John Lever
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,776
- Location
- Southern England
I have persuaded fellow member Ken Calder of Aero to loan me two of the latest RAF Irvin jackets. A late war and a Fleet Air Arm jacket with the yellow hood. They arrived yesterday and I spent a couple of hours trying them on and taking some photos to share with you. My wife took the shots of me wearing the jackets so apologies for the small number of images as she finds the whole subject less than interesting.
My first impression was the light weight when compared to others I have owned. The skins are very soft and pliable making the jackets easy and comfortable to wear. Fleece colour is a warm honey/beige not at all dull or flat with a slight crimp or curl. I would estimate wool length to be about 3/4 inch or 18 mm. Ken told me that the colour of the acrylic is matched to areas of unfaded leather on originals.
In the past there was an issue with tubular arm shape, this is now resolved to produce a better taper to the cuff with a nice loose area in the upper arm. Arm length has been increased so that the cuff sits around the middle of the hand not on the wrists which would be too short. The body length is just below the waist so there should be no issues with keeping the lower back warm. Ken fitted Japanese Waldes zips, they work flawlessly and have a very positive location and start when inserting the two zip parts together. This brand is new to me but is as good as any other repro makes I am familiar with. As is correct the late war jacket does not have an elastic collar strap. The belt loops are also positioned correctly so that when unfastened the superb strap hangs properly.
The late war jacket is composed of several panels fitted together diagonally at the back and horizontally at the front. All the seams align perfectly and the tapes are a perfect colour match. The AA jacket has fewer panels with horizontal seam apart from those on the arms. I like the fairly small rounded collar on this jacket it is less ostentatious than some and subtly compliments the rest of the jacket.
Obviously the main difference between the two jackets is the hood on the AA jacket. I believe this was quite a tricky thing the make and to size correctly. Some prototypes were too big and looked wrong. The yellow was also difficult to get right so as not be to lemon or too bright. The hood is fairly tricky to fold into a type of collar and I had several attempts to get it to sit properly. In winter it would be very warm particularly if you suffer from cold ears.
This AA also had quite square shoulders when compared to the late war jacket. Ken thinks there may have been some stretching during manufacture but I am sure this will not be an issue as booth jackets are beautifully made.
So Aero have made quite a bold leap with this jacket spending time and resources in development. It will probably divide people on whether they like it or not, a bit like Marmite I suppose but how many companies take risks like this these days ?
Well done Aero !
My first impression was the light weight when compared to others I have owned. The skins are very soft and pliable making the jackets easy and comfortable to wear. Fleece colour is a warm honey/beige not at all dull or flat with a slight crimp or curl. I would estimate wool length to be about 3/4 inch or 18 mm. Ken told me that the colour of the acrylic is matched to areas of unfaded leather on originals.
In the past there was an issue with tubular arm shape, this is now resolved to produce a better taper to the cuff with a nice loose area in the upper arm. Arm length has been increased so that the cuff sits around the middle of the hand not on the wrists which would be too short. The body length is just below the waist so there should be no issues with keeping the lower back warm. Ken fitted Japanese Waldes zips, they work flawlessly and have a very positive location and start when inserting the two zip parts together. This brand is new to me but is as good as any other repro makes I am familiar with. As is correct the late war jacket does not have an elastic collar strap. The belt loops are also positioned correctly so that when unfastened the superb strap hangs properly.
The late war jacket is composed of several panels fitted together diagonally at the back and horizontally at the front. All the seams align perfectly and the tapes are a perfect colour match. The AA jacket has fewer panels with horizontal seam apart from those on the arms. I like the fairly small rounded collar on this jacket it is less ostentatious than some and subtly compliments the rest of the jacket.
Obviously the main difference between the two jackets is the hood on the AA jacket. I believe this was quite a tricky thing the make and to size correctly. Some prototypes were too big and looked wrong. The yellow was also difficult to get right so as not be to lemon or too bright. The hood is fairly tricky to fold into a type of collar and I had several attempts to get it to sit properly. In winter it would be very warm particularly if you suffer from cold ears.
This AA also had quite square shoulders when compared to the late war jacket. Ken thinks there may have been some stretching during manufacture but I am sure this will not be an issue as booth jackets are beautifully made.
So Aero have made quite a bold leap with this jacket spending time and resources in development. It will probably divide people on whether they like it or not, a bit like Marmite I suppose but how many companies take risks like this these days ?
Well done Aero !
( if only there was a quick way to age these jackets and still deliver a result which remotely resembles the actual ageing process ). 
