and despite some officially bLurbed tags on the inside saying 'lowflight application' stuff and such, these jackets usually have 2-piece backs, and often not even a throat collar hook, and most usually side entry pockets prior to when even the mil specs were changed in the 90s to allow that

so if you are looking for authentic, cooper is at least that...however, when you bring in paintings and ww2 markings, then neither of these jackets is authentic to that...

to stick ww2 patches or markings on a clearly 80s/90s milspec, or not milspec, jacket makes no sense, unless you want to impress the foreign clerk at the 7-11 (and i love foreign clerks, don't get me wrong)

it would be like slapping 70s jag xke rims on a 90s camaro...cool if you like that look, but the worst of all worlds if you are trying to be stylistically accurate to anything at all

 

[Imahomer]

Thanks for that information JohnnyJohnny. I dress for myself and like I said earlier, I don't need the jacket to be an exact copy of anything. I'm not looking for "authentic", just quality and price in what type of jacket I want to own.

Personally, I don't think there are too many people out there that would know any of the differences you pointed out, but that's fine too.

 

[sunflo9968]

No offence taken JohnnyJohnny. What i ment buy authentic was compared to the ww2 jackets. I did not make that clear. Hey to each his own.

 

[Imahomer]

As a reminder... This was my original post:

I've been looking at the Avirex and the Cooper cockpit jackets and plan on buying one soon. Those are the jackets with the nose art on the back. To me, they look about the same, but I'm wondering if others have some information they might like to share as to one being better than another. OR... is there another company that I should be looking at?

We seem to have migrated away from it.

 

[johnnyjohnny]

let the sunshine, and fLo

thanks sunfLo for not taking offense, none was at all intended

as for the original question, which is a better jacket, and that being all, i'd say hands down the avirex...as mentioned in my inaugural address above, the coopers are:
1. thiNNNNNNN leather
2. horse-size collar openings (if you're a world wrestling federation member, you'll like 'em)
3. the collar itself was made for shaft, john shaft...it's a biG, 70s-style, pointeee collar...i'd sum up the look by saying, "They say this cooper jacket is a bad mother...SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

on the uP side, they are duRabLe, and there seems to be a toN of them on ebay, and even i'm selling the two i've got if, after my badmouthing you still want one...i've got sizes 44 and 46 Long in the a-2, both in close to new condition...from my post here you can imagine i wouldn't be asking mucho for them...contact if interested

 

[Imahomer]

Check!

It looks like I'll be zeroing in on the Avirex then.

Much Thanks...