Great vintage flight jacket pics ...

[ronbo]

Hi All - I am fairly new here and thought this might be of interest. I LOVE the vintage flight jackets you all have and have a few (and repros) myself. I found this link to some great shots I have never seen before of the B-15 and variants. Hope this is of interest and apologies if already known . Cheers -Ronbo http://jetpilotoverseas.wordpress.com/category/b-15c/

 

[Doctor Damage]

EXCELLENT LINK - thanks very much for finding this one and posting it here.

I like the brown penny loafers on the pilot in the Korean photo!

 

[ronbo]

Thanks for commenting . Another cool thing is if you go to the bottom of the link you can hit links for certain jackets and aircraft. There are several pics on these links I have never seen. The color photos are also amazing. Cheers -Ronbo

 

[Doctor Damage]

Another cool thing is if you go to the bottom of the link you can hit links for certain jackets and aircraft.

Just checking that out now... here's a photo from 1953 of a test pilot wearing an A-2 jacket which has seen better days!

 

[Peacoat]

Yes, JPO has some great photos. He hangs out over on VLJ. I like all the photos except the photo of the Korean War vintage helicopter carrying Santa that had the hard landing.

 

[Metatron]

Great pics. I love the B-29 rear gunner shot.

 

[ronbo]

Now that you mention it she *is* listing to port ... ouch.

 

[ButteMT61]

Awesome stuff ronbo!

 

[ronbo]

Thanks Much !! But credit really belongs to the site owner. Happy to connect everyone though :ranger: -Ronbo

 

[Sloan1874]

Wonderful stuff! :eusa_clap

 

[Dumpster Diver]

dont ask me why, but these Give me a strange and alien Feeling inside, That post WW2 American war machine type of Fear of Doom and Lunar conquest. Gives me the taste of Fear in the back of my throat just thinking about high altitude Bombers and Shooting off into space. Jet pilots!

HEHE, LOVE the BUZZCUT though!!!

AMAZING PICS

thanks!

 

[ronbo]

I know what you mean. My Grandfather started in the Army Air Corps in '42 and retired out of the USAF in '68. I lived with him at Castle AFB and I could tell you practically every plane in AF service, by sight, by the time I was 12. This was a time of War (cold and otherwise). But I have to tell you I felt safer back then than I do today BIG TIME.

 

[TeeJay]

Pretty cool - i am wearing a B-15 almost daily as my everyday jacket =)

 

[Doctor Damage]

But I have to tell you I felt safer back then than I do today BIG TIME.

You weren't safer in those days, despite what you and so many others might think.

Again great photos. I'm looking forward to digging through these over the holidays when I'm stuck in the house with nothing to do, lol

 

[ButteMT61]

My Pops was in the 23'rd Bombardier Squadron in true USAF in the 50's, stationed in Bicester England on the B-36. Love seeing photos like these - I sent the link to my Dad last night.

 

[Smithy]

I've got a bit of a soft spot for the Korean War so have trawled through Stu's website many a time.

What a lot of people forget is just what an affect the three years of the Korean War had on flying clothing. Look at what a P-80 pilot was wearing in 1950 compared to a Sabre pilot in 1953.

 

[Capesofwrath]

I've got a bit of a soft spot for the Korean War so have trawled through Stu's website many a time.

What a lot of people forget is just what an affect the three years of the Korean War had on flying clothing. Look at what a P-80 pilot was wearing in 1950 compared to a Sabre pilot in 1953.

I saw a BBC programme recently about the early jet age and did a screen grab of this Russian Mig 15 pilot from 1952. I was intrigued that he was wearing a HB jacket with cargo pockets from what seemed like a slightly earlier era. The quality is poor since a screen grab of old film isn't great.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

Not sure what model of Jacket this is, However what I DO know is Its build to last. The story of the jacket in this pic was that there was an influx of these in the Greater Toronto Area a few years ago, and some shipments wound up in Kensington (sort of the Soho Area Of Toronto) And A group of my friends and I all went there to shop around one afternoon. One of the Girls Wanted THIS particular Jacket Im wearing in the photo it was 125 dollars and HUGE, I said...Anna!!! theres one in a store down the road I Just saw in NOS condition for a meagre 50 bucks,...but she insisted she wanted that one, it never fit, she wore it once and gave it to her Sister who was dating my friend at the time,...she wore it for the winter and then moved to BC and left it behind in her apartment..so I grabbed it..and I use it every winter and its my *old faithful* Jacket since...Its great!!!

Chris Carter of the industrial group *Throbbing Gristle* also sported something similar to a B-15 Jacket in the mid 1970s. Reminds me of Modular Analog Synthesizers!

 

[Atticus Finch]

Not sure what model of Jacket this is...

It is a seventies or eighties edition of the N-3A. The jacket worn by the person second from left in the smaller photograph is a N-3B.

AF

 

[Smithy]

I saw a BBC programme recently about the early jet age and did a screen grab of this Russian Mig 15 pilot from 1952. I was intrigued that he was wearing a HB jacket with cargo pockets from what seemed like a slightly earlier era. The quality is poor since a screen grab of old film isn't great.

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The North Korean/Russian/Chinese pilots' flight gear was really unchanged from WWII. Even when No Kum-sok defected with his MiG just after the end of fighting and he posed in his gear for photos it is really in essence 1940s Soviet flying kit.

USAF kit took quite large jumps in just 3 years especially with bone-domes, suits and G-suits, jackets, etc.

As they say nothing like the crucible of war for making great leaps in military technology.