"Flying" Jacket And Goggles.

[Flying10uk]

Not long after WW2, in the late 1940's, my father wanted a jacket and some goggles to wear while riding his motorcycle, a 1946 350cc OHV AJS. The place to go then, especially if you had a limited budget, as most people did at that time in the UK was the local government surplus store, rather than a motorcycle shop.

My father purchased the ex US army airforce leather jacket which was sold to him by the surplus store as a US flying jacket and was in very good condition with light use. The goggles were sold by the surplus store as ex RAF, late 1930's/very early wartime, flying goggles. These were new unissued when my father purchased them in 1949.

In more recent years I have questioned whether the jacket was intended for aircrew and was, in fact, a ground crew jacket but, so far, I have not found a conclusive answer.

Also the goggles appear to be of the type used by the British army for AFV crews during WW2. I'm not sure if the RAF used them as well.

As an aside during the 1950's a WW2 RAF veteran, who had been a pilot during the war, offered my father a much better flying jacket at a bargain price. Rather than quietly giving the veteran what he was asking for the jacket, my father said "That's daylight robbery!", with a big grin across his face. The veteran replied, "I don't do daylight robbery." and grabbed his jacket and walked off. The moral of this little storey is if you are offered a bargain take it, don't try and knock the person down further and don't make stupid and sarcastic remarks during the negotiations.

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