The Martin Lane CO G-1 Flight Jacket

[Chris Tubman]

Sometimes amazing what is still out there.
I’ve just bought this 1968 Martin Lane G-1 flight jacket and it appears to be absolutely new and unworn.
The only things that I can find to fault are a couple of small moth nips in the knits, no doubt easily repaired by my local seamstress.
The pocket buttons and zip are still tight and the goatskin and mouton collar are immaculate.
And this jacket cost me £85 from a vintage clothing shop.
Best of all it fits me (please excuse the spots in the fit photograph, I should probably have cleaned my mirror).
Now, who would like to loan me an F4 Phantom for an hour?

 

[Worf]

I'm ex-Army so I've no G-1's in my closet but that jacket looks downright amazing! What a score and what a win for you! Congrats!

Worf

 

[Chris Tubman]

I'm ex-Army so I've no G-1's in my closet but that jacket looks downright amazing! What a score and what a win for you! Congrats!

Worf

Cheers!

The RAF were foolish enough to let me fly one of their 1950’s gliders when I was twelve years old (a Slingsby T21) but the instructor and myself lived to tell the tale, despite a minor forced landing.
I then discovered that I didn’t like getting shouted at by men with stripes on their sleeves so I decided I’d be happier as a rebel without a cause..

 

[El Marro]

What a score man!!
and being a C series that is absolutely, no doubt, a real mouton collar!
I can see someone paying you $500 to $600 for that jacket but if I were you, I would just wear it and enjoy it.

 

[Chris Tubman]

What a score man!!
and being a C series that is absolutely, no doubt, a real mouton collar!
I can see someone paying you $500 to $600 for that jacket but if I were you, I would just wear it and enjoy it.

Yes, it’s a tough decision whether to wear it or not but it would be a pity to just hang it in a closet for another fifty eight years.
I used to own a more modern G1 made by Orchard M/C and that one was cowhide with a synthetic collar, it was fine for wearing on my motorcycle but it started to look pretty beat up after a few years.
I’ll probably just keep the Martin Lane for special occasions and I have plenty of other jackets that would be better on the bike.

 

[El Marro]

I agree about the motorcycle, but aside from that I would wear that jacket without a second thought. In my opinion it is in the sweet spot of rare and unusual without being too special to wear.

 

[Chris Tubman]

I agree about the motorcycle, but aside from that I would wear that jacket without a second thought. In my opinion it is in the sweet spot of rare and unusual without being too special to wear.

Aye, I’ll go with that then.
I’m hoping to go flying later this year in a 1930’s De Havilland Tiger Moth that is based on a WW2 airfield near my home, good chance to put that old jacket to it’s intended use.

 

[Peacoat]

Martin Lane was an excellent contractor. You did well.

I could probably find you an old F-4, but you would crash it. They had their quirks that the pilots had to be aware of.

 

[Chris Tubman]

Martin Lane was an excellent contractor. You did well.

I could probably find you an old F-4, but you would crash it. They had their quirks that the pilots had to be aware of.

I think I’ll take your advice about the F-4.
My only flying experience was with the Slingsby T.21 glider and it had a “never exceed speed” of 110mph and would stall at 32mph.
Fun in a loop though watching the world out of an open cockpit.
A Tiger Moth should be exciting enough for me now and perhaps the sensible step up instead of a Phantom.
The G-1 has now had a little leather conditioner and seems happier for it.

 

[Peacoat]

If you did a loop in an F-4, you should be ok. Watch out for the aileron roll though, as the F-4 was subject to unrecoverable spins during that maneuver.

 

[Chris Tubman]

If you did a loop in an F-4, you should be ok. Watch out for the aileron roll though, as the F-4 was subject to unrecoverable spins during that maneuver.

Thanks for the advice, not sure if I like the sound of “unrecoverable spins”.
I might put off buying this F-4 for now (and it needs another 1.25 million dollars to get it finished).
I was once used as a target by an F-4 pilot, I was happily driving along without a care in the world on a big yellow 10 ton dumper truck and suddenly, without any warning, there was a huge noise and an F-4 just above my head and climbing away.
Very funny haha.
On the bright side, I wouldn’t have known a thing about it if he’d been targeting me for real.

 

[Peacoat]

The way the F-4 cockpit is arranged, the pilot has to dive at a steep angle so that he can see his target on a bombing or napalm run. And even then the radar scope is mounted at the top center of the instrument panel, making it difficult to see out of the center pane of plexiglass. Sometimes it's easier to use one of the side panels.

If I can find a picture of an F-4 cockpit, I will post it.

So, the pilot who practice bombed you was coming in at an angle, 45° or greater. But the second part of the fun was what you saw–the pull out. Since it was only practice, he probably didn't light his afterburners to get out of there as they suck down the fuel, but his G-suit was still working hard for him.

If it had been a combat mission, he would have lit the afterburners to increase speed during the climb out–the most vulnerable part of his run.

But before you go further on the F-4, you need to look into getting an altitude card to make sure you can handle the stress of flight at altitude.

 

[Chris Tubman]

At almost sixty years old I can barely handle the stress of putting on my boots these days never mind anything else, I still ride my Ducati motorcycle but generally with both wheels on the ground.
I am looking into a flight in a Tiger Moth though, there are two based at Eshott Airfield, a former WW2 RAF airfield near where I live in North East England.
My father was one of the technicians working on the Typhoon aircraft during it’s development (better not say which systems he was involved with) and he trained some of the RAF personnel who were involved in working on that aircraft. He was originally a submariner but he will say practically nothing about his time in submarines, the official secrets act quite rightly stays signed for life in his case.
And although it was more than forty years ago when I saw and heard that Phantom I’m pretty sure I remember him lighting up the afterburners as he climbed away.
Sort of thing you don’t forget.

 

[Peacoat]

Here is the cockpit of the F-4. Now you can see why the pilot has to dive at a steep angle to see his target. He has better visibility out the side panes.

This picture was taken in straight and level flight as indicated by the blue and brown attitude indicator (artificial horizon) in the center of the console. There is usually a smaller back up attitude indicator to the lower right of the main, but I can't make it out in this picture.

The picture doesn't show it well, but it is tight in there. At the bottom of the picture, the top of the stick is visible.

 

[Chris Tubman]

Blimey, I see what you mean.
The view forward appears to be quite restricted and there doesn’t look like there’s a lot of room in there.
Luckily I weigh around 140lbs and I’m exactly the same height as Tom Cruise.
Bigger is not necessarily always better..