Is more than one A2 being a bit excessive?

[Stand By]

[QUOTE
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing....[/QUOTE]

I'll drink to that!

 

[B-24J]

THANK YOU ALL - for your many replies and admitting just how much we're all addicted to these jackets! It's been so good (and surprising!) to read of how many of us have more than one A2 ... thanks for taking the time to respond - I appreciate it!

So as a result, I've been trawling the web for CBI patches - it's fascinating to see the variety of the originals - and looking to see what appeals to me.
And I'm even entertaining the notion of going with repro leather patches and maybe a blood chit for the back panel ... but they have to be superb if they're repro. The hunt is truly on ... not that my girlfriend knows yet. There's nothing to confess yet .... ;-)
Thanks guys!

Be sure to check this thread: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?71430-AVG-Patches

John

 

[Sloan1874]

My understanding is that Aero still have a lot of A-2 patches. A lot.

 

[Stand By]

Be sure to check this thread: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?71430-AVG-Patches

John

Holy smokes! Excellent work to be seen in that thread ...! Many thanks for the heads-up B-24J!
I'll be sure to drop Sean a line and see if he can help me out with my leather ATC patch plus the AAF and CBI shield patches ... Thanks again for the good lead!

 

[Stand By]

Well, looking over Sean's amazing work, it seems to me that I've solved the riddle of what to do about the patches ... I'll start with him.

Then there'd just be the A2 to hunt down of course ... the Bay would seem to be the most economical way to find a good russet A2 (and the price has got to be good - or I'm in for heavy flak from the girlfriend. Some light-to-moderate flak I would consider acceptable to get what I want). What company though ...?
I had an ELC 352nd A2 and wouldn't have another by ELC. It didn't like getting wet at all - and that's important to me as I get walked by the dogs in all weathers ...
Have had a look today and I see a couple of nice looking A2s by Lost Worlds ... are they as good as they look?
And of course, Aero is having a sale on A2s ... it must between those two, I reckon ...

 

[Dudleydoright]

More than one A2 is not excessive IMO. However my current tally of 20 originals, 7 GWs and 1 ELC A2 could be described as excessive! The originals are worn occasionally, such as to air shows and the repros are daily wearers.

Modest as ever ......... and why do you wear originals to air shows ?

Take away the goat and steer / horse as the obvious difference and all you have left to distinguish between them is patches and painting. Why anyone would want more than one or two of the same jacket is beyond me. But to someone with OCD, the devil is in the detail and someone who has more than a couple of identical jackets is usually the type who gets a thrill inside at the thought at knowing that there are pocket flap differences or collar or zipper differences and feels superior to mortals for having that knowledge.

There are a lot of smug snobs who like to post pictures of themselves in their many A-2's. A kind of exhibitionism by shy people ;-) Or perhaps it harks back to the show and tell days at elementary school

 

[nick123]

Pocket flap differences ARE cool. Besides, in a collector's possession, the jackets aren't being thrown out/left in the dust, so the history is preserved. Go ahead and talk with someone on the street about how you're OCD about zipper differences. They'll be left with the impression that you're a nut, but one day they'll see a program on TV on WWII airmen and they'll understand.

 

[Stand By]

"Smug snobs" ?
Hmmm. With all respect, that's a bit harsh, isn't it? I think if someone has a harmless passion which makes them feel good - and they can afford to indulge it at nobody else's expense, then why shouldn't they? We all have our thing, right? And we're just talking jackets here - not flashy Rolexes or other bling.
Sure, I'll admit that sometimes I feel that some people go a bit far and I wish that they'd just put their jackets on and wear them outside to a bar or a pub and drink some booze and hopefully pick someone up and get laid ...
But then again, I can also see that it's all about appreciation - of fine materials, of details, of style over fashion, and of history or pop-culture (depending). And in this increasingly shallow and disposable world with an increasingly short-term memory problem, I think that's no bad thing. And I can't explain it but I know that I feel at my best when I'm wearing my jackets ... I just do.
And I can understand someone wearing an original jacket to an air show. It's about certain intangibles and reconnecting to the past.
And I think that people CAN appreciate the differences in an A2 - just as there are differences to be enjoyed and savoured in, say, single malt whiskies. Most don't and think of it all as scotch - which it certainly isn't.
And show-and-tell (if that's true) is why we're all here, isn't it? Well, it's why I'm here - to see what others have and to admire and make a more informed choice about what I buy next and from who (whom?)... and hopefully help others in their choices from my photos as their photos helped me.

