Original G-1 and A-2 knit

[Brettafett]

Was wondering, the knits on original G-1s would normally have been wool right?
I can imagine that they were replaced as they wore out with whatever was available...
So knits on originals today may not always be period authentic? Especially from earlier periods like the M422as from WW2 and G-1s from Korea...

 

[Atticus Finch]

Was wondering, the knits on original G-1s would normally have been wool right?
I can imagine that they were replaced as they wore out with whatever was available...
So knits on originals today may not always be period authentic? Especially from earlier periods like the M422as from WW2 and G-1s from Korea...

Yes...but they generally weren't replaced with whatever was available. When the knits on a serviceman's jacket became worn, he took the jacket to the quartermaster who replaced them with knits that conformed to the jacket's original specifications. Of course, there must have been exceptions. I have a N-2A in my collection that has old sage green cuff knits. I suspect the cuffs of this jacket became worn sometime long after the N-2B became standard issue. The quartermaster, who was probably lacking the proper blue N-2A replacements, simply installed the sage cuff knits that conformed to the N-2B's specifications...because that's what he had. At least that's my theory.

AF

 

[Peacoat]

That is a good theory, Atticus, but when I was in, there was no repair facility within the Army/AF system. When something got old and worn out, it was taken in for replacement. The Quartermaster didn't do individual repair work, at least not when I was in. Others may have a different experience.

 

[Stearmen]

Keep in mind, all type 422 and early G1s had rib rack bi-directional wool waist bands. That is what they were replaced with, unless they were replace when the owner was back in civilian life.

 

[rocketeer]

Looks like some nice goat there. Is it yours? Any pics of the complete jacket please

 

[Deacon211]

I had the same experience as Peacoat. If your gear needed repair, you could take it to the paraloft and the rigger/flight equipment dude there might repair it according to his level of skill. As these jackets were flight equipment, there was no requirement for the repairs to look nice per se. For a knit, you might have the rigger get on his heavy duty sewing machine (the kind used for sewing heavy webbing) and darn the heck out of the thing, like in the repair above.

If the rigger had replacement knits (something which I kind of doubt) perhaps he could have replaced them. Some riggers were self-made expert flight gear tailors, others were pretty ham-handed. But, when a piece of flight gear became "unserviceable", it was replaced.

That assumes that there was something to replace it with of course, which is why you sometimes see flight crew wearing something ratty. Keep in mind also that a really crafty supply sergeant prides himself on his ability to hoard nice new gear and many took great ownership of their pilots. So, "unserviceable" is a very nebulous term.

As a flight student, we used to trek from MCAS Cherry Point to the army surplus stores near Seymour Johnson AFB to buy the DRMOed winter Nomex jackets that the Air Force had declared unserviceable. They might have been a little dirty or worn, but the jackets that the Marines had discarded looked like the previous owner had been on the losing side of a mortar fight!

 

[Stearmen]

Looks like some nice goat there. Is it yours? Any pics of the complete jacket please

Sorry, just a random photo from the interweb.