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The Cockpit USA Type M-69D Air Transport Coat

AdeeC

Practically Family
Messages
646
Location
Australia
May be worth looking out for an original. Seen some excellent examples sell over the past year for a few hundred dollars or thereabouts. Far less than what they should be worth. Resale value might be a problem with a new one as the market seems limited.
 

Dinerman

Super Moderator
Bartender
Messages
10,562
Location
Bozeman, MT
Originals generally go in the one to three hundred range and most I've seen are in very good shape. They don't come up all the time, but there's not much of a market when they do.


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CBI

One Too Many
Messages
1,418
Location
USA
yep -keep your eye on eBay or ask on forums about a coat like this. Wonderful originals can be found. Much more awesome and dirt cheap compared to this. I owned a super pre-WW2 lighter than air pilot/crew leather coat like this (I forget the number but it had part of a real tag). I think I paid $200. I am not sure how large of a pack of animals were killed for that one coat! It was just too much of a "statement" IMO to wear in public. I mean, who the heck wears this kind of thing anymore? My 2 cents anyway..........
 

Ralph_Phillips

One of the Regulars
Messages
118
Location
Texas & Australia
Received an e-mail from the Cockpit USA that said this was a new product for them. It's a good looking coat. A little pricey for me, but I wouldn't mind having it. This coat always reminds me of the Maintenance Officer from the movie 'Men of the Fighting Lady.' He wore one and I always thought it looked cool.
https://www.cockpitusa.com/type-m-6...-68186221&mc_cid=ca2a4b5e82&mc_eid=331afe51ec

My 8th grade math teacher was in "The Fighting Lady"... if I remember correctly, he said it was filmed on the Yorktown. He was a Navy pilot from roughly 1940 to around 1970, retired with the rank of Rear Admiral, then became a math teacher. I forgot what point it is in the film, but he's clearly seen in an aircraft on deck getting ready for a raid.

He was probably the greatest 8th grade math teacher in the history of the universe, he taught us how to drop bombs, how to calculate our way back to an aircraft carrier, told us about raids on Japan and dropping caltrops on airfields...
 

pilot error

One of the Regulars
Messages
225
Location
fl
Go for the original. As Paddy said going on 10 years ago.....THIS IS THE MOST BANG FOR THE BUCK THERE IS! The M69D and M69E were made by Willis & Geiger . These are the zipper models,I believe they were pre-war circa 1940. (Andrew can probably pin it down from the contract numbers). I have never seen one with the USN stencil. I have seen a civilian model that was sold by Abercrombie & Fitch. These go for around $500 these days. The much more common double breasted trenchcoat style that was mass produced during the war goes anywhere from $100-$300. They were made by Edmund T. Church, and Gordon & Ferguson. Many of them have the USN stencil.
 

pilot error

One of the Regulars
Messages
225
Location
fl
Here's my W & G M69D
8d8ad21b44bbfee048d301af4f44271d.jpg



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Dinerman

Super Moderator
Bartender
Messages
10,562
Location
Bozeman, MT
Avirex did a repro M-69 in the '80s sometime, I want to say it had had some kind of cheesy un-related "commemorative" lining. Lindbergh or someone like that. Wouldn't surprise me if Cockpit's dusted off the patterns from that version.

Here are some originals. I wore the button front version as my winter coat for years. Very practical.
 

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