Flying Tigers A2 flight jacket.

[comida]

Hello everybody! So my uncle picked up this flight jacket for me here the other day. The man he bought it from was a WW2 USMC veteran. He said in 1945 he traded the pilot or owner of this jacket for some Japanese souvenirs that he picked up on the battle field and ended up with this flight jacket. The jacket is not in the best shape and shows pretty good wear. The manufacturer of the jacket is avirex as near as I can tell. The I in avirex is worn away, but I cant imagine it to be anything other than that. The flying tiger patch is painted leather. The blood chit on the back is silk. I was just looking to get some opinions on whether you guys think this is a good one or not? Thank you all in advance.

[comida]

Rear of jacket

[comida]

tag

[comida]

inside

[manayunkman]

That's a 14th AF jacket that came out after the Flying Tigers.

 

The cuffs and leather look very strange to me.

[BlueBookGuy]

Avirex Ltd. didn't exist before 1975 if I'm not wrong, it was founded that year by Mr. Clyman (remember when I got issues of its 'The Cockpit' magazine in early '90s as a collector).

 

The only link it might have had with the military is when it supplied a part of modern-day A-2s to USAF in 1987-88, after the officialized reissue of it on a limited basis.

[pararaftanr2]

comida,

Unfortunately for you, Franco is correct. Avirex, a.k.a. The Cockpit, sold fantasy aviation fashion clothing, starting in the mid 1970s.

Google the names and you will see their handiwork. Although a nice piece for everyday wear, it is not WW2 vintage.

Regards, Paul

[BlueBookGuy]

Going a bit O.T. but topic is interesting though,

 

should one wish getting a modern-day A-2 for everyday use while still having the highest absolute in accuracy to a true wartime A-2 (actually a 101% photocopy with incredible quality and details), nothing beats those by Eastman Leather Co. from England.

Some of them nothing less go after the true telling features of precise wartime makers (Dubow, Spiewak among others) and prices go accordingly, when new.

[comida]

Thank you guys for the quick response. You guys just nailed what I was thinking home. I did find info on the AVIREX limited being from the 70's. I did find another website that was talking about AVIREX making flight jackets during WW2, but there was never a mention of the limited behind the name. So would it be safe to assume that the limited was then added in the 70's? With that being said would it also be safe to assume that all of the patches are also a fantasy piece or reproduction? By the looks of the leather flying tigers patch I would say that is not WW2. However I have no idea what to look for when trying to figure out whether or not the blood chit is real. With any luck that could be good, haha.?

[BlueBookGuy]

hello again,

 

the 'Limited' being or not present after the main name is less than important.

Jeff Clyman was the starter of Avirex firm in the year 1975, more exactly the brand 'Avirex' sold its items through the catalog 'The Cockpit'. In early 2006 the Avirex brand has been sold by Clyman himself to the Ecko Unlimited Co. and he has re-started a new company under the name 'Cockpit USA '.

 

The most earliest your A-2 could be if even had been made in Avirex's first year of existence, it's at least 30 yers after war's end. That's the thing, unfortunately.

If speaking of repros (or if we prefer, replicas or fakes or phonies) there is a whole universe turning around the repro Chits, patches, jackets, nametahs etc. - interesting in its own but totally outside of the real stuff. Just go to eBay and try tipying 'Blood Chits' or 'WW2 Leather A-2 Patches', you'll see 30+ modern ones for every wartime original piece.

Most of instances they are correctly depicted as non-original, but be aware in this collecting field the word 'authentic' doesn't mean necessarily wartime original, and 'authentic'

is pretty much used when it comes to this topic.

(btw, this a detail that in early times made me curious 'cause in Italian language, the word autentico (authentic) kind of absolutely means originale (original).

 

As for the real Blood Chits matter, IMO perhaps a newcomer without at least some of experience couldn't do much in his own for getting unhurted in the 'minefield' of the Blood Chits' world. A great work about that is Bob Baldwin's book 'Last Hope' entirely devoted to the subject.

 

Hope this could help a little. Franco.

[Johnny Signor]

The Flying Tiger/14th AAF patch is put on the jacket way off the position it should be also, I'm sure if it had been an original the Tiger would have been attached properly on it .

[BlueBookGuy]

yes of course

 

being rotated exactly a good 90° on itself. Even though, this detaill is by far the least 'harmful' given the general context of such a jacket..