The way the US Air Force Lost Its Leather Bomber Jackets1777258

With all the invention of aircraft, an absolute necessity came to be: a way for pilots as well as their passengers to prevent warm at high altitudes. As the advancement of flight technology soared throughout the two World Wars, leather bomber jackets and accompanying leather pants and perhaps leather flying cap took over as the standard. Fleece-lined leather jackets were issued to flight personnel really should be course.

After The second world war, aeronautical engineering continued to safely move in leaps and bounds, and very quickly the jet age was created. Through the mid-1950s the leather bomber jacket was no longer a good item of clothing for pilots among others flying in US Air Force airplanes.

That it was all because the new jet planes. This can fly at thin air. In case the fliers' bulky, heavy jackets became wet from your rain every time they walked to the aircraft, the stream would freeze at high altitudes. This suitable for cold and unhappy airmen. Additionally, the jets were additional streamlined in design than previous aircraft. There wasn't any longer any room for bulky jackets in cramped cockpits packed with complicated equipment. The pilots and navigators had to move easily across the cockpit and enter leaving it without impediment. The bigwigs from the USAF began to regard these classic components of clothing as safety hazards.

They were briefed: the concepts required would have been a lightweight yet warm jacket that had been made for the flight personnel operating the most up-to-date jet airplanes. The bell tolled for that bulky, leather items. Bomber jackets had become relics consigned to usaf history of united states air force.

The initial manufacturers decided to try out cotton. The results wa the B-15 jacket. This a wool collar with pile (similar to fur), which was carried over from your earlier B-10 leather bomber jacket. The B-15 didn't go very far as it was too lightweight and failed to keep the flight personnel warm. The B-15 was reinvented, this time around constructed from nylon, along with the fur collar was dropped given it was discovered to restrict straps in reality.

Our next development after the nylon B-15 flight jacket was the MA-1 jacket. Made by the US Air Force, the Intermediate Weight Flight Jacket, or MA-1, was developed from excellent nylon together with polyester interlinings (padding). This stood a useful dual purpose. In hot weather the flier could wear the jacket open and turn into comfortable. Upon entering the aircraft, the flier could zip the MA-1 closed and grow as warm as toast at high altitudes.

It turned out the MA-1 flight that succeeded in usurping completely the leather bomber jacket as US Air Force issue. The first MA-1 jackets were issued around 1949 or 1950 to Us Air Force and Navy pilots and Flight crews. Small numbers were also issued to Army flight personnel. While there have been many design modifications since that time, mostly caused by new textiles, new sewing techniques or new aircraft cockpit design (most recently in 1980), the MA-1 flight jacket is just about the standard in USAF flight jacket. Keep reading.

Midnight blue was large originally useful for MA-1 jackets by way of the military, but later it had been changed to sage green, for camouflage purposes. In the Korean War, (1950-1953), as air force history, the leather bomber jacket remained seen in the military. These fliers were usually a motley crew. Some fliers still wore their beloved leather flight jackets, while others wore B-15 jackets yet others blue or green MA-1 jackets.

Today, modern fashion MA-1's come in a variety of colors, for example the traditional ones, and black, red, blue, silver, grey, yellow. The very first leather bomber jackets are getting to be collectors' items, and there are some leather craftsmen who make beautiful replicas with the fleece lined leather jackets of old.