BGS Flight Jacket

[Gordon Craig]

Sprogcollector,

I measured all of the buttons on my "old" style BGS uniforms and they are all 16mm. Both silver and gold. As Steve says, there are countless sizes and colours of buttons but you should be ok with any 16mm silver buttons you find as they can not have been BW ones. I would call the colour "Alt silber" in German terms. The buttons taper continuously to the edge. Some German BW buttons do not. Good luck in your quest.

Regards,

Gordon

[SprogCollector]

So for the old-style BGS boards, altsilber for all ranks? Perfect. I'll use the buttons with the NCO boards. I just wante dto be sure that officers weren't using altgold vs altsilber for other ranks.

[Collectinsteve]

Definitely not gold or Altgeld. Like BW with the use of gold buttons was reserved only for "general" ranks of the BGS. Unlike BW, lower ranks wore the same colored buttons as junior and mid level officers.

BGS button color is very consistent from 1951 through 2002 as far as I know. After 2002, when the BGS style ranks boards were dropped, the color is more-or-less Altgeld snaps (not buttons). All ranks of BGS and Polizei will look the same in that regard since it's the only color the snaps come in as far as I know. Er... except maybe "general" ranks. I can't remember if they got an exception.

Steve

[Collectinsteve]

OK, I finally found the jacket. It was buried under all kinds of fun stuff. Even found a spare $200 uniform I didn't know I had. Well worth digging through that pile

Here are pictures of the zipper and the shoulder rank arrangement:





I noted there is a size tag at the back of the neck, but no date. There appears to have been a label below that stitched into the jacket. Based on the color and the width of the shoulder rank loops I'd say this jacket is for sure after 1976 uniform changes.

Steve

[SprogCollector]

Steve,
Thanks for the detailed photos!. I've written Harro again to see if they can at least provide a similar puller. If you get a chance, can you take a look at the back side of the lower stop for the zip (where it says RiRi). I'm curious if the original zips were a #8 or #7 zipper. I purchased a replacement #8 and I suspect the original was probably a #7. The size should be stamped on the reverse of the box stop.
My jacket is currently with the tailor to get the new zipper put on. I won't have it back for a week or so.

Thanks again for the photos. I'm really hoping Harro will have some pullers available. If not, the stock RiRi puller isn't horrible.

Chris

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Chris,

Sorry for the delay. There is a number on the back... but I don't think you're going to like this... it is "4".

Steve

[SprogCollector]

Hi Steve,
No worries. The "4" must be for something else. Zipper sizes are based on the width of the teeth in mm. A size 4 zip would be about half the size of the pocket zips (size 7).

The replacement YKK that was put on this jacket at some point is a 5mm zip and is noticably smaller than the originals still on the pockets.

Thanks for checking though!

My jacket's not back from getting the zip replaced. I ended up taking it to a leather shop and was told 3-4 weeks to get it back.

Chris

[SprogCollector]

Finally received my jacket back. It looks much better with the correct sized zipper. I used a RiRi 8mm zip on black tape -- matching those used on the pockets and sleeves. My camera battery needs to charge so no pics just yet.

[Gordon Craig]

SprogCollector,

This has been an interesting adventure. It will be instructive in seeing the results. Damaged zippers are the reason a lot of flying clothing is declared surplus. Looking forward to the pictures.

Regards,

Gordon

[SprogCollector]

Much belated but here's a shot of the jacket with the new, correct-sized RiRi zipper installed. The jacket is just out of the shipping package so still wrinkled. I'm still searching for a correct Harro puller. Now to get started on new loops for shoulderboards.

The actual zip was about $20. I used a leather company recommended by my dry cleaners. I'd rate the work as acceptable. The zip is properly installed and the stitch lines reasonably straight. SOme overstitching where they obviosuly started going off track and/or failed to keep the inside part properly aligned.