Jos Le Conté

I'm interested to see pics about Luftwaffe survival items, so maybe you've any on file, in the cupboard or photo album ? I'd be interested to find info, pics etc about the telescopic flagpole, which was used in the lifeboats and kept in the lowerleg pocket of the flightpants. I'd also be interested to find info, pics about the one-man lifeboat, signal mirror etc.. Jos.

Boat and yellow-ish survival cap... Jos.

Thanks guys ! Here's a little up-date.. Found a better flagpole, added a Luft armband and a fighterpilot one-man's lifeboat... Jos.

Very interesting pics sofar..,thanks.. Gordon, would it be possible to post a close-up of the bullion Beobachter where we might see some detail ? Just to see how it was made.. Jos.

A few times I've seen pics of Navy people wearing Luftwaffe badges ... or Luftwaffe with Navy badges. I'm interested in pics like these and it would be nice to see some . Anyone has any to share by chance ? Jos.

IMO we have 2 different types of white jackets and maybe a third one with the fur collar versus the excavated jacket which apparentely is and from the pics appears to be a "bleached" blue Summer jacket... So, still no real evidence of a Great White sofar... Jos.

Bill, I think these eagles were made of some kind of silky thread which gives them a silvery look.. Jos.

Compared with the blue Summer jacket.. Jos.

Plus I've found 2 other pics of jackets with added fur collars .. Jos.

Yup,it's the same guy, Bill.. I still see 2, John.. The bullion eagle is a hand-applied one, done by the owner or fieldtailor... Another point is that these jackets have,or better to say had a "left" and "right" collar.... Jos.

Here's one with hand-applied bullion eagle.. Jos.

I agree that the ones with the full length zippers lack the 2 strips of cloth and this feature will make these jackets unique IMO ... Jos.

While I was looking if I could find a pic of a GW with blue NCO eagle the same thought crossed my mind... Might be a bit too early perhaps to state that all GW's we have seen have the original applied white eagle or no eagle, plus I've seen a few examples with a hand-applied officer's eagle sofar. I've never seen a GW with a original applied blue NCO eagle sofar, so I can share your thoughts that this might be a blue jacket which lost all its color through some kind of process... Jos.

Here's walter Schuck...,in the pics he seems to have 2 of these jackets ..., lucky fellow.. One has a eagle and leather strap for the O2 mask , the other one has no eagle and no strap.. You can see that they're turning into a grey-ish color after some time. Jos.

Paul, these jackets were made of cotton, in fact just like the blue and tan Summer jackets except for the white having a sloppy collar ... Blue and tan Summer jackets are rare as well, but some did survive and are in collections .. Also,white is a bad color when you were doing this job.., think many turned out to grey after a while.. Noone we know has ever seen one ,except for the grounddug example.. Jos.

Here's a shot of the rare all white eagle, very hard to capture from a pic though ... I guess noone has one of these in his collecting ...? Jos.

That's not fraying, John ..., it's just a feature you'll find more often .. , nuff said .. Jos.

And the one with " added " fur collar... Jos.

The guys in Winter ... Jos.

Another example.. Jos.

Showing some badges including the cloth pilotbadge on blue backing ... Jos.

Picture showing how "fragile" these jackets were... Jos.

The fact that, as far as we know , none of these jackets remain is probably because they were very favorite, probably also after war, plus the fact that not every pilot had one etc .. Lately these jackets can be found on Ebay, but ofcourse these are fake and show some issues ... Although the white jacket was a typical Summer item I've seen some Winter pictures where the guys are wearing these. Then I've seen pictures of the jacket having a fur collar !! Now that's remarkable, no ? Jos.

I think it's very safe to believe that ALL white jackets that were and are offered are fake.. Jos.

Not my field actually, but she's with me for a long time and for some reason I'm still in love ..,can't let her go.. Jos.