And since this thread started, I've unexpectedly gone off on a tangent ... I was feeling the itch and was very hungry for an A2. Or so I fully believed.
And then, totally out of left-field (well, the Bay!), up surfaces a beautiful red-skin ELC RW B-6 - about 8 years old and in the original leather finish (NOT the "aged" leather as per current issue) that I love so much (I have the RW B3 in the exact same hide) - and in mint condition and in my size!!!
And as of yesterday, I can say I've got it!!! I can't believe my luck. I'm over the frickin' moon ...!!!
This will go perfectly between the milder ANJ-3 weeks and the long B3/Irvin deep-freeze months ...! Bring on Ol' Man Winter ...

 

[bn1966]

Hear Hear! I agree with your above comments Stand By, my jackets give me a buzz too! Can we please see some pictures of the B6 when you've got it? Any plans for patches / nose art? Don't get me started on 'Scotch', I recently acquired (inherited) a whiskey collection that I have subsequently drunk. The single malts got the same treatment as the 'rot-gut' 'Scotch'




Hic

 

[Stand By]

Thanks there - always nice to hear from you - and absolutely.
The jacket is unusual as, from the photos, it has grey zips (!!) - which upon closer inspection are RiRi - and the throat buckle is grey too, not nickel - the same as the zip! And the ELC label is a more modern type that I've never seen before ... Most curious. It looks great and it all looks the part - don't get me wrong. But it's not right, as I'm sure we all know here.
I asked the seller about how this could be but he was selling it on behalf of a friend whose husband (whose jacket it was) had sadly passed away and he knew no details.
So I gave Gary at ELC a ping and he knew right away what it was; they sold them to a store in London about 7 years ago that had requested the different specs - and I'd asked about replacing them for proper Crown types - and he said that all could be changed to turn it into a proper RW spec. for 75 quid.
So the jacket will be heading to Gary as soon as the bank draft reaches the UK ... and then on to me.
It's in MINT CONDITION - barely worn. It looks just like the one in the Golden Book ... so lovely!

And indeed: to patch or not to patch - that is the question.
Strangely, I'm thinking not at this point. It's a 1939-1941 spec. and it's hard to think of how it would have looked in the pre-war period that the RW B-6 was made ... I have always wanted to re-create my old ELC B-6 (that was the seal brown type) that had 3rd AF patches - but put better and an original Bomby The Bear patch (334th BG; a training squadron and they flew Atlantic patrols in B-25s) on it this time.
And suddenly I have the chance after a couple of years of yearning (but never thinking it'd ever happen - as the pre-broken grain types were long gone)- and have had my eyes on 2 of the patches I like all this time ... and now I'm thinking of leaving it plain - maybe just a name tag? Perhaps. But probably not.
I know. I can't believe it either.

 

[Stand By]

And I hope there was some "Peat Monster" in your inheritance ... IMHO, it's marvellous! And even finer than Laphroaig!

 

[Sloan1874]

And I hope there was some "Peat Monster" in your inheritance ... IMHO, it's marvellous! And even finer than Laphroaig!

Heresy!!! Btw, did you know that you can actually take a holiday in the Ardbeg distiller of Islay?

 

[Stand By]

Heresy!!! Btw, did you know that you can actually take a holiday in the Ardbeg distiller of Islay?

Really?! What, like a B&B, you mean?! Fantastic! What a way to spend a long weekend that must be ... and one to remember.
Well ... maybe not so well .....! ;-)

 

[Sloan1874]

It's the excise man's cottage in the distillery grounds. It's just been redone. A couple of nights there, ahh, the hangover would be legendary.

 

[Stand By]

It's the excise man's cottage in the distillery grounds. It's just been redone. A couple of nights there, ahh, the hangover would be legendary.

Indeed. But oh, so worth it.

 

[Asienizen]

Actually, a holiday to a distillery sounds like a fairly good idea. The question is who goes with you: your wife or your mates? Or is that a question worth asking?