History of Navy Flight Jackets
According to the American Mystique website the history of the U.S. Navy's flight jackets dates back to World War I, when the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) began issuing its pilots with long leather trench coats for warmth and comfort.
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Creation
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The American Mystique website reports flight jackets began to be issued to the U.S. military with the establishment of the U.S. Aviation Clothing Board in 1917. Realizing the long leather jackets issued by the RAF were constrictive to pilots, the U.S. military commissioned a waist-length leather jacket to be issued to its pilots.
Navy
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The U.S. Navy did not create its own flight jacket until 1938, with the introduction of the type M-445 or G-1 flight jacket. The Flight Jacket website reports the G-1 was designed using lamb and goat skins that were more resilient than cowhide and included buttons instead of a zipper to remain true to the naval tradition of clothing with buttons.
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Design
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Although the G-1 Navy flight jacket was designed using goatskin with a lamb's wool lining, as the numbers of Navy pilots grew during World War II and into the modern era, according to the Flight Jacket website, the design was altered to the more cost-effective cowhide leather with a synthetic or synthetic-wool-mix lining.
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