CORRECT FIT FLIGHT JACKETS

[ButteMT61]

My personal taste for flight jackets is to be a tighter fit. Don't see a baggy jacket as an asset in a plane - esp a WWII era plane with little room to spare.
When I see an A-2, G-1, etc. on a guy, they need to be a neat fit.

 

[devilish]

picture i sent was just showing the jacket i bought, that is not me lol i will take a picture with me sorry for the mistake

I did wonder as that looks very much like a Rakuten type photo. But still my comments on the fit of the jacket stand.

 

[Sloan1874]

Bomber crew = longer jackets, fighter pilots = shorter ones.

 

[Pdxgeo]

Im pretty comfortable with the fit of my Lost Worlds Dubow but frankly Id like an even slimmer fit. I know, I need a GW...

Taken today at the air museum in Vancouver, WA

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Good fit Pdxgeo.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I think the bottom line is that, sadly, aviators and aircrew don't know enough about the jackets to know any difference.

I've posted this many times, so please forgive the repetition. My father never had a clue as to even what his jackets were properly called. Whenever I would ask, he'd tell me that he liked his "green" one...as opposed to his "leather one", which he never cared for.

AF

 

[rocketeer]

How they should fit comes up regularly here. I dislike the look of a baggy A2 but even McQueen's Escape jacket is fairly loose and fits him off the shoulders.

I think how they end up looking depends a lot on weight and height. My friend who is stout and short ( by his own admission) looks dreadful in a tight flying jacket and lot better in a looser fit. A tall thin person can wear a longer jacket but perhaps not a loose one.

But in the end what we like probably has a lot to do with who has influenced our clothing choices.

Garry's early jackets were great for the 'off the shoulder look'. I have an early no name zip jacket Eastman put out in the early days, and being a 44 I would think to fit square to the shoulders you would have to be built like a body builder or a natural well built man of around 7ft.
I believe Eastman have had a drastic redesign of their house jackets for a more realistic fit.

Personally I have never been a flyer other that a day trip, but I would think the military fit would be, not too snug but look right these days. I don't know much about crewing an aircraft but I would think aircrew would be a regular fit(as in physical fitness ) as you want the aircraft to be as light as possible. So no fatties like me would have been assigned to aircrew. But I may be wrong

 

[rocketeer]

I've posted this many times, so please forgive the repetition. My father never had a clue as to even what his jackets were properly called. Whenever I would ask, he'd tell me that he liked his "green" one...as opposed to his "leather one", which he never cared for.

AF

Sounds like a dedicated military man to me, more interested in doing the job rather than what he did the job with.

 

[AdeeC]

I've always found this a roomy fit - check out the shoulder seams.

View attachment 43796

Personally I like that looser fit. I have a couple of A2's that fit like this and one other trimmer fitting. Here is a film clip with some original looser fitting jackets.

 

[Sloan1874]

Great clip! Bit long for my taste, but just shows how varied the look was.

 

[ButteMT61]

Great clip! Bit long for my taste, but just shows how varied the look was.

But yes, we know that you got what Unca Sam gave you. So "correct fit" for WWII era military jackets is really just something to waste time with here...

 

[nick123]

Private pilots I've seen do not care whatsoever about fit. In fact, my theory is you're the odd man out if you wear a close-fitting jacket, or even care whatsoever about the fine-tunings of jacketing! Order your normal size in the Sporty's catalog and get to work!

Landing first pass on Catalina Island without a working tower is much more applaudable than a silly jacket!!

 

[kojax]

some of my shots of mt hilts a2 jacket the name tag will be on the wrong side. i take the pictures from my comp it does that

 

[Deacon211]

Agree with Treetopflyer about getting what you get. I traded in my jacket in P-cola, as I've posted before. I tried a 46 and it was tight in the shoulders. Then I tried a 48 and it was baggy. Those were my choices. So, my jacket fit like it fit.

No longs or shorts as I recall either.

Having said that, I think baggy looks crappy, at least on me.

I've posted this picture before of flight equipment issue day. I'd say there is a reasonable amount of room in these jackets without looking baggy. This was one of my favorite dress uniforms (if I absolutely HAD to get out of my flight suit). I think a flight jacket looks best when it looks like a uniform (which it is or isn't depending on who you ask).




I also couldn't agree more on that Forrestal jacket. Almost any vendor of jackets out there is not above a little creative marketing...it is a business after all. Some aren't above more than that. Be very wary of "special" or wartime designs and promises of "mil-spec" or "suppliers of the military". Or phrases like, "highly desirable". While these terms are often technically correct, they sometimes don't tell the whole story.

Look up the G8 or Type 440 jacket sometime. It's something of the white elephant of flight jackets.

 

[kojax]

my cockpit g1 vintage goatskin size 38 -r

 

[SteveZ]

Nice looking G1 and good fit.

 

[kojax]

thanks buddy i really like this jacket i had it for 3 years now

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I think both of Kojax's jackets fit well. Much better than the one the model is wearing.
HD

 

[kojax]

a-2 jacket g1 jacket i like the a-2 jacket better you can wear open or zipper up still looks good to me the g1 jacket looks better zipper up and the g1 has more leather then the a-2 jacket THANK YOU PEOPLE

 

[SteveZ]

I have an A2 and G1 also.