BGS flight jacket?

[Collectinsteve]

I received this some time ago and it was sold to me as BGS. I assume it is, but could it also be Polizei? It is made from dark green leather with a button in "Teddyfutter". I do not know if the BGS rank are original to the jacket, of course, so that isn't a solid indicator. The tag in the neck is faded, but it appears to say "BUND" in it.

Any information on this? Age?

Thanks!

Steve

[uscob]

Yes, it's BGS.
A good indicator is the "BUND". Police doesn't has this.

[Collectinsteve]

Thanks Nico! Yes, I figured "BUND" + green color = BGS. I wasn't sure if maybe Polizei pilots were an exception.

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

Nice jacket. Polizei leather jackets I have seen tend to be longer than this one.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks! This was a nice find that came to me fairly inexpensively, which was a nice surprise.

For sure the standard "ground" jackets are longer and have four pockets from my experience. I was specifically wondering if Polizei helicopter pilots wore the same type of jacket or if only BGS did. So far it looks like the answer is "BGS only", which is kinda what I expected.

Steve

[uscob]

They also had the short ones for Pilots. I have some Cloth ones in Stock. When I'm back from this weeks show, I'll take a Pic.

[SprogCollector]

I'm looking for one of these BGS jackets myself. I've seen a few for sale but nothing recently. Very nice jacket! I believe BGS also issued a pair of leather flying overtrousers very similar to the WW2 Luftwaffe Kanalhose.

[Collectinsteve]

Thanks for the info Nico! I look forward to the picture.

Matching leather trousers would be nice to have, but I don't hold out much hope of finding one.

Steve

[SprogCollector]

The only trousers I remember seeing for sale:

[Collectinsteve]

Very nice!! 1971... this gives me some idea of the age of my jacket, I think. Thanks for posting the pics!

Steve

[Collectinsteve]

Found this in the Bundesarchiv. It appears to be the same jacket as I have pictured in 2004. So either these jackets were made for a long time or someone is wearing something quite old



Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

Interesting photo. I've gone through by BGS book and there are no pictures of a leather jack it wear in the BGS Fliegerstaffel section. Just cloth ones unfortunately. The guys wearing the cloth short jackets all have the BGS Fliegerstaffel wing on their right breast and the BGS eagle and arc on the left arm. Any signs of insignia being removed from your leather jacket?

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Gordon,

There are no signs of badging on my jacket at all. Being leather, the signs would be very evident and impossible to miss, so I think it's safe to conclude there was never a badge on it before. Leather doesn't recover well from removed stitching.

I was aware of the cloth flight jacket as well, which is why I initially wondered if my jacket might be Polizei and not BGS. Interesting to hear you've not managed to see any pictures of the leather one, just the cloth one.

The Bundesarchiv picture does seem to confirm it is indeed BGS. I wish I could get a date range! Currently my assumption is that the guy in the 2004 picture is wearing a very old jacket.

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Steve,

I would agree that the guy in the 2004 picture is wearing an old leather jacket. It would be nice to get a some what normal time when these were worn. No doubt if you had one you would continue to wear it even after the cloth ones were on issue. Looks a lot better to me.

Regards,

Gordon

[Marksharky]

While searching the web for info on my recently aquired BGS flight wings, (Posted over in the BGS Bundesgrenzschutz thread http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=252712 ) I found this website belonging to a 1990's BGS veteran. He has some good photos and information on various BGS flight jackets and flight suits..... along with some other great stuff mixed in. Here's the link:

http://www.hotdogandsodacompany.de/h...tzanz%C3%BCge/

The photos of the leather jacket and flight suits are about half way down the page.