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ALL ORIGINAL Irvin RAF type Jackets - Loving that Wolf in sheeps' clothing!

aswatland

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Kent, England
It's been very quiet here recently, so to get the thread going here are some pictures I took earlier today of three Irvins I bought earlier in the year. The first is a beautiful Wareing's jacket that dates to 1938-9. It is in superb original condition and only lacks the linen label. The zips are the unmarked Dot variety and the slider bucket is marked "Dot British".

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aswatland

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This wired jacket was made by Links. It dates to 1939 and has a "Dot British" slider bucket. Detailed pics of it are earlier in the thread.
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029-3.jpg


The last jacket is a size 42 Irvin Air Chute jacket with a 1938 contract date on the label. Again the slider bucket is the Dot British variety and the zips are unmarked.

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Smithy

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5,139
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Norway
Good grief those are in good nick Andrew! That first one looks positively "fresh out of the box". Be very interesting to know whether it belonged to someone in Fighter Command as the lack of wear and remarkable condition suggest it's not a former bomber boy's.

Great stuff and thanks for the photos.
 

alsendk

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Zealand Denmark
Andrew
If the colour rendition in your fine pictures is truthful, then all three of these wonderful Irvins appears to be much more reddish in colour than the chestnut colour I am used to see on most replicas...including my own ALC jacket.
Did the original wartime jackets have this colour in general, or is it due to flashlight that they look reddish?

So many questions Andrew, but you are the one that have had half the Royal arforce`s Irvin jackets through your hands, so no one would be in a better position to give an answer I believe :O)
Are any of these jackets in size 40 btw?
 
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alsendk

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Zealand Denmark
Free818
洗衫唔使忧,有白猫帮你手 = look at these funny guys
(translated by my chinese born wife)
I personally fails to see where the funny part begins.
These people were at war.
 
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Smithy

I'll Lock Up
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5,139
Location
Norway
Andrew
If the colour rendition in your fine pictures is truthful, then all three of these wonderful Irvins appears to be much more reddish in colour than the chestnut colour I am used to see on most replicas...including my own ALC jacket.
Did the original wartime jackets have this colour in general, or is it due to flashlight that they look reddish?

Although Andrew will be able to elucidate more, many originals did seem to have a reddish/strong chestnut colour to the outside hide. Monitor differences and photo/light differences aside my Eastman 1940 is very similar in colour to the Wareings in Andrew's first jacket which is nice for me ;) And if you consider that a hide will often darken slightly with age, wear, the addition of most kinds of leather conditioner, then these jackets were "lighter" in tone than what people had come to expect with the first repros in films such as the "Battle of Britain" which tended to be a very dark brown.
 

aswatland

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Kent, England
The colour of all three jackets is correct and has not been enhanced in any way. The skin shade of original Irvins varies from a reddish brown to darker seal shades. Each one of these three jackets is slightly different in colour. Just like some A2s that were re-sprayed in a depot a dark seal, I have seen Irvins that were similarly refurbished.
 

alsendk

A-List Customer
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427
Location
Zealand Denmark
WOW 90F, that`s 32C
last evening late I was taking a walk with my wife, and was wearing my ALC jacket. The temperature was 8C, and it was raining, and quite windy.....a typical danish summer, raining away - again.

I actually like the many phases of changes in the weather here, but when it get to summer, then every single dane are thirsting to see the sun, and have the opportunity to lay in the garden, get a little sun tanned, and grill some bbq in the evening, without being forced inside by the rain and the cold....but in least we are able to flash the Irvin jacket a lot more than most loungers in here I guess :O)
still I envy you the 90F for shure.
 

alsendk

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427
Location
Zealand Denmark
Andrew, I really don`t think our chinese lounger understand english at all, somehow he seem misplaced here, but I could be wrong
 
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irvinsuit

Familiar Face
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52
Location
Scotland
Hi Everyone, I need Andrew's help on this one. Having done the thoroughly decent thing and purchased Roger the Bomber Command bear, he arrived resplendent in his Irvin Jacket. I am attempting to date the maunfacturer and the year of manufacture, as Roger has removed any Air Ministry labels from the jacket. It could be a Links or DGL Irvin from 1941 or 1942, however I must defer to Andrew's superior knowledge :eek:)

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj57/irvinsuit/?action=view&current=Rogerbearsmall.jpg
 

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