Russian airforce Kitel M43

[NickG]

Thoughts on this Russian airforce Kitel tunic from the (late) 1940's ?
I was warned by somebody that it is probably not Russian but Bulgarian???
So made to look Russian...

[NickG]

The ribbed cloth looks like it could be US Lend-Lease supplied...
Buttons are certainly correct (but could have been easily added of course!)

[NickG]

Now the puzzling part which is the reason for this thread...Note the back which is odd for a Russian tunic I was told...
NOTE SEAM + BACK BUTTONS???
or Russian and foreign tailored?
or Satellite country Bulgaria? pretending to be Russian?

[NickG]

Cuff details... So correctly piped for Russian Airforce? No red flags?
Run or buy? The price is very good but I want to make sure before I pull the trigger on it!

[Komandir RKKA]

Not M43, 50-ies.
Rear buttons not original to tunic.

[NickG]

OK so Russian (Soviet) after all, like I suspected...Thanks for confirming!
Another collector warned me and said that thee cut is weird and the back buttons out of place,
so he suspected it was foreign satellite (Bulgarian or something with Russian buttons added....)

Anyway that is good news, but I really wanted an earlier Kitel from the 1940's....
I know these were phased out sometime around 1954 when they went to open collar uniforms.

[NickG]

I was told by another collector that the uniform is a style M48 instead of M43, which is why it is a little bit different apparently. Mystery solved! Still Soviet!