New Patch on ELC M422A: Jacket Just Back From Paint Shop.

[bn1966]

Collected my ELC Goat skin M422A yesterday from a local painter. Thought I would post a few pics of my jacket & new patch. I've found this jacket very comfortable but still giving a tailored profile :

 

[Stand By]

Really nice!
Great work by the artist - it complements the jacket perfectly - and the jacket looks superb. Nice one!

 

[bn1966]

Thanks Stand By, great to hear from you. How's the weather where you are? I'm off up to London tomorrow for a nosey..it's quite warm warm here at present (& muggy) so an A2 for the evening methinks.

 

[Stand By]

To be honest, It Ain't 'Alf Hot, Mum sums it up nicely. Very hot and humid and we've had lots of thunder, lightning and downpours (we've had a flooded basement. The fun never ends). It's feeling like 40C with the humidex and it's just toasty out there. Thank God for air conditioning!
And crocs! ;-)

I've been poring page-by-page over the American Flight Jackets and Hell Bent For Leather books that Nick123 kindly bestowed upon me and have seen more original M422A's/G-1's and I can see that yours looks the part completely. I'd be thrilled with that.
Putting a name tag on it or another patch?

And enjoy wearing that A2 ... Alas, no chance for me. Oh, for a more temperate climate. Pass the mosquito repellant, Vicar ...

 

[Stand By]

This was me last weekend at the Hamilton Air Show - before I got my "farmer's tan" in a single day! Thank God for sunscreen.
Couldn't believe this beauty was actually there ... and it flew! And with an FW-190. Incredible. A top day out as usual ...

 

[bn1966]

Thanks again Stand By for your kind comments. Long may your air con continue working. We're expecting our monsoon season soon...if it's anything like last year's weather, maybe I should consider a jet ski for getting to work....at the very least an inflatable dinghy on stand by in the boot of the car.

To the jacket, I might get a painted 'name tag' put on it (something humorous...no rank that I don't hold). Looking at archive photos I've seen some 422s with painted tags as opposed to the leather ones. Probably won't have any further patches....keeping it minimalist.

One thing I have found with the ELC horse hide A2 is that it's very light & wearable in the warmer weather with just a t-shirt under it and is my summer jacket of choice (much lighter than the M422A).

Have you got any projects on the go?

 

[bn1966]

Wow that looked like a great day out. Love the 190 pic.

 

[Stand By]

Sorry to hear that you're being deluged with water (Jet-Ski. That's funny) - I know from my family reports from home that the weather's been very duff at your end - and I really shouldn't complain about being baked ...!

I agree - I'd leave the jacket for now as it looks great as-is ...
BTW - what squadron is your patch for? Who were they?

No jacket projects on the go for me - just home renovation projects. We now need 2 new basement windows, the interlock bricks all lifting up, the drive re-grading and the interlock bricks re-laying and then the spare room needs new flooring after I pulled up the wet carpet, underlay etc. Just that project.

But the American Flight Jackets book has been a delight and a wonderful distraction. And it's been very inspiring - no, funds aren't stretching to a jacket just now, but it definitely makes me want another some day - and it's the insignia and paintworks that gets me hooked. Some jackets just stand out to me and catch my imagination and desire to work something together like that for myself ... and the ones that have (very surprisingly) stuck out the most for me are the "Hump" pilot A2s of the CBI Theatre - I just love the insignia and the mission markings (camels!)- and what an equally noble, dangerous and unsung thing they all did!
So that has had me looking at their history and the patches again in all-new vein ... The thrill of the slow hunt ...!

 

[rocketeer]

Wow that looked like a great day out. Love the 190 pic.

Sorry old chap, thats an ME 262. To me the holy grail of WWII jets, probably the holy grail of WWII fighters if it could have been used to it's full potential, but uncle Adolf would not let them.

Oh, great jacket by the way, my first military leather was a Korean era G1

 

[rocketeer]

So that has had me looking at their history and the patches again in all-new vein ... The thrill of the slow hunt ...!

Hunt down national Geographic, June 1943. It has a few pages on squadron markings and there are a few other books around. Maurer Maurer Combat Squadrons of the Air Force in WWII comes to mind but it is all black and white with updates from when the WWII units went over to missiles, jets, or other functions. That is, if the WWII unit or squadron badge was changed post war, the later patch is listed. Units and squadrons that were deactivated at the end of hostilities or thereabouts, the WWII patch is featured. Maurer Maurer also have a title Air Force Combat Units in WWII also.
I found these books very usefull in the 1980s, well before I discovered the internet.
As a side note, Just put into Google WWII Squadron Patches(dont worry differentiating USAAF USN or RAF) and hundreds come up
J

 

[bn1966]

Hope the home renovation gets completed soon Stand By so you can get on with the "Hump" project ...I always have to have projects on the go. Took both the M422A & the A2 up to London with me (trawling the flea markets) for a few days last week (glorious weather), only the A2 got used due to it being a bit humid. The patch on the M422A is made up, a cartoon shark with P40 Mustang Teeth, my birth year as a tattoo on it's fin & a pretty blue background.