The trusty MA-1 flight jacket is somewhat reviled among the more self-consciously ‘traditional’ elements of the skinhead scene and even associated with ‘boneheads’ by some. This is because it became ubiquitous on the scene especially from around 1982 onward – the United Skins era and after. But, as we will see, it was present throughout skinhead history, with the earliest photographic evidence dating to 1969. Without a doubt, it’s also a timeless piece of gear, oozing tough, functional USAF pilot cool, which many early skins wanted to emulate at least to a degree.
A quick disclaimer right at the outset: there’s no pretence here of delivering a definitive or remotely comprehensive article on the subject. The history of the MA-1 is convoluted, with plenty of exceptions and inconsistencies along the way. Even in The Alpha Story (2009) — a book now so rare it often costs more than the jackets themselves — the information isn’t always reliable. More than anything, this article is an attempt to organise some knowledge I gathered into a coherent whole. But it can only scratch the surface. Readers will have additions or corrections, and I look forward to that.
We’ll trace the general history of the MA-1 jacket before turning to its place in the skinhead scene from the ‘60s onward. At the end, we’ll have a look at today’s flight jackets and at what they get wrong.
Matt Crombieboy
CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR PART 1: PILOTS, ASTRONAUTS AND ORIGINAL SKINHEADS
CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR PART 2: THE ’80s FLIGHT JACKET EXPLOSION
I’d like to thank the following people (in no particular order) for replying to my questions about MA-1s back in the day:
Paul Thompson – South-East London skinhead 1968–70
Steve – Coventry skinhead in the 1980s
Martin Hewes – Bassist in the Redskins, 1980s
Symond Lawes – Wycombe skinhead since 1978, now organising the Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton
Farid – Les Halles skinhead crew, Paris late 70s and early 80s
David Rumsey – Ramsgate skinhead, editor of Tighten Up skinzine and Spirit of 69 zine
Guendalina Buonavita – skingirl from Genoa since the late 1980s
Iggy – skinhead from Southall since 1979
Johnny Woollard – 70s soulboy and photographer
Big thanks also to The Che Men for introducing me to Martin Hewes and to Fabrizio Barile for the photo of Genoa skins. The main picture on this page was shot by Derek Ridgers in 1981.
Creases Like Knives 
Hi Matt, thanks a lot for this well done article. I appreciate your “webzine” (as it might have been called a decade or so ago).
Some years ago the Hamburg artist and writer Hans-Christian Dany wrote a book on the MA-1, coming more from the fashion and artistic side still he tries to untie the social fabric the flight jacket is made of.
https://edition-nautilus.de/programm/ma-1-mode-und-uniform/
Perhaps for the German reading audience with further interests it might be worth a look. Not only about skinhead but he gahters togehther lots from the story and fashion of the MA-1
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Great article. How do you think the skinhead/flight jacket fashion relates to how mods also used military style parkas and RAF logos? Also, about how 1960s skins generally related to military gear? I’m thinking about Millwall skinheads attacking the hippies and Communists at the Vietnam march. The hippies wore military gear and long hair to signal pacifism. The short hair look and flight jackers suggest just the opposite, right? Were people talking about that in 69?
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Sorry, only saw your comment now.
I wouldn’t read too much into the skinheads’ appropriation of the flight jacket – it just looks cool, clean, going places. But yes, certainly an antidote to hippies in that it’s a distinctly non-pacifist look (which, strictly speaking, can be right-wing, left-wing, or neither).
As for your mention of the Vietnam solidarity march and the Millwall skinheads who, according to George Marshall, “made the papers the next day” (Spirit of ’69, p. 8) – well, it’s not impossible that skins showed up, shouted abuse at the protesters, even chanted “Enoch, Enoch”. It’s just that Marshall’s book is the only source I’ve ever found for this claim, and I’ve checked daily papers as well as left-wing publications of the time (the latter would certainly have mentioned the “fascists” or “lumpen elements” had any appeared) – and I found zero mention of any such incidents at the march.
So, while it could be that Millwall skinheads showed up, contrary to Marshall’s claims, they didn’t “make the papers the next day”, or at least not the ones I checked.
I could have overlooked something, and I’d happily be proven wrong. But until that happens, I’d file the anecdote under ‘urban myth’.
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Seem to recall Suggs in The Face magazine (January 1981) wearing an MA1 type jacket in a style feature. It might have had the zip down hood, or fur collar, can’t quite remember. Not sure if it was his or it was advertising the wears of a London second hand shop.
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