Famous People in Flight Jackets

[Treetopflyer]

The picture is from "The Devils Brigade." Not sure on the contract.

 

[tropicalbob]

I always thought Holden was one of the best actors America had to offer the world. His portrayal of the Swedish-American businessman forced to spy for the Allies in "The Counterfeit Traitor" gave me a whole new perspective on the war. It was that film, also, that made me fall in love with WWII-era European clothing.

 

[kojax]

good movie i saw it last week

 

[Treetopflyer]

 

[Twelve O'Clock High]

Darn, it happened again! Can some one answer my question on the L2 jackets? Every time I ask, the thread seems to go off on some pop culture nonsense.

I'm positive this is an L-2 jacket, the model is listed in the USAAF Type Designation Sheets as:

Designation : L-2
Specification and model number : Y-3257
Characteristics : Utility Jacket
Service Test : May 21-45


Service tested means the pattern was accepted by the USAAF in May 1945; by 1947 (the year the USAAF became the USAF) they were issued. Colour looks to be olive green. The colour is too light on the picture to be an L-2A (only issued in navy blue and did not appear before the war in Korea). L-2Bs are later, I would say not before 1955-56, but this is an estimation.

He seems to wear it with the olive version of the K-1 flight suit.

 

[Doctor Damage]

He's Colonel Yuliy Mamchur of the Ukrainian air force (ARTICLE). Here he is wearing one of those leather jackets, so these jackets must be associated with pilots since he is supposedly a former fighter pilot.

Silverman's in the UK has a copy of those old Russian pilot's jackets LINK

 

[Stearmen]

I'm positive this is an L-2 jacket, the model is listed in the USAAF Type Designation Sheets as:

Designation : L-2
Specification and model number : Y-3257
Characteristics : Utility Jacket
Service Test : May 21-45


Service tested means the pattern was accepted by the USAAF in May 1945; by 1947 (the year the USAAF became the USAF) they were issued. Colour looks to be olive green. The colour is too light on the picture to be an L-2A (only issued in navy blue and did not appear before the war in Korea). L-2Bs are later, I would say not before 1955-56, but this is an estimation.

He seems to wear it with the olive version of the K-1 flight suit.

Thanks! I would imagine, the test pilots would also test flight gear. The photo was 1947, so well in the right time frame for the L2!

 

[Twelve O'Clock High]

No problem, the L-2 was indeed issued by 1947. As for the testing of flight gear, it was mainly done by the Aero Medical Laboratory and the Personal Equipment Laboratory, were they tested materials, cut, sizing. They were amazingly equipped, with cold chambers, low-pressure chambers and even had a metal artificial man made by General Electric that could breathe and reproduce body temperatures.

I would assume that test pilots would only use equipment that was already tested and reliable, since they probably didn't want to bother about unreliable pieces of personal equipment; on the other hand, a jacket is only a jacket.

As for L-2B jackets and K-2B suits, it seems some of the new colour "sage" green equipment was already in use at the end of the Korean war. So 1953 for the first sage green jackets and suits seems to be more realistic.

Here is an example of 1953 clothing (Korea). Left to right : A-2 jacket, B-15D (sage green), L-2A (dark blue)
Suits are likely L-1A, early K-2B; K-1 tan, K-1 olive

The image comes from the excellent jet pilot overseas website :

http://jetpilotoverseas.wordpress.com/

 

[Doctor Damage]

^ Given that Atticus Finch has more or less declined to write up a guide or something on post-WW2 nylon flight clothing, would you be interested in tackling something like that? To the best of my knowledge no such thing exists in English.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Whilst digging through the photo section of the USAF website I came across some photos of Colonel Gail Halvorson who was the "Candy Bomber" during the Berlin Airlift (article). He's wearing a strange flight jacket in these photos and when I asked our own Atticus Finch to identify he speculated that it is the top half of a K-2 flight suit with knits added. Whatever it is, it's a damn cool jacket and maybe we can get Buzz to do a replica!

Last night I watched a documentary on Halvorsen on PBS and he's an interesting, very charismatic person. Here's a link to the video: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365375773/

 

[Doctor Damage]

Fred Ascani (LINK)

 

[Doctor Damage]

John M Fritz, test pilot, wearing another strange flight jacket, similar to Halvorsen's (see above) but with raglan shoulders. Another heavily modified flight suit?

LINK

 

[Doctor Damage]

Chuck Yeager

Melvin Johnson, Boeing test pilot, wearing what looks like a cotton version of an L2A/B jacket.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Richard Lowe Johnson, test pilot
LINK

 

[Doctor Damage]

nice colour photo of the original seven astronauts (click for bigger)

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's some interesting accounts by Soviet pilots in Cuba:
http://www.airforce.ru/history/cold_war/cuba/index_en.htm

 

[Doctor Damage]

EDIT: Interestingly it appears looking at the third pic to have the high-vis orange lining.

you are correct:

 

[Stearmen]

Melvin Johnson, Boeing test pilot, wearing what looks like a cotton version of an L2A/B jacket.

Actually, that's Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston. He will go down in history as the man who did a Barrel Role flying a Boeing 707 over Seattle's 1955 Seafair and Gold Cup Hydroplane Races. [video=youtube;rILk6-4SMJQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rILk6-4SMJQ[/video]

 

[bentusian]

John M Fritz, test pilot, wearing another strange flight jacket, similar to Halvorsen's (see above) but with raglan shoulders. Another heavily modified flight suit?

As seen in this post of 'Jet Pilot Overseas' blog, these seem to have been more than just K-2B flight suits heavily modified - rather an experimental version I guess.
I also found another post in a different militaria forum referring to the same jacket with a bit of extra info on its possible manufacturer, but the jacket's identity is still elusive.

 

[thor]

Flying Tigers. M-422's and an A-2, not sausage-skin tight (guess some guys preferred their jackets loose fitting).