MA-1 Flight jacket

[Doctor Damage]

I bookmarked this a while ago:

http://www.redcloud.co.jp/detail/military.htm

Oh that's awesome, thanks. I must have missed that before.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Atticus-

How many people ever have others begging them to write something? And how many know they'll have a guaranteed audience for their efforts?

I am honored...but I just don't consider myself that much of an expert. Now, there were some guys over on VLJ about ten years ago who WERE experts. They had been collecting nylon for twenty years before I came to know them. They routinely owned and sold and traded jackets that are now almost impossible to find...L-2s, L-2As, early B-15s...really good stuff. One fellow, in particular, was the son of a career Air Force officer. When I met him, he had been collecting Korean War nylon since the sixties. He knew more about the subject than anyone I’ve known before or since. He actually rebuilt a ragged out L-2 and posted his progress as a tutorial on VLJ. And I can’t count the times I got e-mails from him containing a link to some badly listed eBay auction. There’d be a note that said something like, “This is too big for slim and fit guys like me…but keep quiet and you can get it for a lot less than its worth. Good luck, Big Guy!”

Sad to say…I haven’t heard from Brooks in years.

But with the exception of one gentleman who passed away a couple of years ago, I'm sure those guys are still around...somewhere...and they would be the folks to write a book about vintage nylon.

AF

 

[Atticus Finch]

Oh that's awesome, thanks. I must have missed that before.

Please don't wed yourself to that chart. Its been around for a while and it misses the mark quite a bit with respect to the early jackets.

AF

 

[Edward]

I bookmarked this a while ago:

http://www.redcloud.co.jp/detail/military.htm

I've seen that one before - lovely site. Not much information available in English, but still all useful stuff and the photos are great.

 

[Doctor Damage]

But with the exception of one gentleman who passed away a couple of years ago, I'm sure those guys are still around...somewhere...and they would be the folks to write a book about vintage nylon.

Those guys are not the guys to write the book. They will be sources and you will sit down with them and pick their brains, photograph their jackets, give them a "thanks" in the acknowledgements, and send them a free copy of the book once published. Those types of super-fans and collectors do not make good writers. The writer has to be someone with a much wider skill set and an ability to correlate their info, weed out the errors and discrepancies, and put it together into a form which non-specialists can access just as readily as specialists. As a lawyer, you might be just the guy since you are close enough to the subject to understand it and ask the right questions, but have the intellectual objectivity to keep distanced enough from the subject to not get bogged down in the minutae, etc.

Seriously Atticus, start accumulating information, write down everything you know, take some photos of your gear, start trying to re-contact those collectors. I think if you spent a couple months doing that you'd find that suddenly you have a (virtual) stack of information and the book will be there right in front of you begging to be written.

One more point: Don't think in terms of traditional book published by some big NYC publishing firm, etc. There are a lot of ways to publish these days which will allow you to do what you want, you won't have to cave in to bland commercialism (not too much, anyway), and reach your audience.

Remember: It's better to have written a bad book, than no book at all.

Please don't wed yourself to that chart. Its been around for a while and it misses the mark quite a bit with respect to the early jackets.

Okay, thanks, good to know. By making that comment you've just indicated that you know more than the chart does, which I suspect came from that Japanese book on flying jackets, which is supposedly definitive. See what I mean?


SORRY for getting so worked up about this, but I'm one of those guys who loves buying books about stuff like this. I'll stop talking about it now, ha ha lol

 

[Doctor Damage]

interesting flying jackets in great shape on this website

http://moorecustom.com/jackets/Moore_Jackets_nylon.htm

 

[Peacoat]

Atticus-

How many people ever have others begging them to write something? And how many know they'll have a guaranteed audience for their efforts?

One thing you may not be considering is the fame and fortune that would come your way as a published author. And, the females have a thing for men who write. Although if you are married, that may not be such a good thing. My wife doesn't find it particularly amusing when they knock on our door well after midnight. I see it as just part of the price I pay.

 

[Atticus Finch]

One thing you may not be considering is the fame and fortune that would come your way as a published author. And, the females have a thing for men who write. Although if you are married, that may not be such a good thing. My wife doesn't find it particularly amusing when they knock on our door well after midnight. I see it as just part of the price I pay.

So you're saying my life wouldn't change. After two decades as a prosecutor, people already knock on my door after midnight. But they're usually carrying torches and pitchforks.

AF

 

[Justhandguns]

Well, publishing your own book is not exactly very difficult, there are loads of 'online' independent publishers which make things much easier with only a very small fee compared to those establish ones. But in terms of a reference book for nylon? I guess one would need to insert loads of HQ colour photos in there, which in publishing term, expensive. In the scientific world, there is usually one dedicated editor of the book, then co-authors contributing individual chapters. The job of the editor, like Doc Damage said, is the one who compiles, modifies if necessary, the whole book.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Last night I watched "The Hunter" from 1980 starring Steve McQueen. It's a mediocre movie overall, although the first half is pretty good. The best part is seeing McQueen wearing a MA-1 ground crew jacket throughout the entire film - in fact, he almost never takes it off.

 

[Atticus Finch]

There's another movie called "The Hunters" with Robert Mitchum. Its got kind of a hokey 1950s plot, but there's lots of nylon in it, too.

AF

 

[Smithy]

There's another movie called "The Hunters" with Robert Mitchum. Its got kind of a hokey 1950s plot, but there's lots of nylon in it, too.

AF

I mentioned that movie 2 or 3 pages back in this thread AF. Aside from the F-86 footage and the nylon the plot is a joke.

Which is a very real shame as the book it is "based" on by James Salter is extraordinary. Salter is actually James Horowitz who flew F-86s with the 335 FIS during the Korean War.

 

[Doctor Damage]

What's the word on availability and cost for obtaining replacement knits for vintage MA-1 jackets?

 

[Doctor Damage]

Eisenhower wearing nylon.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Eisenhower wearing nylon.

Exactly what jacket is that? Kinda looks like a satin A-2.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Ike, standing in front of a jet...and he's wearing only three stars?

AF

Post Edit: OK...just IDed the aircraft as a Meteor. It went into operation in 1944 but was being developed earlier. Interesting photo.

 

[Smithy]

I'll defer to the experts but my guess is an L-2A.

Looks like he's visiting 77 Sqn, RAAF, a Meteor squadron in Korea.

 

[Doctor Damage]

According to Getty Images (LINK) it's Ike in Korea in December 1952. Perhaps the jacket is borrowed?

 

[Atticus Finch]

I'm also guessing the jacket is borrowed. It does appear to be an L-2A and everything in the photo looks like Korea. Of course, in 1952 Ike had more than three stars.

Ike probably liked the L-2 and L-2A. After all, he seems to have had a certain fondness for short, trim little jackets.

AF

 

[Edward]

Eisenhower wearing nylon.

I misread an extra 's' into your comment there before I remembered that was Hoover, not Ike!