ELMC Horse Hide G-1

[bn1966]

I blame you Gav, spoke to Rob at ELC about one of their G-1s. Won't be for a few months but I'll be suprised if I don't get one having seen yours

 

[Gav]

I blame you Gav, spoke to Rob at ELC about one of their G-1s. Won't be for a few months but I'll be suprised if I don't get one having seen yours

Haha. Sorry mate...

 

[bn1966]

Haha. Sorry mate...

If I'm forced into prostitution..will you be laughing then?????

 

[The dogs bollocks]

That's a beautiful jacket Gav!

I think the mouton collar isn't as universally appealing to everyone as the leather, especially these days.

But I think the theater had a lot to do with the love of the A-2. The Pacific theater was warm. And while you do see pics of crews wearing their G-1 for flying or out on the carrier deck, I just don't think it was the second skin that the A-2 was. I also think that is why G-1s are generally less adorned (personal opinion).

With the weather in Europe, I think pilots wore their A-2s all the time. Additionally, because of the large number of bomber crews, there was something more of that "team uniform" thing going on. As a result, the public saw hundreds of pics of AF crews in their beautiful painted jackets and the A-2 became a legend.

I think by far the greater draw in the G-1s popularity came from the Viet Nam era where Navy jackets became encrusted with cruise patches. These were the face of the salty carrier pilot and sprinkled a bit of nostalgia onto the G-1 when the AF went all nylon and paradoxically became more and more standardized in their flight gear.

Just my two cents as I've wondered about it myself.




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All the theaters Ive been to have air conditioning?


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[Deacon211]

All the theaters Ive been to have air conditioning?


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Yes, but this was back in the '40s. Only some theaters had air conditioning back then ;-)


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[Gav]

Update:
15 months owned

 

[bn1966]

Looking good Gav, saw one last week at Eastman's, they don't do a 48 (thankfully).

 

[Gav]

My only leather jacket! Gets plenty of wear. I would like to add an A-2 though.

 

[Cooper A-2]

Update:
15 months owned
View attachment 109255

Superb patina. Nice jacket Gav.

 

[bn1966]

My only leather jacket! Gets plenty of wear. I would like to add an A-2 though.

Sold my RW size 46 & should soon be ordering a Monarch A-2 in a 48
Sold my BOB Jacket too & have promised myself a B3 for next winter

Both sales were due to jackets being on the 'snug' side.

 

[El Marro]

Beautiful jacket Gav. I've got the same one, although I've only had it since January. It was this thread that introduced me to the ELMC horsehide G-1, and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion I would get one sooner or later. I love the way that the grain and the wear begin to show up almost immediately, as compared to my goatskin G-1s, which seem to look perpetually new.

 

[Thuggee]

Damn have been on the fence about keeping or selling mine, have now decided to keep it after Gav’s latest pics


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[Gav]

Damn have been on the fence about keeping or selling mine, have now decided to keep it after Gav’s latest pics


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Good decision!

 

[Pdxgeo]

That is a thing of beauty Gav.

 

[Big J]

@Gav, that jacket looks awesome.
You must be very satisfied, and get a lot of compliments.

I love the G-1 style. It's very well designed. And in a way, I think that being able to stipulate goat hide in the specs for issue jackets for so many years, whilst in a few short years A-2s were horse, steer, goat, is actually kind of a shame. Imagine how a WWII USN jacket would have looked by now if it had been made of horse or steer.

I also think that fact kind of lends itself to irrational behavior too; avoiding D-series jackets and buying repros made of goat, when the cow hide D-series is the real thing. It's a bit bizarre I suppose...

I've learned to love the D-series G-1s because they can develop real grain and character in a way my goat jackets never will. I guess that's the 'toughness' of goat as a hide shining through.

I think it was RMC a few years back that did a G-1 in 'mustang' hide (as the ad blurb said). It wasn't made in my size and was very expensive, but it did look really good in the store. And BR did that 'shrunken buffalo' (IIRC) G-1 that also looked really good too.

It's nice to see the G-1 style in other hides with more character than goat.

 

[El Marro]

Damn have been on the fence about keeping or selling mine, have now decided to keep it after Gav’s latest pics


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Thuggee,
I think you're making the right decision here. And if yours had been a size 46 I would've bought it the day you listed it for sale!

 

[Thuggee]

Update:
15 months owned
View attachment 109255

Damn it’s doesn’t get any better than that probably explains why I own 4 ELMC jackets


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[thor]

That ELMC horsehide G-1 is pretty darn cool; I agree with @Big J that making a G-1 out of leather besides the usual goat is a good thing and only increases the appeal of the well-designed G-1.
Afew years ago I ordered an M-422 from BK and it was made of mountain goat hide, which is kind of like a regular goat that’s gotten a dose of the Captain America “super soldier serum”.
These mountain goats live in mountainous habitats above 13,000 feet altitude where the temps are as low as -50F degrees below zero and winds whip to 100 miles an hour! They can climb sheer rock faces that even Reinhold Messner wouldn’t attempt.
I love the thick, rugged grain on my mountain goat M-422 and I hope to see other exotic leathers used on traditional jacket styles by our premier jacket makers.

 

[thor]

 

[thor]

...and I’m with @bn1966, thankfully (for my bank account!) ELMC doesn’t offer the horsehide G-1 in a size 48!