One piece flyers cold weather suit

[Nirvana]

In the North Dakota museum of aviation, there is a full length leather jump suit worn by the early flyers. It was a chocklate brown in color, and it has a zip front and fur collar. I could not see what the lining was, if there was in fact one. But it was one worn by flyers of the 20's and 30's in their open cockpits. Has anyone run across one lately? and if they are being reproduced by anyone, or will I need to search out a leather crafter and have one custome made?

Thanks you,

Nirvana

 

[Alan Eardley]

Flight suits

I agree - I love the one-piece suits from that period, even the lined cotton ones such as Spalding and Sidcot suits. I don't have one, but I occasionally wear an 'Irvinsuit' - WW2 RAF two-piece sheepskin. The two piece suits seemed to win in terms of practicality. Remember that, apart from the obvious examples of the M422/G-1 series and the A-2, most other flight garments were issued as suits! Somehow, wearing a jacket without the trousers doesn't seem the same.

You can get repros of the B-3/A-3 suit and the Irvinsuit. The Luftwaffe used a lined grey leather one-piece suit until recently. I saw one in a shop in London on Tuesday.

Alan