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Famous People in Flight Jackets

TXFlyGuy

Practically Family
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970
Location
Texas

Wow...the great R.A. (Bob) Hoover! Had the pleasure of seeing him perform a number of times, both in the P-51 and the Shrike Commander. For those of you who appreciate the fine art of controlling an aircraft, go to YouTube and watch Hoover do some things with both engines shut down that many pilots won't attempt with all engines running!

Another bit of trivia...Bob Hoover was the backup pilot to Chuck Yeager when he broke the speed of sound. If Chuck got sick, Bob was "next man up".
 
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thor

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,009
Location
NYC, NY
image.jpg
William Holden in "Satan never Sleeps" (1962). He sure got to wear alot of different leather flight jackets in his films (lucky guy!).
 

Doctor Damage

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,324
Location
Ontario
TXFlyGuy said:
Is it my imagination, or is Gene Hackman's jacket 2 sizes too large?
I've come to the conclusion that leather jackets are always too big or too small, even the ones posted in this forum. I just ordered a leather flight jacket and when it comes I know I will be sending it right back.
 

rocketeer

Call Me a Cab
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2,605
Location
England
I believe the officer standing just behind Manfred to the right is his brother Lothar
Back in the days when the chance of becoming a pilot depended on your birth heritage.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
Here is a motley crew in their flight jackets. You might recognize the guy in the center!
large_zps1d1f8195.jpg

Of particular interest in this photo is Kurt Wolff at the far right. He's wearing a captured British flying coat. Not an entirely uncommon sight as they were highly regarded and sought after by Luftstreitkräfte airmen.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,081
Location
London, UK
I believe the officer standing just behind Manfred to the right is his brother Lothar
Back in the days when the chance of becoming a pilot depended on your birth heritage.

It's not a huge area of experiste for me, but I am given to understand that the fact that air forces recruitment on both sides of the fence in WW1 favouring the upper classes meant that the men were often fighting old classmates from schooldays at one or other of the most exclusive boarding schools across Europe. If so, that must have been a strange environment in which to be.

Of particular interest in this photo is Kurt Wolff at the far right. He's wearing a captured British flying coat. Not an entirely uncommon sight as they were highly regarded and sought after by Luftstreitkräfte airmen.

Lovely coat; it would be great if someone were producing these in a good weight now. The Aero Barnstormer is a beautiful cut too - if only they made it knee length!

Wasn't there a later Luftwaffe ace who flew wearing a captured Irvin? Pretty sure it was never Hartmann, but can't recall beyond that...
 

thor

Call Me a Cab
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2,009
Location
NYC, NY
It was Luftwaffe ace Adolf Galland who wore a captured British RAF Irvin jacket in WWII; there were also photos of other Luftwaffe pilots wearing captured American A-2 and B-3 jackets later in the war.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
Lovely coat; it would be great if someone were producing these in a good weight now

Hi Edward,

The only crowd that I know of who make something similar currently are The History Bunker:

http://www.thehistorybunker.co.uk/acatalog/Brown_Leather_-_Historical_leather.html

(Scroll down the page in the link above)

It's available in both new and "distressed" leather. It is a very reasonable price but I have never handled one of these so cannot comment on the quality, but the pattern looks very similar to those offered by Burberry and Spicer & Sons, although I would highly doubt that it has the camel hair lining which was common on most originals!
 

Superfluous

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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3,995
Location
Missing in action
I am confident that this jacket appears somewhere in the prior 25 pages of this thread and, therefore, I apologize in advance for the duplication. That said, I was at the Reagan Library yesterday and I came across this:

IMG_5614_zps8e0dfbf4.jpg


IMG_5610_zps9888c980.jpg
 

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