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    LW Jackets I - Summer jacket, the "Great White"


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    These two pictures of M?lders appeared in my "Inbox" this morning... :unsure: Thanks to the sender!

    Bien !

    RK award ceremony of

    Oberleutnant

    Schmidt, Erich

    * 17.11.1914 Neuhaus am Rennweg, Krs. S?nneberg/Th?ringen

    + 31.08.1941 b. Dubrio/Ru?land

    Ritterkreuz am: 23.07.1941

    als: Leutnant

    Funktion: Flugzeugf?hrer III./JG 53

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    Hello all, I think the answer lies in a "hands on" exam of the jacket. One would only need to find a shred of floopy wool collar where it is sown to the jacket body. We all are aware of the tight collar stitching present on all combat uniforms. The body of the jacket is intact. One could search for any stamp or label in those areas. If it were possible and the aircraft/cockpit from which the pilot was exhumed is more or less intact, search for one of the two white glasiene sleeve buttons that became detached by jacket decomposition. I have sent off an email to the fellow that provided the pics. We might be able to arrange an exam by one of our Luft. Experten in Europe. Many excellent photos in this thread. Best, Bill Bourque

    Edited by Bill Bourque
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    Here are some pics of very light colored typical summer weight jackets. If you compare the color tones of the caps, waistband & breast eagle the jacket is very light.

    Regards,

    Mike

    Edited by mjfur
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    Hi Bill,

    Can you post close ups of the liner, please? I may be misinterpreting the pics, but it looks to me like the jacket is lined with a very light and lightweigth material, perhaps parachute silk or something similar.

    Do you or the owner have any info concerning labels, stamps, zipper makermmarks, maker marks on press studs etc? And does either of you have any pics showing areas that may have been unexposed to the elements, like the inside of a pocket?

    Thanks and regards,

    Sandro

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    • 4 weeks later...

    Yesterday I revisited the museum and inspected the jacket. On the entire jacket, there is not a single blue spot. The 3 layers of the jacket, the outside, inside and inner liner are all white. The inside of the pocket is white, and the letter the pilot had inside this pocket, aswell as his Soldbuch, are preserved and clearly readable. The jacket, and the pilot, were preserved by the toral lack of oxygen in the soil that sealed them off from the outside for 55 years. When found, the pilot was still preserved inside the jacket. Not a nice sight, and it was even more grim to remove the body from the jacket. The stitching , apart from the grey thread used on the eagle, is done in white. All leather on the jacket is brown. The inside of the jacket, being in contact with a decaying body for so long, is badly stained and not very inviting for a close inspection. However, I inspected the collar and there is grey wool at severall places. The quality of the jacket is very high, and looks much better than many of the examples shown in the pics which looks a bit cheapish. I have been with many aircraft from WW2 that were salvaged, and I have seen many uniforms, either Britisch, American or German, which were underground for decades. Sometimes they rotted, got darker or just fell apart. However the German uniforms seem to survive better than the Allied ones. But I have never seen a dark blue jacket that faded to a very white colour, all over without a single blue trace left. So, I m clear , as were 2 other Luftwaffe collectors who were with me and inspected the jacket, that is was, and still is a white one. The pilot who wore it for 55 years died in 1943. So the jacket is an early one.

    Best wishes, Roger

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