Finding leather blood chits for an A2 flight jacket

[Brettafett]

Stand by... so funny.
I guess be glad you save cash on tattoos for jackets and patches...
Ive only even put that chit on my M422a.. And it looks right out of the cockpit of a P-40 in 1941 China!
But now, I am considering patching my 'new' 'old' Cockpit A-2 and my recent AVI Bronco A-2.
I have an amazing leather 75th FG Tigers Sharks breast patch. Also a 487BS patch... still undecided...

 

[Edward]

Yip, I had planned originally for a jacket with a group patch, flying tigers patch, name patch and the chit... I have sitting a multi-piece leather Hells Angels patch; I an currently planning just to pick up the chit and stick with those two. Part of me sort of liked the 'kill' patches same as the little bombs painted on European theatre A2s - guys marking one more mission they're relieved to have survived, one step closer home, all that, but eh, I don't know.... knowing there are also deaths behind that, I think I'd rather stop short of it. Always felt funny about the bomber group insignia for the same reason.

You know what really gets me about the AVG?
Jacket fits.
Years back I posted the one picture I ever found of an AVG pilot whose jacket looked like it fit him, in EVERY OTHER PICTURE I HAVE EVER SEEN, included those posted above, it looks like no matter what size a guy was, he was given a size 48 M422a.
I wonder if when the AVG was established, the guy in procurement was told to order the pilots jackets, and he said 'What sizes?', and his boss said 'How the hell should I know?', so he just ordered like 100 jackets in size 48 coz then everyone could wear them.

Ha, plausible.... It's certainly true that, while A2 fits were all over the place, virtually every USN jacket I've ever seen worn in the war was a big fit, not as puffy as an MA1, but not far off in many cases. I wonder was there a wider culture of wearing 'em big given how neat they are cut, despite being easier to move in with the action back? for instance, in an Aero repop I'd buy a 44 in an A2, but I'd need to be looking at a 46 or maybe even a 48 in a USN model.

@the Seal Brown Knight,
You're making me think of those 2 Para guys who used to wear massive combat jackets so they could wear their flack jackets underneath them to look even more intimidating in N.I. back in the 70's and 80's!

HA! I've heard a lot of good stories over there (my favourite was the one about the two squaddies that started a fight over a girl one night, neither of them aware that it was actulay Loyalist UDA man SAmmy Duddy in his 'other' career as "Samantha: the Dolly Parton of Belfast"), but that's a new one to me. I can see it, though. Same way I firmly believe black MA1s became standard nightclub bouncer issue because they make 'em seem even biger than they are.

Here's a painted-on-leather one I just saw - marked as sold - but still, a very fine example and different to the usual styles.

http://www.flyingtigerantiques.com/...ct_Code=afpg20006hbb-CON&Category_Code=03afpg

Like you, Big J, I find the whole obsession with Chinese writing for tattoos a bit bemusing. Apparently Britney Spears got one and she had wanted and asked for "Enigmatic" and she got one that says "Weird".
I had an ex that loved tattoos. We split up but she continued to hang around as I took her dog off her (what can I say? The right bitch stayed) - and she got yet another tattoo and was insistent on showing me. Chinese writing. And I said "Oh. Stir fried beef with broccoli".
That got me the f-bomb too.

There was a story in the UK press about twenty years ago when it was all the rage. Young fella, had a real thing for Chinese girls, so he goes to a tattooist in town who happens to be Chinese and asks for a tat with "love, honour and loyalty" or some such nonsense. Tries to pick up some Chinese girls in a lcub with it, they laugh at him. Eventually a Chinese girls working in the local takeaway tells him it reads "It tell you the truth, thisis one ugly boy!"

I still toy with having the character for laowai on my leg somewhere; I spend a lot of time in Beijing, and I love the place. Wouldn't do it without certainty I knew what was going on, mind!

I love Japanese traditional tattoos. I love the way they reference 1700's and 1800's woodblock print ukiyoe, with Koi, or tigers, or dragons.They really are beautiful and artistic. If I lived back home, I'd probably go for it, but here it'd be just as much a liability as having KKK tattooed on my forehead would be back home. It's a pity that they have the gang association, they are very artistic.

Yeah, I gather there are still a lot ofp laces over there that wopn't let you in with visible tattoos, given the Yakuza connections.

I'm just not cool enough to rock a tattoo. I don't have the hunky build and I have that Celtic skin that's so white, my legs are almost an iridescent silver/blue in winter! Heck, I'm the guy who starts to burn when it stops raining! Not a particularly cool canvas for that. And I'd be too worried about changing my mind in years to come about what ink I had done. Nope, just not me and I'm okay with that.
And it's because I can't put a tattoo on me that I opt to put patches or artwork on a jacket instead! It's the closest I can get and I'm okay with that too. But as Brettafett says, it has to be just right!!

Tattooists go made for pale Celtic skin - it makes a fantastic canvas for colour work.


Back ot, does anyone know whether the original M422as delivered to the AVG had the USN painted on the underside of the collar in white or yellow? I have always believed they would have, given they were purchased from the USN, not directly from the manufacturer, but I've never been able to find out for sure.

 

[Stand By]

Stand by... so funny.
I guess be glad you save cash on tattoos for jackets and patches...
Ive only even put that chit on my M422a.. And it looks right out of the cockpit of a P-40 in 1941 China!
But now, I am considering patching my 'new' 'old' Cockpit A-2 and my recent AVI Bronco A-2.
I have an amazing leather 75th FG Tigers Sharks breast patch. Also a 487BS patch... still undecided...

Oh, I hear you ... would love to see some of those...
And it's funny but first comes the patch - then the jacket to place it on! Seldom the other way around for me!
And I've just seen the nicest vintage and original bomb group patch of my favourite squadron ... <gulp>.

 

[Stand By]

Tattooists go made for pale Celtic skin - it makes a fantastic canvas for colour work.

That may indeed be so for someone like Andrea Coor or Karen Gillan! That I get.
But ... me? Erm, hardly. I use Factor 80 on holiday. I'd use Factor 100 but that's better known as a bandage. Not a good look. And the glare off my legs could burn peoples' retinas. They probably see a blinding flash on the beach and think "Holy $hit! What was that?! A nuclear bomb just go off? Aw, Christ no! That crazy Kim Jong Un has finally done it! He's ... Oh ... oh no. it's just that guy over there with the skinny legs. What a relief."
Yep. That's me.

And that is why I prefer what I wear in Autumn, Winter and Spring. I just feel better dressed - I prefer pants instead of shorts and the jackets that go with them.

 

[Big J]

@Edward, that's the million dollar question, and no ones been able to answer; did AVG jackets have the under collar stencil? Jury is out.

@Stand By, you can rock it dude! But can you choose a final design and stick to it? I reckon I couldn't.