Good Wear Aero 21996 and Spearhead Wool A-1

[CBI]

This is a very inexpensive Spearhead Militaria wool A-1. Its a well-constructed jacket that I think looks quite good. When it arrived, the sleeves were too long for me as well as being rather baggy. I had the sleeves shortened but the jacket still looked “off”. I when back to the tailors and had the sleeves shortened again, the sleeves tapered and the knits made a bit tighter around the wrist. I think that was/is the ticket and for a fraction of the cost of the BR/RM? version. This is even a good alternative to an ELC Thunderbird IMO.














The Good Wear Aero 21996 contract has been talked about recently. Here is mine after a year plus of real wear. I decided to use it the way it was meant as it were (minus the B-17 flights) so I did repairs in it, washed the car, yard work, daughter’s horse lessons, etc. I did get wet and I hung it up in the garage for a few days to dry. Its the dark russet but I have to say, it looks really red in these pics. FYI

 

[rocketeer]

Neat wool A1 jacket
And wearing the hell out of your A2 is sure the way to go with me, though most people are reluctent to spend that kind of money on a jacket and then beat it up.
As I have posted before, just how many of these high end jackets are sold "As new" "Mint condition" etc. If that was mine I am sure I would have snagged the cuffs on something within a week haha.

 

[Meerkat]

Neat wool A1 jacket
And wearing the hell out of your A2 is sure the way to go with me, though most people are reluctent to spend that kind of money on a jacket and then beat it up.
As I have posted before, just how many of these high end jackets are sold "As new" "Mint condition" etc. If that was mine I am sure I would have snagged the cuffs on something within a week haha.

Good point rocketeer...I have been wearing my faux Cooper A2 on and off since the early nineties and inadvertently baptised it one day when after hanging it carefully on the back of door whilst doing a michaelangelo on the landing ceiling..the paint roller flew off and with a wet sploosh decorated the jacket. Luckily it survived bar a 'silver streak' on one of the cuffs so my admiration for the resiliance of goatskin rose 100%. I wont say the jacket fits as well as I bought it but it it is a comfy driving jacket.

 

[Superfluous]

That Spearhead A-1 looks great!

 

[thor]

Very nice jackets CBI. Love that color combo on the GW!

 

[Grayland]

Is that A-1 still available somewhere? I've always liked the wool version, but it doesn't appear that Spearhead makes it any more.

 

[bretron]

@grayland, they're still available. Check ebay. At a modest 75 cams, these things seem to be a steal. And after seeing CBI's successful tailor job, I'm all the more tempted to scoop one up

 

[Grayland]

@grayland, they're still available. Check ebay. At a modest 75 cams, these things seem to be a steal. And after seeing CBI's successful tailor job, I'm all the more tempted to scoop one up

I went directly to the Spearhead Militaria website and didn't see it, but did find it on ebay. It is very nice, although I'd prefer a gray version and sent a question to the ebay seller asking if that color is available. Even if gray isn't available, I really like the way that wool A-1 looks.

 

[Edward]

Be careful of that website: the guy selling under the Spearhead name on eBay has often had a warning on his auctions / eBay shop that he only trades on eBay, and that the website of the same name is a rip-off merchant copying his photos / business name. [huh]

 

[CBI]

Spearhead seems to make a batch from time to time. The alterations ran a total of $60 so the jacket was/is a heck of a deal.

thanks

 

[havocpaul]

Only buy from Spearhead on eBay, the other one is a copy. I previously owned one of these wool A-1's and build quality is excellent, yes, the sleeves were baggy but I didn't find them too bad and even allowing for extra cost of alterations, they are several hundred pounds/dollars cheaper than a BR!