31 Model A
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Was there such a thing??????
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Leather munitions jacket???
- Thread starter 31 Model A
- Start date
Well, Orvis seemed to think so:
http://www.orvis.com/p/lambskin-munitions-leather-vest/82y0
This is the vest - there is a long sleeved jacket too. But the general reviews I read were poor due to the thin lambskin.
http://www.orvis.com/p/lambskin-munitions-leather-vest/82y0
This is the vest - there is a long sleeved jacket too. But the general reviews I read were poor due to the thin lambskin.
31 Model A
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The Orvis offered is why I asked. I know the brits during the WWI & WWII years had a leather vest called a 'jerkin' but I never heard one called a Munitions Vest or even a Munitions coat.
Yes, the jerkins were fairly ubiquitous, but I just googled "WW2 RAF ground crew" and came upon this image - not a regular jerkin as it has a belt on the reverse … so possibly?
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/142567144426152762/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/142567144426152762/
31 Model A
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I think that is his load bearing belt, what we called a pistol belt or part of the LBE issue.
Matt Deckard
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It looks very French resistance when paired with a turtle neck
tropicalbob
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As I mentioned in another thread, it's the cheesiest "leather" I've ever felt. The worst.
31 Model A
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I wasn't planning on acquiring one. I had never heard of them being called a "munitions" vest/coat. But as Standbye posted, a munitions crew with bomb loading wagons shows, they could be called by that name. In the collectors field, they are called 'jerkins'.
31 Model A
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Very popular with coal men after the war.
Have you ever come across the 'jacket' model?
Only in the catalogue …
http://www.orvis.com/p/lambskin-munitions-jacket/2c0y
http://www.orvis.com/p/lambskin-munitions-jacket/2c0y
31 Model A
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A modern day invention is what I was thinking. Nice style though, looks more like a leather single breasted pea coat.
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Edward
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Yes, it doesn't look like part of the jacket to me. Mind you, I'm more weirded out by his footwear, which appears to be large, wooden clogs???
Very popular with coal men after the war.
I don't know if it's my old mind playing tricks on me, but I'm cure I remember one of our coalmen wearing one of these circa 1980, doing deliveries to the house (we had a coal-fired central heating boiler installed in 1980.... state of the art, at the time. Nobody had gas or oil in those days, though within a decade oil was the norm). That and them all in donkey jackets, of course.
Yeah, I suspect it has a similar provenance to the USN G8...
Edward
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FWIW..... if I was looking at somethingl ike that munitions jacket, I'd probably be more inclined to look into the Aero Shackleton, or, perhaps, something akin to the Magnoli Quatermain Vest. I've toyed with the idea of something in that general ballpark for Summer (I envisage something like the Shackleton with a v'ed collar instead of the round neck, perhaps even a shawl collar type lapel to it), though I'm in two minds. The Lady, when asked, made a face and muttered something about Sting....
31 Model A
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I can understand the use of wooden clogs when handling explosives, not chance of an electrical charge setting off the detonator with wooden shoes.
Yes, it doesn't look like part of the jacket to me. Mind you, I'm more weirded out by his footwear, which appears to be large, wooden clogs???
I don't know if it's my old mind playing tricks on me, but I'm cure I remember one of our coalmen wearing one of these circa 1980, doing deliveries to the house (we had a coal-fired central heating boiler installed in 1980.... state of the art, at the time. Nobody had gas or oil in those days, though within a decade oil was the norm). That and them all in donkey jackets, of course.
Yeah, I suspect it has a similar provenance to the USN G8...
31 Model A
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That Aero website is nice, good selection but a tad bit too much that my pocket book would allow.
It's the Royal Dutch Airforce in Belgium, 1944/45. Could the clogs have been an esprit de corps thing for Dutch servicemen (who'd been in exile for a few years by then)?
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The leather jerkins are useful but the round collars make them uncomfortable to work in as they tend to dig into the throat. I like Edward's idea of a v-collar. Not sure if today's Sting likes to dress up as a coal man, so I reckon you'd be safe, Edward!
He's wearing a '37 Pattern Webbing Belt over the jerkin to cinch it at the waist (the jerkin looks very over-sized on him).
The clogs are a nice touch! What a great way to show your patriotism in the face of Nazi invasion!
However, there is a type of traditional wooden footwear in Japan (called 'geta'), and a special variety of these was invented for those who worked with machinery at some point before WW2 since they did not spark. Maybe the clogs are practical?
