Flight jackets right length

[Fury]

Waistband right above your belt? Covering half your fly? I'm never happy with my flight jackets length. Specially when hide is too hard.

 

[Sloan1874]

They come in all flavours. For me, it starts with 'covering your belt buckle', and ends with 1.5" past it. After that, to me it's a bit long. But look at these pics of the Doolittle Raid crew, it's all over the place and comes down to what you think best.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=D...ved=0ahUKEwin97KGuLnKAhXMuBQKHdGwCJcQ_AUIBygC

 

[AdeeC]

No such thing as right length on an issue jacket or even commercial off the rack sizes. Everyone is built slightly different and preferences vary. Right length is for the custom fit if you don't get lucky otherwise.

 

[Peacoat]

I agree with Sloan; the jacket must cover the belt, and not more than 1 1/2" inch below.

 

[eugenesque]

I think one factor affecting the acceptability of the length is the kind of bottoms one wears. Jeans would be of a low cut and pants would be of a higher cut. Where the jacket ends may therefore be dependent on the type of bottoms worn.

Anyway, the pictures in this thread seem to give some historically contemporaneous evidence as to how flight jackets should be worn and the length thereof.

I present exhibit A:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/thirty-seconds-over-tokyo.81701/#post-2039771

 

[Fury]

They come in all flavours. For me, it starts with 'covering your belt buckle', and ends with 1.5" past it. After that, to me it's a bit long. But look at these pics of the Doolittle Raid crew, it's all over the place and comes down to what you think best.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=D...ved=0ahUKEwin97KGuLnKAhXMuBQKHdGwCJcQ_AUIBygC

The tall guy in the Doolittle squad looked neat

No such thing as right length on an issue jacket or even commercial off the rack sizes. Everyone is built slightly different and preferences vary. Right length is for the custom fit if you don't get lucky otherwise.

I think you're wrong I'm in the process of breaking in a G1 I purchased. Hide is quite hard and front length too long. You know what? I can't sit with the f -jacket on. I real pilot inside a real plane with this jacket on would be a mess, with the belts and the chute on his back.

Covering just your belt makes sense to me.

 

[nick123]

Imagine substituting the A-2s in the Raider pic with modern jeans. The jackets would probably fall way above the belt! As said over and over, the type of pants makes a huge difference. In that sense there isn't really a right length-I can simply change the elevation of my pants!

 

[Fury]

Imagine substituting the A-2s in the Raider pic with modern jeans. The jackets would probably fall way above the belt! As said over and over, the type of pants makes a huge difference.

I never wear flight jackets with jeans, only khakis or cargos.

 

[Capesofwrath]

The tall guy in the Doolittle squad looked neat

I think you're wrong I'm in the process of breaking in a G1 I purchased. Hide is quite hard and front length too long. You know what? I can't sit with the f -jacket on. I real pilot inside a real plane with this jacket on would be a mess, with the belts and the chute on his back.

Covering just your belt makes sense to me.

If you look at contemporary pictures of G1 jackets as worn they are quite long and on the hips mostly. As were the M422 and A1 and 37J1 jackets.

I’ve posted that picture above in the past as proof that there is no such thing as an authentic A2 fit. Let alone any other flight jacket. People should wear what they like and unless they intend to wear the whole period outfit forget about so called authentic fits. I’ve gone down that road in the past and regretted it when my short 'authentic fit jacket' became an irritation because thing was too bloody short for my modern taste really.

Everyone has an opinion on this and other fit matters but they should not try to impose it on everyone else.

 

[ButteMT61]

^^ That. Every jacket I own, I ask people about "fit". Every single person has a different take. So eff it, if YOU like it, wear it. If YOU don't, flip 'er.

 

[Superfluous]

The tall guy in the Doolittle squad looked neat

Disagree. The sleeves are way too short on the tall guy.

^^ That. Every jacket I own, I ask people about "fit". Every single person has a different take. So eff it, if YOU like it, wear it. If YOU don't, flip 'er.

^ That.

 

[Sloan1874]

I've always thought these were a good set of contemporary fits. They're all wearing Dubows, as far as I know. Quite fancy one myself.

 

[bn1966]

Covering belt or top of belt (at a push....original WEP)...no belly button ticklers!

 

[Sloan1874]

This is too short:

 

[Atticus Finch]

Some flight jackets were designed when pants were more high waisted than now. Other jackets were designed to be worn over high waisted fight suits. MA-1s and L-2bs are notoriously short because the flight suits of the day were very high waisted. I finally had to give up on wearing vintage L-2bs. I could never find one long enough to cover my belt, no matter what pants I wore.

AF

 

[Superfluous]

This is too short:

He ordered it two inches longer.

 

[pawineguy]

He ordered it two inches longer.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this one.

 

[Superfluous]

I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this one.

Careful there . . . gotta protect that shoulder.

 

[AdeeC]

This is too short:

His Tshirt is way too long

 

[Ralph_Phillips]

This is too short:

Jacket length is nowhere near as disturbing as not being able to ascertain with any degree of confidence whether that creature is male or female.