Showdown!! - How Does The G-1 "Top Gun" Leather Jacket Compare to the Legendary GRIZZLY Jacket??
- terryvick
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
Looks like there's a new Sheriff in Town,.Flyboy,..LoL!
For most of us, our first exposure to these garments came in the from watching the popular entertainment form known globally as "#American Cinema. And many iterations and variations of classic leather jackets have graced the silver screen in its 130 plus years of existence.
You could argue that the classic early 1950's motorcycle movie "The Wild One" virtually popularized the classic slanted zipper motorcylce #bikerjacket into the mainstream overnight. And you wouldn't be wrong.
To this day,.theres continues to be a certain type of leather jacket wearer who chooses this particular type of design because of what it had come to symbolize in poplar culture. #rocknroll,..and Rebellion,.freedom and the ability to be an outcast !!
Veterans returning home to the US after World War 2 felt the full weight of trauma of returning to normalcy after years of fighting and sought the comfort of the fellowship they found in what would become known as #bikergangs to fill in the gap of what was missing. And this energy transcribed itself onto the leather jackets themselves.
The famed #schottperfecto has continued to be incredibly sought after, highly influential and timeless
HOWEVER,..in 1986,..A certain Mr Tom Cruise sauntered across the big screen in a reproduction G-1 Leather US Navy Flight jacket in #topgun that really emotionally effected, influenced and hooked men around the GLOBE! The jacket's appearance can be resumably linked, at least in part, to the eventual explosion of interest in vintage #heritageclothing and turned a lot of men of a certain age into major enthusiasts of vintage leather anad other mid-20th Century mens work wear as a hobby and lifestyle!
The actual garment Cruise wore itself is really just a costume piece made as a film prop for the character he's playing. The jacket is meant to have been his Fathers older G-1 ,.which would presumably,.explain all the 1950's and 60's era flight patches.
HOWECER,..as other US Navy Veterans like myself often point out. maverick,.as a Navl Aviator himself,. wouldve had is OWN updated and modern G-1 issued to him and likely worn that one while keeping his dad's older model in some type of storage,.LoL
Plus his patches,..while ultra cool looking dont make sense at all for a naval aviator to have worn on his Leather jacket. Its a strange hodgepodge of patches from other US Navy units and deployments that was clearly assembled by a film crews costume and prop department completely unfamiliar with a Navy pilots career.
That being said ,.the garment itself still looked SPECTACULAR in the movie and set mens hearts a flutter for decades to come. It still supports a small but passionate global community of men who collect and admire vintage US Navy flight jackets - including myself!
I have collected worn and adord various G1 jackets since my earliest days as a crewman onboard a US Navy Aircraft Carrier,.The USS Abraham Lincoln,.
I have worn them all over the world.
They have been trvel companions for me through good times and not soo good times,..LoL
And through all that time a comfortable and expressive G 1 jacket has been my go-to outer garment for style,.wether i had my own career focused patches installed or not.
UNTILL NOW
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