Awesome Kilt Jacket

[Chris Webb]

Oh, Man, I finally found it!! I went into a flea market, place smelt like old mildewed clothes, nothing but junk, but I saw in the distance some old military stuff.

Walking up to the booth I spied just the very corner of something I'd been looking for ever since I started wearing kilts ... a mint condition, not a single patch on it, early WWII U.S. Army 'Ike' jacket, size 42.

Unbelievable, $35 ... I'm still stunned. Anyway, having just got a kilt in U.S.Army tartan I can't wait for the fall and cooler evenings when I can put on my Ike jacket and be the hottest kiltman in Fort Worth.

Guys, if you just can't bring yourself to buy or wear a Prince Charlie jacket then you might consider searching for an old Ike jacket. It's just the perfect American kilt jacket.

Wow! I'm just so pleased to have found this.

Kilt On!!

Chris Webb

[mbhandy]

Pictures Mon Pictures.

MrBill

[Tattoo Bradley]

Yes. PICTURES PLEASE! I'm not quite sure which jacket you're referring to. Perhaps I'll go Google. But show us some pictures!!

[Livingston]

Sounds like an ideal combination. That Army tarton is on my list and the Ike jacket just seems to match. Need to get those pictures posted for us.

[Tattoo Bradley]

I spent 4 years in the USAF, so that one's on my list. But then I spent a year in the Army National Guard, so I guess I could get the Army tartan as well

[Planopiper]

Fort Worth Scottish band practice is on Thursdays. You should wear the kilt and jacket to practice so we can see it. And introduce yourself.

[Cawdorian]

Don't call that an old WWII Ike Jacket, we were still wearing those in 1958!

They really were very comfortable, we wore them in ROTC 1955-1958 and in the Army in 1958, when they were phased out in favor of the "New" green uniform, which is now being phased out in favor of the "new" blue uniform.

If you look a little deeper, you might find some of those in the different darker shade fabric worn by the officers during and after WWII with "Pinks". The enlisted guys wore the olive drab or OD shade.

Maybe some of you Air Force guys will know if there was a blue version of the jacket worn by the Air Force during the same period. It seems like they had a version of the Ike jacket during the period after WWII when the AF became a separate branch of the military.

[macwilkin]

As a reference, here is a nice article from the Eisenhower Library's web site about the history of the Ike Jacket, which is based on the British Battle Dress Jacket:

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/ikejack.htm

Cheers,

Todd

[Cawdorian]

Thanks for the reference Todd, in the third from last frame there is a picture of an AF Officer wearing the Ike Jacket with "Pinks" (the lighter colored trousers).