Mr. Scratch
New in Town
- Messages
- 38
- Location
- Eugene, Oregon
The discussion of the "large" collar on the fine A-2 copy Fishmeok's made got me looking at the collar on my recent acquisition, a Flight Apparel Industries A-2 (I'm not psychologically ready to patch-up and paint an Aero yet!).
As mentioned in other threads here, the FAI A-2 was a generic jacket made until the mid-80s. While it's is well-made, one of the complaints about it is the large "SHAFT" wakka-chikka collar that appears to be about 1/2" larger than an original.
This certainly appears to be the case with mine - the collar seems big to me. Wearing it upturned in the rain this morning, It kinda felt like the collar of a leather Pea Coat. Here is a pic (taken in the mirror, that's why the squadron patch is on the wrong side):
But here's the kicker - when I compare the collar to two other 40's period A-2 style jackets (where the collars to not appear out of proportion), the collar is NOT any larger. In fact, when compared to a private-purchase war-worn A-2 type that I own, the collar is actually slightly smaller. The difference seems to result from the collar stand at the base of the collar...but this is the same pattern used by Rough Wear, Perry and other original manufacturers.
So what gives? Is there a reason the collar looks this way? Is it that the few original A-2s I've examined didn't have collar stands, and that some war-period collars did appear this large? Did original jackets with collar stands have correspondingly smaller collars? Is it not really that big, but my view has been flavored by the opinions of others? Am I missing something? What say you?
Scratch
As mentioned in other threads here, the FAI A-2 was a generic jacket made until the mid-80s. While it's is well-made, one of the complaints about it is the large "SHAFT" wakka-chikka collar that appears to be about 1/2" larger than an original.
This certainly appears to be the case with mine - the collar seems big to me. Wearing it upturned in the rain this morning, It kinda felt like the collar of a leather Pea Coat. Here is a pic (taken in the mirror, that's why the squadron patch is on the wrong side):
But here's the kicker - when I compare the collar to two other 40's period A-2 style jackets (where the collars to not appear out of proportion), the collar is NOT any larger. In fact, when compared to a private-purchase war-worn A-2 type that I own, the collar is actually slightly smaller. The difference seems to result from the collar stand at the base of the collar...but this is the same pattern used by Rough Wear, Perry and other original manufacturers.
So what gives? Is there a reason the collar looks this way? Is it that the few original A-2s I've examined didn't have collar stands, and that some war-period collars did appear this large? Did original jackets with collar stands have correspondingly smaller collars? Is it not really that big, but my view has been flavored by the opinions of others? Am I missing something? What say you?
Scratch
