I am totally flabbergasted . . .

[singer]

You DO NOT want an A2 cut or measured the same way as a standard half belt (and certainly not the same as a cafe racer or similar). The perfect fitting A2 (yeah I said "perfect" ) has a modest amount of drape through the torso.

EDIT: most importantly tho, it's all about the contract in terms of fit. The subject Star is slimmer than say a RW. As such, a wider relative chest will be significantly offset by narrow shoulders, waist and sleeves

That's good to know. Roughy speaking, about how much more room for drape would you target in an A2 vs, say, a slim fitting half belt? Hypothetically, if such a half belt had a chest of 20 3/4" (21" if trying really hard to make perfectly flat)--would you go up another ~1 inch for an A2 p2p?

And that QW A2 does look awesome on you! Love the olive knits.

 

[Edward]

I started interested in A-2 but then I really lost the interest and went for civilian styles. Nowadays the only military style I would buy again is probably an Eric Hartmann from Eastman or an A-1 from Eastman because they've the original one. I love Good Wear but I can't justify the price and after going trough customs an A-1 it could cost me around 1800$ if not more in total which makes that a no go.

I'm much the same - started with A2s and motorcycle jackets. Still big on the latter, not so much the former any longer. The civilian jackets just interest me more now, I think - more variety. Maybe it's also because I'm ideally reaching for an accurate civilian look in how I dress - the average civvy guy in 1940-whatever wouldn't have been wearing a military flying jacket.

Yeah, Goodwear are lovely. I was all fired up to buy one of John's Aero contract repros in the early days, but then the pound crashed against the dollar and the cost of the jacket went up from GBP400 to GBP600 as a result - this at the time when Aero were still looking £300-£350 for an A2, and you could have a halfbelt for £500ish. I think now with the pound's crash following the Goodwear price increase of a couple of years ago, one of John's jackets is around £1,250. Beautiful, but far more than I could justify.

Now's a good time for you to be looking at Aero and ELC, though, given the pound is now very weak against the Euro as well as the dollar.

I would have thought the perceived slowdown or loss of interest in jackets would be more due to the Northern Hemisphere only now coming out of the warmer weather?

Definitely affects things. I bought my Irvin some years ago on eBay for a good GBP100 less buying it in August than I'd have paid in the following November.

When the hugely expensive TV series THE MIGHTY EIGHTH finally comes out there may be a resurgence. Any way it's a buyers market for many these days so a good time to take advantage.

Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I mean - i's amazing how big a difference a tv show or film can make. I'd never seen tanker jackets sell much beyond our sort of circle until Brad Pitt wore one in Fury, for example.

I picked up a pair of engineer boots and asked how much they were. "£1,000" came the reply. So I put them down.

Yeah. I've seen those. Beautiful, but I can't even begin to compute the idea of spending a grand on a pair of non-bespoke boots.

Not sure how old you are, but in 1985, the Pound hit a low of $1.03. I remembered this because several rich Americans ran over to the UK and bought some Spitfires and Mosquitoes, at blow out prices! I was just thinking the other day, I wish I had a spare $32,000, then I would put it in an account in Pound Sterling, then I could buy a Suffolk Jaguar SS100 kit! Even now, with the fall, I figured the difference in price from last year, would easily pay for the shipping expenses! I am sure, a lot of mail order UK businesses will do well with us Yanks!

There's very little manufacturing industry left in the UK these days (if memory serves, it accounts for around 11 percent of our economy now, and a lot of that is more assembly of complete sets of imported parts than ground-up manufacture), but what there is of it will certainly stand to gain from a very weak pound. Aero should be raking it in hand over fist from the States!

I'm 42; I remember the 'Black Wednesday' crash of 85, though all the figures I can find for it here have it at USD1.24 at the time. The UK Financial Times is claiming the current rate (down as low as USD1.22, with a brief flash of USD1.18 last Monday) is the lowest it's been in 162 years. Which is pretty shocking, if accurate, given the hit it took during the twentieth century with two world wars for a start.

 

[cuchulain]

Sterling is at its weakest point against the dollar in 31 years. It's a great time to buy an Aero jacket, or invest in UK markets in general as they'll no doubt rebound once the Brexit business is finalized. I see this with Japanese products, I like Seiko watches and I buy their JDM watches when the Yen is tanking, saves a good bit of money.

It's the main reason I pulled the trigger on my 1930's HB from Aero, and they let me pay up front to take advantage of the low British Pound which was cool.

 

[Stearmen]

I'm 42; I remember the 'Black Wednesday' crash of 85, though all the figures I can find for it here have it at USD1.24 at the time. The UK Financial Times is claiming the current rate (down as low as USD1.22, with a brief flash of USD1.18 last Monday) is the lowest it's been in 162 years. Which is pretty shocking, if accurate, given the hit it took during the twentieth century with two world wars for a start.

What I am gathering from all the different sources out there, The Pound briefly hit either $1.03 or 1.05. By briefly, I mean just that, latterly for a minute or two, then stabilized back up at $1.24 to close out that day. I am sure that caused a lot of traders to have hart palpitations. Today, an amateur could probably buy in at that low rate, but back then, I am not sure the computers were fast enough? As for us today, there is lots of speculation whether it will be 1:1, I will use the scientific method and flip a coin!

 

[Edward]

What I am gathering from all the different sources out there, The Pound briefly hit either $1.03 or 1.05. By briefly, I mean just that, latterly for a minute or two, then stabilized back up at $1.24 to close out that day. I am sure that caused a lot of traders to have hart palpitations. Today, an amateur could probably buy in at that low rate, but back then, I am not sure the computers were fast enough? As for us today, there is lots of speculation whether it will be 1:1, I will use the scientific method and flip a coin!

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, the official Black Wednesday figure getting cited now is the close-of-day USD1.31, if memory serves.

Either way, we'll soon be trading in jelly beans and using our currency for Andrex if this keeps up. I'd hoped to get back to the States soon, but I'm not even considering it until the pound is at least back to USD1.50.

 

[omarco]

I'm sorry to bump such an old thread but this jacket still haunts me a little bit. Especially now I'm on the look out for something virtually identical in size.

If the person who bought this fancies letting it go then give me a shout.. I'll buy it!

Cheers.

 

[ButteMT61]

I'm sorry to bump such an old thread but this jacket still haunts me a little bit. Especially now I'm on the look out for something virtually identical in size.

If the person who bought this fancies letting it go then give me a shout.. I'll buy it!

Cheers.

Put a post in the Classifieds...I saw @saucerfiend doing so and I think he found one - in a 46. Someone also posted a reply with one. Good luck.

 

[omarco]

Thanks Butte, already done so. I wish i was a size 46, all those great GW's.. 42L is a curse of a size when it comes to flight jackets.

Cheers.

 

[ButteMT61]

Thanks Butte, already done so. I wish i was a size 46, all those great GW's.. 42L is a curse of a size when it comes to flight jackets.

Cheers.

Pfft, try wearing a 48

 

[omarco]

tbh i think anyone not JC shaped gets a raw deal but at least you're in proportion ;-)

 

[ButteMT61]

tbh i think anyone not JC shaped gets a raw deal but at least you're in proportion ;-)

There was a time where I begged JC to start making test jackets in 48's. I understand why he hasn't, but I still hope...

 

[Brettafett]

Butte.... Have you seen this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mint-Good...600340?hash=item3ad8df0f94:g:JEIAAOSwLEtYjn4H

 

[HoosierDaddy]

'Kid Skin'....really..??

 

[Monitor]

Kid is a young goat, right?

 

[Otter]

Made by Dr. Hannibal Lecter perhaps ?