Hello all, I have a WW1 Flight Jacket and I’m interested to know more about it, so aside from you telling me any facts you may know about it, I’ve also found a tag with what I fear is a date of 1959, so I want you to tell me what you think of that (is it a date or just one of the various types of military numbers). I fear this number’s wrath because I’ve specifically bought this jacket because it was listed as a World War 1 Flight Jacket. It weighs 6.3 LBs or 2.9 KG.
I hope all is well with all of you during this horrible time, please stay in doors, the virus has gotten this far for a reason.
Until I hear from one of you:
Have a good one
Luke
Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
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Euvoren1900
- Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 15 May 2020, 04:42
- Location: New York
Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
- Attachments
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- This is obviously the jacket in question, it’s 18 inches shoulder to shoulder
- 6615BF44-FC31-4718-AA99-D5779CC5F7B9.jpeg (151.31 KiB) Viewed 7184 times
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- As you can see the velvet lining has major damage to it on the left [not quite sure what type of damage], on the right it’s replaced by a cotton panel that’s covered in ‘pills’, the tags consist of an unreadable white tag placed on the pocket, there’s some sort of pocket interior tag which is the one with 1959 [again, not sure if it’s a date or something else, please do tell me what that is], and on the top, it says (although not in view,(sorry) 25. Ma), and than Post 59 ‘printed’ into the velvet. And at the bottom; there’s 2 loops of some sort at the bass of each sleeve, the first thing I thought of upon seeing it is “fun loop” being the name, because “what else is could it be for”
- BA3D6539-0988-4B55-8FB6-8D3D281B5E3F.jpeg (176.41 KiB) Viewed 7184 times
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- On the top left, there’s extra lining from the sleeve on the end which is crafted into a hand warmer with a thumb hole and a button to allow your thumb in or something. The button is covered in plastic, at the bottom, you have a high collar strap, for when you need the collar to cover your neck after buttoning the lapels up into a collar that makes you look Like your about to cook up the a meal for a bunch of metal heads or something. Those buttons are also plastic which isn’t completely outlandish since plastic was invented in 1907 by a Bulgarian which is where this jacket was used, although he moved to New York before he made it. Plastic went mainstream in 1935. The metal chain that you see up there on the right is the thing you’d hang it on a hook with, or in the pilot’s case, sling it over you’re shoulder.
- 3C6A1CF4-E341-4206-9895-EE35822CF1DD.jpeg (170.86 KiB) Viewed 7184 times
Re: Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
Chain hanger loop would worry me.
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Euvoren1900
- Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 15 May 2020, 04:42
- Location: New York
Re: Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
I was dumb enough to test it and it’s still strong enough to hang the whole 6.3 LBs, although something felt wrong about hanging it, I think it’s black steel.
Re: Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
No doubt strong enough, more of an authenticity issue.
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Euvoren1900
- Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 15 May 2020, 04:42
- Location: New York
Re: Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
Oh, I see. Yeah, it looks to be in nice condition, but I’m not looking to sell it any time soon, unless the entire thing isn’t authentic, I just want the main parts of it (jacket and lining) to be authentic. if the chain isn’t authentic at least it’s cool.
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Euvoren1900
- Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 15 May 2020, 04:42
- Location: New York
Re: Is this WW1 Flight Jacket real?
Hello,
I think I found out what it is, on the interior of the lining, as I said before, it said Post 59, but I looked it up, and this part is a bit of a stretch, but there was a German cargo Zeppelin L59 (designated LZ104), it was called Africa Ship, and it made its last stop in Bulgaria, where it then went to an African Colony and was dismantled because they couldn't harvest any gases to make the zeppelin float high enough. I looked up the crew of Africa ship, and their jackets were very similar to mine, give or take a few minor-medium details, like pockets, and the presence of shoulder flaps (I'm not sure of the name, they would occasionally have ranks on them),
picture of the crew
https://www.google.com/search?q=+L59+cr ... i0qLmKfPLM
as you can see there's a lot of them, and their jacket styles vary
they usually wear them buttoned up all the way, but mine seems to want to get buttoned up to the 3rd from the top, I have no info on the previous owner, but all I know is that this jacket is the strongest and heaviest jacket I could've hoped for, and it's well past able to be worn today, especially when it just got out of the military
I think I found out what it is, on the interior of the lining, as I said before, it said Post 59, but I looked it up, and this part is a bit of a stretch, but there was a German cargo Zeppelin L59 (designated LZ104), it was called Africa Ship, and it made its last stop in Bulgaria, where it then went to an African Colony and was dismantled because they couldn't harvest any gases to make the zeppelin float high enough. I looked up the crew of Africa ship, and their jackets were very similar to mine, give or take a few minor-medium details, like pockets, and the presence of shoulder flaps (I'm not sure of the name, they would occasionally have ranks on them),
picture of the crew
https://www.google.com/search?q=+L59+cr ... i0qLmKfPLM
as you can see there's a lot of them, and their jacket styles vary
they usually wear them buttoned up all the way, but mine seems to want to get buttoned up to the 3rd from the top, I have no info on the previous owner, but all I know is that this jacket is the strongest and heaviest jacket I could've hoped for, and it's well past able to be worn today, especially when it just got out of the military