Bomber jacket

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MA-1 bomber jacket

A bomber jacket is an American aviator jacket of the MA-1 model made of nylon , which was developed for fighter aircraft crews ( US military standard MIL-J-8279). The MA-1 was part of the equipment of the US military from 1950 to the early 1980s.

In civilian fashion , blousons are also referred to as bomber jackets if they are based on the MA-1 model, if they are similar to it or if they only adopt individual elements from it.

history

The first MA-1 was issued to the US Air Force in 1950 . These differ slightly from the B-15 : The MA-1 has a knitted collar instead of a fur collar, so that the collar does not come into conflict with the parachute harnesses. The optimal - specified - range of use of the jacket is between −10 and +10 degrees Celsius, but it could still be worn from −18 to +15 degrees Celsius. The early MA-1 for the Air Force had a United States Air Force emblem printed on the sleeve. This was omitted in later models in favor of a patch for the various military units.

The MA-1 was not the direct successor to the B-15C and B-15D. The nylon jacket L-2, which was very similar to the MA-1, was introduced as early as 1945. It was supposed to replace the A-2, but was then only produced in small numbers. At the beginning of the 1950s, the L-2A, like the B-15C, was initially only made for the military in blue (“midnight blue”) to emphasize the independence of the United States Air Force , which until then had been known as the United States Army Air Forces was still part of the US Army. Later, the color of the L-2B was changed back to green ("sage-green"). The B-15C and L-2A co-existed until the MA-1 was introduced, which from then on was the only USAF model issued to pilots until it was superseded by the CWU-45 , which continues to this day Standard of USAF pilots is. However, all old jackets were still allowed to be worn by the pilots. During the Korean War (1950–1953) it was not uncommon to have mixed aviator clothing from different periods and colors.

Since 1958, Alpha Industries has shipped over a million copies of the MA-1 to the US Department of Defense .

The military requirements have been changed several times since its introduction (the changes can be recognized by the letters attached to the military type number, e.g. J-8279A, J-8279B, J-8279C): This is how the inner lining, fixed by quilting, was made Wool replaced with one made of polyester fiber (8 oz (/ sq. Yd. ) (= 271 g / m 2 ) Dacron), which made the jacket lighter. The push button in the front, to which the pilot could attach his oxygen mask when not in use, became obsolete due to changes in aircraft design and in pilot helmet oxygen systems. In the mid-1960s, the MA-1 was changed to a reversible jacket with an orange lining (MIL-J-8279D) so that rescue teams can more easily identify pilots who have crashed.

The first MA-1 jackets were offered in very small numbers in Europe in the late 1950s - either on the black market or through government sales. In the early 1960s, more jackets came to Europe when Alpha Industries exported military clothing for the European Air Force and civilian customers. At that time, the term scooter jacket became common in England , as the jacket was worn almost exclusively by scooter drivers.

Skinhead in a bomber jacket

Bomber jackets were and are popular in various subcultures ( gabber , punk , skinheads , especially Oi! Skins), but have also become an established part of mainstream fashion.

literature

  • Hans-Christian Dany: MA-1: Fashion and Uniform . Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-96054-089-2 .
  • Katharina Blansjaar: Chic: 50 fashion legends & how to wear them . Kein & Aber AG, 2015, ISBN 978-3-0369-9321-8 , No 5 bomber jacket.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Bomber jacket  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Footnotes

  1. ↑ BLANSJAAR, 2015 (see literature)
  2. ↑ MIL-J-8279
  3. ^ Alan D. Cirker: The Alpha Story: 50 Years of an American Military Clothing Company . Baker Hill Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-0-615-29181-9 , pp. 10 : "The MA-1 was used by United States military forces from 1950 to the early 1980's."
  4. ^ Alan D. Cirker: The Alpha Story: 50 Years of an American Military Clothing Company . Baker Hill Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-0-615-29181-9 , pp. 36 : "[...] the MA-1 was first issued in 1950 [...]"
  5. ↑ Company history of Alpha Industries ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 17, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alphaindustries.de
  6. ↑ Fabric weight jeans-manufaktur.de, around 2014, accessed August 14, 2018.