Hi all...
Last year I purchased a very nice Aero RAF "Battle of Britain" in pebbled merino. Lovely jacket but it irked me that it was true to my jacket size (44) and a wee bit short (I'm a long). Granted - this is what I ordered, so the issue is on me. My bad, as they say. I wanted to layer underneath it, but doing so made me feel like the Michelin Man.
A few weeks ago I moved it on. Sadly - for me - Aero isn't offering the jacket in pebbled Merino any longer, so I contacted Eastman. They were more than happy to make me a version of their Fly Weight RAF jacket in a 46L, so it would be roomy, plus an added 1'' on the sleeves. My other Eastman jackets are just a wee bit short in the sleeves.
To my surprise, they turned it around in a little over 2 weeks, from placing the order to having it arrive on Wednesday last.
It really is lightweight. Lighter, IMHO, than the Aero. The Aero fleece is just a tiny bit denser it seems, and the leather for the belt a bit thicker. But splitting hairs really. I prefer the collar on the ELC, I can put it up and fasten the strap w/o choking myself.
Fit is nice and roomy, without being huge. If you look at pics from WWII, you can see that sizing seemed to favour larger jackets as the lads were flying at such altitudes where they needed to keep warm. I'm not flying in an unheated cockpit at 20K feet, however I do live in England and can no longer handle the cold at all, thanks to the after effects of a nasty bout of Covid a few years ago.
They're both great jackets. If I would've ordered a size bigger with the Aero, I probably would still have it. That being said - Aero were reluctant to lengthen the jacket itself, more out of concern that if I didn't like it I wouldn't be able to return a custom item. ELC did warn me as well, but as I've got several of their jackets I'm familiar with their cut.
Some pics...
Last year I purchased a very nice Aero RAF "Battle of Britain" in pebbled merino. Lovely jacket but it irked me that it was true to my jacket size (44) and a wee bit short (I'm a long). Granted - this is what I ordered, so the issue is on me. My bad, as they say. I wanted to layer underneath it, but doing so made me feel like the Michelin Man.
A few weeks ago I moved it on. Sadly - for me - Aero isn't offering the jacket in pebbled Merino any longer, so I contacted Eastman. They were more than happy to make me a version of their Fly Weight RAF jacket in a 46L, so it would be roomy, plus an added 1'' on the sleeves. My other Eastman jackets are just a wee bit short in the sleeves.
To my surprise, they turned it around in a little over 2 weeks, from placing the order to having it arrive on Wednesday last.
It really is lightweight. Lighter, IMHO, than the Aero. The Aero fleece is just a tiny bit denser it seems, and the leather for the belt a bit thicker. But splitting hairs really. I prefer the collar on the ELC, I can put it up and fasten the strap w/o choking myself.
Fit is nice and roomy, without being huge. If you look at pics from WWII, you can see that sizing seemed to favour larger jackets as the lads were flying at such altitudes where they needed to keep warm. I'm not flying in an unheated cockpit at 20K feet, however I do live in England and can no longer handle the cold at all, thanks to the after effects of a nasty bout of Covid a few years ago.
They're both great jackets. If I would've ordered a size bigger with the Aero, I probably would still have it. That being said - Aero were reluctant to lengthen the jacket itself, more out of concern that if I didn't like it I wouldn't be able to return a custom item. ELC did warn me as well, but as I've got several of their jackets I'm familiar with their cut.
Some pics...
